Marshwood+ October 21

Horatio Clare on perilous treatment Page 44

Cam Bowie on Public Health Page 14

Uplifting songs coming to Bridport Page 46

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© Peter Hardwill Photograph by Robin Mills

The best from West Dorset, South Somerset and East Devon No. 271 October 2021

COVER STORY Robin Mills met Peter Hardwill in Blackdown, West Dorset

© Peter Hardwill Photograph by Robin Mills

’M

y grandparents and father moved here to Hurst Farm in the early ‘30s following farming for 10 years at a small farm at Trull near Taunton. In his early twenties my father enjoyed life near Taunton; Grandfather said “he would leave a field of hay to go and watch Somerset play cricket”. Hurst must have been about 100 acres which they rented from the Doble family. Father joined the local skittles team and went to village hall dances where he met my mother Sybil Bugler, from Bettiscombe. They married in ’42 and I arrived in ’43. I have two younger sisters; Alice was born 14 months after me, and Evelyn arrived in 1948. My first memory as a child on the farm was the ’47/’48 winter. Everything was completely manual of course, loose hay made into ricks and fed to the cows which were tied up in a cowstall. The hard weather made extra work keeping the cattle fed and watered, and I can remember helping my grandfather on the farm from a very young age. My father said I was allowed to drive the tractor when I was big enough to push down the combined clutch and brake pedal on the Standard Fordson and clip it in place, which I managed at

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Peter Hardwill

aged 8. In those days, as well as the grassland, a dairy farm would grow many different crops just to feed the cows; mangolds, kale, and some corn for both the grain and the straw. These days it’s silage full stop.

I went to school at Marshwood, taken every day by the school taxi which carried about 10 kids and was driven by Bob Rabbetts. One day we collided with an Austin 7 which went in the ditch, so we all got out and lifted it back on the road, and another time we called at the Gillingham’s farm when they were pressing cider. Arthur offered some to Bob our driver, so we kids all piled out and had a taste too.

As youngsters we got to know the area well, and the folk who lived there, because we never really went anywhere else except to see relatives, attend market or once a year see the touring side play Somerset.

My father would take me to NFU meetings at Thorncombe, where I was known as the youngest member there, and to skittles matches at Blackdown village hall where you’d get a cup of tea and a biscuit at half time. We would walk to the phone box up the road to book AI visits for the cows, and if we wanted to catch up with family or friends at the same time we would phone them as well.

After passing my 11 plus, from Marshwood School I should have gone to Lyme Regis but my mother was adamant that I went to Beaminster Grammar, because it was apparently the only school in Dorset which taught Agriculture to O level. I spent too much time working on the farm instead of homework to achieve very good results at school, but I passed in Mathematics and Agriculture, both subjects taught to me by the same teachers that taught my mother.

As I went through school, instead of studying Physics and Chemistry I studied Agriculture, so I had some spare lessons. Our headmaster, Major Porter, showed great interest in me and suggested I joined students in the engineering classes provided in Beaminster for secondary modern and evening students. This led me to start collecting my own tools, much helped by businesses in the town; Mr Colbourne from Colsons gave me so much time, and Reg Newton the storeman at Buglers supplied me with parts and advice as to how to fit them. Ken Hurford’s father taught me all I knew about electricity, which arrived at our farmhouse in about ’56. I ran a cable across to the cowstall where I fitted 3 lightbulbs. When I switched them on for the first time, Grandfather thought they

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were better than Blackpool illuminations. So after school, things began to fall into place for me, into engineering, away from just farming, although that’s where I still worked and lived.

I left school and things were on the change in agriculture, but not before the winter of ’62/’63.

In that summer we changed to baled hay, which didn’t suit our old fashioned wagon. So that winter, I made a low loading bale trailer from timber sawn from a locally felled pine tree, ready for next summer, which made life very much easier. We were modernising the farm in several ways, all of which enabled me to put my skills to use.

I was invited by two well established members, John Jeffery and Robin Wyatt, to join Crewkerne Young Farmers club. They were both interested in engineering, and when a course in engineering came up at Yeovil College we all joined. I then went back to Beaminster to learn welding under Bugler’s foreman, John Poole. The farm had so many land drains that needed fixing, and unlike today, only large industrial diggers were available.

My welding skills then came in very useful because I was able to build our own digger, which although basic, was a great deal better than a pick and shovel. Then people began to realise I could weld, and work began to come in from everywhere.

Taking advantage of the Farm Improvement Grant scheme of the day, we installed land drainage in one of our fields, using the digger I’d built, on the back of a David Brown 990. However, if you got stuck in one of the many wet patches, you were in trouble, so I bought a winch to fit on the back of a Fordson Major, and Father would sit on it, with his pipe in his mouth, and pull the lever which pulled us out, no trouble at all. The Ministry in those days had all these helpful staff, who would visit your farm, measure everything up and supply you with a drawing to work to. Nothing was too much trouble. The surveyor who did our drainage scheme saw the barns I’d built on the farm, and offered to help do the plans for me if ever I got asked to build steel framed barns. His name was John Wallis, and despite going on to run 2 pubs, and retiring to Wales, he did drawings for me until he died, probably for 40 years.

By 1966 my business had grown so I needed to separate it from the farm. So I formed my company PH Hardwill, and due to the massive demand for new buildings on farms all through the 1970’s the business grew. I took on Phil Studley,

© Peter Hardwill Photograph by Robin Mills

from Racedown, who was good at building and concrete, but soon adapted to steelwork. His sons followed, and Brin, who has just retired, worked for me for 51 years; Bill is still working for us at 47 years. And I have enjoyed having worked with excellent staff, several of whom have been with us for over 30 years. These days we try and keep the work within an area south of Bristol, west of Bournemouth, and east of Exeter, but I did put up a big chicken house at Petersfield once.

Just before my 70th birthday I suffered a stroke, but I’ve been lucky to make a full recovery, largely due to my wife Janet’s quick reaction in calling the ambulance. After that I handed the business over to my 2 sons, Philip and Michael. I’ve been lucky to have been able to build up the company over the years, and my basic education and business skills have been much improved by local schemes such as West Dorset Training, founded by Cmdr.

Streatfield. So many local business people gave me

such good advice, and gave me brilliant contracts to prove I took their advice.

Both my sons, from my first marriage, were keen to carry on the business they’d grown up with.

Philip went to Salford University where, amazingly, they tailor-made his course to suit the work he was going to do. Michael is a natural learner and has developed all his many skills through experience.

And since I was 7 years old, when my father first took me along, I’ve been watching Somerset play cricket. It was there I met my wife Janet, and we married in 1996. Janet worked at the Somerset College of Art and Technology, and continued there until she took early retirement. She has been so supportive in my many voluntary activities, such as Young Farmers, which I still am involved with; Crewkerne Rotary Club, as the only District Governor the club has provided in 2006/7; the Parish Council, and Dorset Training, all of which have brought us many friends.

’

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UP FRONT During my teenage years, as well as the usual discussions about civil rights, the advance of nuclear power, and social democracy, friends and I shared much debate over the treatment of mental illness. We had read Ken Kesey’s book, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and later, the Oscar-winning film adaptation starring Jack Nicholson heightened our youthful but earnest analysis. It is often said that both works contributed to a backlash against many psychiatric practices, not least the use of electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT as we would refer to it in hushed tones. Memories of those concerns were brought home to me in two articles in this month’s issue. In Seth Dellow’s audio interview with retired doctor and public health official Cam Bowie, Cam recalls how one of his early initiatives was closing down massive mental health institutions or ‘asylums’ as they were known.

One hospital in Wells had housed a massive 1400 mental health patients. These facilities were simply not working for patients and he helped implement a new system of smaller treatment amenities as well as care at home programmes. It’s fair to say that we have made many advances since those days but talking to Horatio Clare last week about his experiences going through a mental breakdown, highlighted issues that should still concern us today. In his new book, Heavy Light, he details his descent from delusion into mania and how his experience at the hands of psychiatric facilities left him horrified at treatment designed by category rather than for each individual. His options were to take one of three different pills which he described as ‘chemical coshes’—for him there was no alternative. One of the nagging questions that remain after reading Heavy Light is: who decides and under what parameters are decisions made about when paranoia becomes an issue requiring intervention? In Horatio’s case, his belief that he was in the center of a conspiracy led to an increase in irrational behavior beyond what could be deemed ‘in character’ and beyond what was socially acceptable. He obviously needed help, but with every aspect of the public health industry now under enormous pressure, those taking intervention decisions today must have a daunting duty of care.

Fergus Byrne

Published Monthly and distributed by Marshwood Vale Ltd Lower Atrim, Bridport Dorset DT6 5PX For all Enquiries Tel: 01308 423031 info@marshwoodvale. com

THIS MONTH

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Cover Story By Robin Mills The Place I Love By Margery Hookings Past Present and Future - Cam Bowie Event News and Courses Woodbury Castle By Philip Strange News & Views Latterly Speaking By Humphrey Walwyn ...ad Astra By Cecil Amor

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House & Garden Vegetables in October By Ashley Wheeler October in the Garden By Russell Jordan A Life with Flora By Connie Doxat Property Round Up By Helen Fisher

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Food & Dining Venison and Cognac Sausages By Lesley Waters Deep Fried Courgette Flowers By Mark Hix Isinglass By Nick Fisher

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Arts & Entertainment Actually you’re too Mad By Fergus Byrne Preview By Gay Pirrie Weir Galleries Screen Time By Nic Jeune Young Lit Fix By Antonia Squire Health & Beauty Services & Classified “If the human brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn’t.”

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Editorial Director Fergus Byrne

Contributors

Deputy Editor

Cecil Amor Seth Dellow Connie Doxat Helen Fisher Nick Fisher Richard Gahagan Mark Hix Margery Hookings Nic Jeune

Victoria Byrne

Design

People Magazines Ltd

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Fergus Byrne info@marshwoodvale.com

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Russell Jordan Robin Mills Gay Pirrie Weir Antonia Squire Philip Strange Humphrey Walwyn Lesley Waters Ashley Wheeler

The views expressed in The Marshwood Vale Magazine and People Magazines are not necessarily those of the editorial team. Unless otherwise stated, Copyright of the entire magazine contents is strictly reserved on behalf of the Marshwood Vale Magazine and the authors.

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of dates, event information and advertisements, events may be cancelled or event dates may be subject to alteration. Neither Marshwood Vale Ltd nor People Magazines Ltd can accept any responsibility for the accuracy of any information or claims made by advertisers included within this publication.

NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Trades descriptions act 1968. It is a criminal offence for anyone in the course of a trade or business to falsely describe goods they are offering. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. The legislation requires that items offered for sale by private vendors must be ‘as described’. Failure to observe this requirement may allow the purchaser to sue for damages.

Road Traffic Act. It is a criminal offence for anyone to sell a motor vehicle for use on the highway which is unroadworthy.

THE PLACE I LOVE - Mapping out what makes a village special An art exhibition and sale will launch a new project celebrating community life in a West Dorset village.

Margery Hookings reveals more.

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Broadwindsor Church, Margery Hookings

View to Lewesdon, Norma Roberts

Lewesdon Hill, Donna Heys

t was when I was walking in the fields overlooking Broadwindsor that the idea suddenly came to me. We were in the middle of lockdown and everyone was being encouraged to get out and about and enjoy the local countryside.

As I was coming down from Lewesdon Hill on my daily walk early one morning, I looked down at the ground under my feet. I wondered what the field was called. As a farmer’s daughter, I’m aware that fields have names. Back on my late father’s farm in South Somerset, the top field, where my grandfather used to grow teasels as a commercial crop for the manufacture of woollen cloth, was called Bella’s Nose. I don’t know why and probably never will. But just knowing the field name gave me a sense of place and connection with the past.

I contacted the local farmer, who I regularly message when walkers leave gates open and cattle are in the wrong field. Clearly relieved the animals had not escaped, he told me I had been in the rather uninspiringly named Ten Acres. He then rattled off some more names: Sheepwash Plot, Dry Meade, Stallplot, Marrowpits and Nappy Ground.

The roll call got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be nice to find out all the local field names and discover more about land use now and in the past? And then maybe tie in something about using the countryside responsibly. There are too many incidences of gates being left open for animals to stray, dogs worrying livestock and doing their business without owners ever clearing it up.

The idea developed into The Place I Love, a project celebrating community life and bringing people of all ages together in respecting and loving where we live. I’m leading it as a project manager for Windrose Rural Media Trust, the charity well known for its community work in rural areas and its film archive from Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.

It involves the creation by local artist Megan Edwards of an interpretive map of the village which will go on display and, on a smaller scale, for leaflets. It will highlight footpaths, places of interest and the things that people love about the village with a strong nod to the Countryside Code.

The project is being launched at an art exhibition and sale at Comrades Hall, Broadwindsor, on Saturday 16 October from 10am until 4pm. Local artists—both professional and talented amateurs who live in the village—will be displaying their work, much of it inspired by the local area. Expect landscapes, portraits, abstract, animals and photographs.

During the course of the project, I’ll be interviewing local people about what it is about the village they love. The project harnesses the help of local volunteers and also involves two of my colleagues from Windrose. Amanda Boyd will be researching folk songs from the area and James Harrison will create a short film. Research material will be deposited at Dorset History Centre.

The project has been made possible with the help of Dorset Council’s Community and Culture Fund, Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’s Stepping Into Nature scheme (funded by the National Community Lottery) and its Sustainable Development Fund, Broadwindsor Group Parish Council and in-kind support.

The project is due to be completed in February when the map will be unveiled.

The Place I Love theme presents the village with lots of interesting opportunities and could be replicated in other areas. Already, villagers have come forward with ideas of their own that are a great fit, such as working with primary school children to create their locally-inspired artwork and The Place I Love litter pick. A local joiner has created special display panels from which we can hang artwork.

It’s all about respecting the local environment and those who live and work within it.

It would be lovely to see you at the art exhibition, which is being organised by an art group local to the village. Admission is free. Refreshments, kindly provided by the WI, will be available during the day. There are no card machine facilities so, if you’re planning to buy, please bring cash or cheques or speak to the artist about making a direct payment into their bank.

The Place I Love Art Exhibition and Sale of work inspired by and created in Broadwindsor, Dorset, is being held at Comrades Hall, High Street, Broadwindsor, DT8 3QP, on Saturday 16 October from 10am until 4pm. Free admission. Refreshments available.

Gateway at Hursey, John Iveson

Margery Hookings has lived in Broadwindsor for 20 years and in Dorset for 39 years. A trained journalist, she now writes a weekly column in The People’s Friend Magazine, along with regular features focusing on local heritage, landscape and community for the Marshwood Vale Magazine. She is a project manager for Windrose Rural Media Trust, assistant editor of the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society’s quarterly magazine, The Greenwood Tree, and helps publicise Bridport Literary Festival.

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Past, Present and FUTURE Cam Bowie talks to Seth Dellow

By Fergus Byrne

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n the early stages of his medical career, Cameron (Cam) Bowie, was involved in helping develop the use of ‘evidence-based medicine’. In an in-depth audio interview with Seth Dellow, available on our website, he described medicine before that approach as ‘pretty laissez faire’. At that time he was trying to help doctors and public health bodies base their work ‘not on prejudice or what we think works, but actually what the evidence shows’.

To most people that would seem obvious, but as has been brought home to us in the current pandemic, medicine, along with public health is an ever-evolving process. As viruses develop and mutate or mental health issues arise from new environmental changes, doctors and health professionals have had to become agile and learn at speed from the evidence around them.

Growing up with a mentally and physically disabled brother, Cam Bowie learned about disability from a young age and was naturally drawn to medicine and care. He remembers becoming quite good at wheelchair movement and not getting embarrassed when his brother made strange movements. ‘It was very formative’ he says ‘and the way that I’ve looked at life ever since is obviously realising we’re all different and some people have more difficulties than others in living.’

He studied at St Thomas’s Hospital in London and when he married his wife Claire they bought a Land Rover and traveled around the world for two years working in Nepal

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and traveling from Asia to Australia and back via Africa.

That was where he began to ‘appreciate different cultures, different religions, different people’s attitudes to things. And we got to know how poor people can be very happy, and how consumerism is totally different and is not something to aim for really, and I’ve been studying poverty really ever since because of that.’

Initially training as a pediatrician hoping to try and ‘help families with handicapped children’ he and his wife moved to Papua New Guinea where he was the only doctor on a 60 bed children’s ward. He worked day and night but found hundreds of children were dying of whooping cough, something he knew was a preventable disease if you are immunised. However, in Papua New Guinea the immunisation program wasn’t going well, so Cam decided to take on a public health role. He knew that trying to prevent diseases rather than deal with the cases was the obvious answer. ‘I trained up some superb Papua New Guinea nurses to do what I had been doing, like lumbar punctures and putting up drips and giving antibiotics and so forth, and organise the immunisations, and that worked really well.’

His ward was also getting a small epidemic of marasmic children which he explained is ‘children who are very wasted and dying of malnutrition in the ward.’ He discovered that it was those families that could afford to feed their children with western produced powdered milk that were getting ill. It turned out that they ‘were getting diarrhea because they weren’t being properly sterilised and the children were dying of gastroenteritis as well as the wasting. And that was crazy because Papua New Guinea are superb breastfeeders.

They’re absolutely brilliant!’ Enlisting the help of a local MP he helped write a draft bill to stop the use of bottles, teats, and baby powder. It was one of the first private members’ bills to go through that government. ‘We saved probably thousands of lives’ he says. ‘One of the things I learned was that for the right opportunity, public health can do fabulous things. The message I get from that is take every opportunity you can and a crisis is often a very good opportunity. And clearly what has failed in public health with our Covid experience is that we haven’t taken the opportunity of changing things using the emergency as a way of improving public health. We’ve done quite the reverse.’

Cam’s experience in Papua New Guinea prompted him to return to England and train a second specialty in Public Health describing the NHS training as ‘superb’. He stayed in Taunton for many years becoming a consultant, a specialist, and Director of Public Health where he was involved in many innovative initiatives. One of the main ones he speaks about in this interview involved approaches to mental health. He explains how people were ‘beginning to understand that large mental institutions, asylums, were

not actually appropriate and people didn’t actually get better’.

He believed there was a better way of de-institutionalizing that form of care. One of his jobs was to close the huge asylums. There were two; one in Wells had 1,400 beds all with mentally ill people in them. He set out to build smaller units in local areas which were much more accessible. This allowed for ‘more daycare, live at home with support or live in a sheltered accommodation.’ It was pioneering work and Cam explains how they gave all of the money saved to social services and they built up social care for that group of people. He says ‘parents were often very worried about it to start with but when they saw that it was working and how good social services were at running the services so people could stay at home, they got respite care and helping the families cope, it was fabulous. And we were one of the pioneers in the country in Somerset to do that.’

Although now retired, insights and practical knowledge such as this mean Cam’s philosophy and understanding of public health are born from valuable experience. He worries about the move towards centralisation of services.

‘With more equality, you get less crime, less

drugs, less alcoholism, less everything’

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‘There’s been a tendency over the last 30 years with all services, it’s not just health, for centralisation’ he says. ‘And the one thing I’ve learned is that—and I’ve been advising countries around the world on how to structure their health systems—is that the more decentralised, the better. Because the system we had 30/40 years ago and before that, it was all very local. I mean before the NHS it was all local and the more centralised you have it, the worst it gets and it’s not surprising. Everybody is different, every town is different. It needs to be based around being able to know all the GPs in the area and all the consultants and I used to know everyone.

You get them working together and you can run a really good service. So centralisation is harmful, and that’s true in other countries as well and subsidiarity should be the name of the game.’

Not surprisingly Cam believes the current government has dealt with the pandemic very badly. ‘They got everything wrong from the start’ he says. ‘They went for a form of trying to reduce it with herd immunity which was inappropriate. They should have gone for elimination. By

elimination, you don’t get rid of all cases, but you get it down to such a level that you can pick out each case and stamp on it like fire fighting, you can do that.’

Cam also talks about the future for the NHS and the opportunities that Public Health has missed. He points to the need to use the lessons from this pandemic. ‘With Cholera, we improve sanitation and sewage and water supply.

With HIV, we improve sexual behavior. With TB we improve housing.’ He would like politicians to learn from the mistake of allowing inequality. ‘Politicians don’t really, I think, understand that inequality reduces the quality of everybody’s life, not just the poor and the vulnerable. There’s some superb studies from Europe about equality and how it’s not between countries, but within countries. With more equality, you get less crime, less drugs, less alcoholism, less everything.’

Seth Dellow’s full interview with Cam Bowie is available to listen to on the Marshwood Vale Magazine website.

Visit www.marshwoodvale.com.

The family with the Papua New Guinea village headman and his family outside the grass house we used when off duty - 1976.

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October

EVENTS AND COURSES Whilst most events are still on schedule there may be last minute changes.

Please ensure to confirm the event is on before setting out 1 October

3 October

1 - 30 October

4 October

Emma Halnan & Eblana String Trio presented by Concerts in the West (£15) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973

Ricky Romain is guest artist for the month at Unique Framecraft, 4-5 Millwey Rise Workshop, Second Avenue, Axminster. EX13 5HH. Tel. 01297 631614 Instagram @ uniqueframecraft

2 October

Land Speaks, Heart Writes A one day workshop bringing together vision quest in nature with creative writing. Seeking insight and inspiration from the land, we spend time outside connecting deeply with nature. Bringing back her whispers and wisdom, there is time to write using journalling, story or poetry.

Finding and articulating your vision, we complete the day with the powerful experience of sharing words in circle under the sky. With experienced writer, medicine-walker and facilitator Emma Decent.

Numbers limited. 10am-4pm, Litton Cheyney, Bridport, Dorset Pay As You Feel £50-£80. For booking & information please see https://emmadecent.co.uk/land-speaks-heart-writes/ and email emmadecent@talk21.com ‘Centenary Quiz’ hosted by Friends of Lyme Regis Museum to celebrate 100 years of the Museum. Woodmead Hall, Lyme Regis, DT7 3PG. Starting at 7.30pm. Bar open from 7pm. £3 per person, with maximum team size of 6 (individuals & small groups can form teams on the night). Booking is essential – please email Val Doney on vdoney2@gmail.com Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 7.5 mile walk from Cerne Abbas. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

Beyond The Map Project printmaking and story-gathering short description: Come and share what is special to you about the Char Valley. Sessions are free but booking is essential as spaces are limited. http://beyondthemap.eventbrite.com 1 - 4pm James Hargreaves Hall, Morecombelake. beyondthemapproject@gmail. com

2 - 3 October

Dorset Greener Homes. Over 40 homes will be open over two weekends to showcase low energy living. New ecohomes, retrofits, sustainable lifestyles, heat pumps, solar panels and electric cars will be on show. Each home has a specific visiting time, and some require booking. Please check the website http://dorset. greenopenhomes.net/ Organised by Dorset CAN

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East Devon Ramblers Leisurely 7.5 ml walk from Uplyme.

Contact 01297-443836

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall. Bring your own water bottle 7.30 p.m.

- 10.00 p.m. No partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981.

Cost £1.50 www.chardscottishdancing.org Hawkchurch Film Nights in association with Devon Moviola, presents ‘Supernova’ (95 mins, Cert.15 - strong language, emotionally intense scenes) at Hawkchurch Village Hall, EX13 5XW. Doors open at 6.10pm for our new regular start time of 6.30pm. Tickets £5, either in advance from csma95@gmail.com or 01297 678176, or on the door. Refreshments available.

4 - 8 October

Creativity for Life (Level 1) intensive 5 day course - The Chapel in the Garden, Bridport. 9.30am - 4.00pm. ‘Serious play’ with art materials & group discussions. Small closed group. Successful course at London’s Central St. Martins’ College for 25+ years.

Suitable for artists & designers as well as beginners wanting to explore + develop creativity and self-expression further. Great if you are looking to find or change creative direction, feeling creatively stuck etc. Fun and challenging. Contact Mary Caddick (MA DipAT) asap to discuss the course & to book a place 07557 275275. email m.caddick@gmx.net “I learnt more about my own creative processes than in 6 years at art school.” “A deeply enriching experience.” (Next Level 2 Intensive 5 day course: Bridport 1-5 November.)

6 October

East Devon Ramblers Leisurely 8 ml walk from Parke Estate Bovey Tracey. Contact 01392-2144330 Tenebrae - Drop, Drop Slow Tears with Christian Forshaw 7.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Dorchester DT1 2LY Ticket price £28 / £26 members & concessions Nigel Short and a consort of Tenebrae singers are joined by virtuoso saxophonist Christian Forshaw in an ethereal sequence of penitential settings. Combining elements of ancient and modern to stunning effect. Also Tenebrae Workshop ticket £5.

Scottish Country Dancing at Hatch Beauchamp Village Hall TA3 6SG from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Please bring your own drink. It’s good fun, good company and great music. Also on 13th, 20th, 27th.

More information from Anita on 01460 929383 or anitaandjim22@ gmail.com or just come along and bring a friend.

Bridport Scottish dancers are meeting again at Salway Ash VH and Wednesdays 13th, 20th & 27th at Church House, South

Street, Bridport. 7.30 - 10.00. Fun, social and you don’t need a partner. All ages and abilities welcomed but please wear soft shoes. More information: Caroline on 01308 538141 or www. bridportscottishdancers.org.uk

7 October

‘TV Times-My 30 Years Making Television’ by Eric Harwood, a locally based producer of Heart and Soul Films. Eric will include clips from his celebrity projects, including Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Diana, Bob Geldof and John Lennon, plus extracts from his Great Wall of China epic film. Hosted by Friends of Lyme Regis Museum to celebrate 100 years of the Museum. Woodmead Hall, Lyme Regis, DT7 3PG. Starting at 2.30pm. Museum Friends £2, Visitors £3.

Charmouth Bridge Club A friendly group of bridge lovers playing duplicate or team bridge, 6.45pm (for 7pm start). St Andrews Hall, Lower Sea Lane, Charmouth DT6 6LH. Contact: Stephen Penty 07753 493 512 or Di Penty 07709 222 272 Tatworth Flower Club, doors open at 1.30pm. Holding AGM, after a demonstration by ‘Sally Oates’ a trainee demonstrator From Tetbury Glouc. Visitors £6, further information 01460 220431 Axminster Heritage Centre presents: A Georgian Coffee House from 9 till 4 pm Come and experience a Georgian Coffee House on the Minster Green at Axminster and in the Bradshaw Room at Axminster Heritage Centre. Coffee, teas, hot chocolate, cakes and savouries. Enjoy seeing participants in Georgian costumes.

Auction of Teapots and Craft Demonstrations in the Bradshaw Room.

Parasite (2019, South Korea, 15, 132 mins, Subtitles, Director: Bong Joon-ho). 7:30 pm. Award winning black comedy thriller.

Clapton & Wayford Village Hall (TA18 8PS). Membership £22, guests £4 per film. Contact mickpwilson53@btinternet.com or ring Mick Wilson on 01460 74849 or Di Crawley on 01460 30508.

Just re-started after a long shutdown, prices as they were in 2019.

Sensible COVID-19 precautions are in place.

8 October.

East Devon Ramblers Leisurely 5.5 ml walk from Salcombe Hill.

Contact 01395-519157 Shute Festival Concert in support of Afghanistan: Ricky Romain on Sitar and Lewis Riley on Tabla 7:30-9:00 pm with drinks St Michael’s Church, Shute £15. Book via www.shutefest.org.uk A Tribute to Trad by the Pedigree Jazz Band Traditional jazz 8pm (£18) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Lyme Regis u3a. The Lynmouth Floods – Act of God or Act of Man? Pam Hogan at 11am. To join the talk, please visit the lymeregisu3a.org web site for details of membership of the cooperative learning group and links to the monthly talks.

Milborne Movies Blinded By The Light 7.30pm, at the Village Hall, The Causeway, Milborne St Andrew DT11 0JX. Doors and bar open 7.00. Tickets cost £5, which includes a drink or an ice cream (Contactless payment preferred).

EVENTS IN NOVEMBER

Live or Online send your November event details to info@marshwoodvale.com by October 15th.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 17

October

EVENTS AND COURSES 8-17 October

Sidmouth Science Festival This year’s Festival has talks, competitions and a world record attempt. Some online as well as in person events. Register for free events at www. sidmouthsciencefestival.org or check out Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sidmouthscience/

9 October

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 7.5 mile walk from Bowleaze Cove. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

Herself (15) 7.30pm Set in Dublin, Clare Dunne shines as a separated mother and survivor of domestic violence, who fights the odds and the system to build a house for herself and her daughters. The Beehive, Honiton. www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050 The Friends of Beaminster Festival are delighted to promote its first concert for 18 months. They welcome Veles Ensemble String Trio to St Mary’s Church,Beaminster for a concert of music

by Boccherini,Beethoven,Kodaly & Dohnanyi at 3pm. Online tickets are available at £12 from 03336663366 or for cash at The Yarn Barton Centre, Beaminster and The book Shop 14 South Street,Bridport or on the door. For further information see www. ticketsource.co.uk Beyond The Map Project printmaking and story-gathering Come and share what is special to you about the Char Valley.

Sessions are free but booking is essential as spaces are limited. http://beyondthemap.eventbrite.com 10 - 12noon Whitchurch Canonicorum Village Hall. beyondthemapproject@gmail.com

Beyond The Map Project printmaking and story-gathering.

Come and share what is special to you about the Char Valley.

Sessions are free but booking is essential as spaces are limited. http://beyondthemap.eventbrite.com 10 - 12noon Whitchurch Canonicorum Village Hall. beyondthemapproject@gmail.com

11 October

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall. Bring your own water bottle 7.30 p.m.

- 10.00. p.m. No partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981.

Cost £1.50 www.chardscottishdancing.org Beaminster Moviola 7.30pm ‘The Last Bus’ in the Public Hall in Beaminster. Tickets are £5 if booked or £5.50 on the door. Ring Lesley on 01308 863336

12 October

Painting the Modern Garden - Monet to Matisse Lydia Bauman. The Beehive Community Centre, Dowell Street, Honiton, EX14 1LZ

13 October

East Devon Ramblers Moderate 10 ml walk on Dartmoor.

Contact 07870-804711

14 October

Shakti Mantra Yoga (Overtoning) Pure Sound Therapy Course Module 2 10am-5pm Oborne Village Hall, Oborne, nr. Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4LA You need to have taken our Angels of Sound Module 1 or equivalent 121s to take this Module. Whole 3 module course @ £180 with advance booking, or £70 per individual module. 01935 389655 ahiahel@live.com www.centreforpuresound. org Yard Sale Vintage-Retro-Mid-Century China, Clothes, Jewellery, Tools, Books & much more 10am - 4pm Sunnyside Sandford Orcas Dorset DT9 4RU, 01963 220855

Chard Royal Naval Association The association has returned to social meetings at the Chard Rugby Football Club, Essex Close, Chard at 7.30pm on the second Thursday of all months. Any one interested in joining the local branch is invited to attend any of their meetings where they will be made most welcome. Since lockdown membership is attainable now by a donation only.

Further details can be obtained from the Chair Paula Moon on 01460 929041 or via their Facebook link under Chard Royal Naval Association.

Shute Festival James Crowden on Cider Country in conversation with Martin Hesp 6:30-7:30 pm with cider tasting to follow St Michael’s Church, Shute £10. Book via www.shutefest.org.uk Charmouth Bridge Club. A friendly group of bridge lovers playing duplicate or team bridge, 6.45pm (for 7pm start). St Andrews Hall, Lower Sea Lane, Charmouth DT6 6LH. Contact: Stephen Penty 07753 493 512 or Di Penty 07709 222 272

10 October

15 October

9 - 10 October

Flats & Sharps are a four-piece bluegrass outfit from Penzance, Cornwall. Delivering energetic, enthusiastic and spirited Bluegrass.

Touring Dorset with Artsreach, full information and tickets are available online at www.artsreach.co.uk 7.30 pm Milborne St Andrew Village Hall Tickets Adults £10, under 18s £6 Family £28.

Tel. 01258 839060. Tickets also available online at www.artsreach. co.uk Lawrence: After Arabia pre-release film screening followed by Director Q&A, 3pm & 7pm, Herrison Hall, Charlton Down, Dorchester DT2 9UA Ticket price £10.

18 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

Coffee morning and card sale for Cancer Research with Usborne Books for Children. 9am - 1pm. Skyrm Room, Public Hall, 8 Fleet St Beaminster DT8 3EF. Contact Kate L’argent 07952 577661 if you would like any further information.

Byron Wallen’s Four Corners 8pm, Dorset Museum Ticket price £15 / £13 members & concessions Widely recognised as a seminal figure in world jazz, trumpeter and composer, Byron Wallen has released his new album Portrait featuring his band Four Corners.

Inspired by early Renaissance music, Central and East African

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 19

October

EVENTS AND COURSES rhythm and polyphony, and the music of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and Thelonius Monk.

John Etheridge and Chris Garrick with ‘Sweet Chorus’ Vintage Jazz 8 pm (£20) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Wet Felting one day workshop 10am – 3pm With tutor Geraldine Field (£30) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 India Electric Co. 7.30pm India Electric Co. use traditional instruments in contemporary styles to explore diverse themes from Eastern Europe, Irish traditions and modern urban alienation. The Beehive, Honiton. www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050

15 & 16 October

Ronan Magill. Now returned from many years in Japan this noted pianist and composer will revisit Tincleton, programme as yet unknown, but undoubtedly playing “with an elegance and sensitivity” as always. Tincleton Gallery, The Old School House, Tincleton, nr Dorchester, DT2 8QR, doors open 19:30; concert starts 20:00 Admission fee: £15. 01305 848 909. www. tincletongallery.com

16 October

C.U.P.I.D. the mutual support group for ostomists, i.e. anyone with a stoma (colostomy, urostomy, ileostomy) or pouch, will be meeting at the Dorford Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester DT1 1RR, between 10:00 and noon. Maria Manousi of Suportx garments will be there to display and advise on their products. Our speaker, Dr Sue Beckers will be informing us about healthy diets with her talk: Pure, White and Deadly. Come along to an informal gathering, share tips, try our quiz or just enjoy a chat and a ‘cuppa’.

While and Matthews 7.30pm “The undisputed queens of British folk duos continue to come up with the goods, 1st class songs delivered with to-die-for harmonies, immaculate musicianship & melodies that lodge themselves in your brain” The Beehive, Honiton. www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050 Art, Craft and Vintage Collectibles Market on Saturday October 16th at The Masonic Hall, South St, Axminster EX13 5AD 10.30 to 4.30pm Coffee, teas and cakes. Paintings, jewellery, wood turning, Liberty Print bags, flowers, vintage collectibles, Meccano demonstration. Locally made crafts and makers.

Organ Concert by nationally renowned musician and broadcaster Simon Lole. St Mary’s Church, Charminster DT2 9RD at 6.30 pm. followed by wine and nibbles: Including music by Widor, Bach, Alcock & Howells. Tickets @ £10.00 each must be pre-booked from (Tel.) 01305 213403”

17 October

East Devon Ramblers Leisurely 7.5 ml walk from Blagdon Hill.

Contact 07737-182454 Budapest Cafe Orchestra 8pm, Herrison Hall, Charlton Down, Dorchester DT2 9UA Ticket price £16 / £14 members & concessions.

Divine Union Soundbath 2pm-4pm Bridport Unitarians, 49 East 20 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

St., Bridport DT6 3JX £15. Please book firmly in advance. 01935 389655 ahiahel@live.com www.centreforpuresound.org Bridport & District u3a are holding an Open Day between 3pm and 5pm, at St Mary’s Church Hall and Covid safety measures will be in place. For further details please visit our website www. bridportu3a.org.uk, or email info@bridportu3a.org.uk

18 October

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall. Bring your own water bottle 7.30 p.m.

- 10.00 p.m. No partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981.

Cost £1.50 www.chardscottishdancing.org

19 October

Still Life one day workshop 10am – 3pm With tutor Heather Ford (£25) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973

20 October

East Devon Ramblers Moderate 7 ml walk from Musbury.

Contact 01297-552313 The Beehive Acoustic 7.30pm Open Mic Night in the café at The Beehive. Hosted by Terry Stacey. Everyone is welcome whether it is to come along, have a beer and listen or to play and sing. The Beehive, Honiton. www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050 Colyton & District Garden Society – ‘Plants that Excite’ – talk

by Peter Cantrill, Dayspring Plants. 7.30pm start at Colyford Memorial Hall. Members free, guests £3. All Covid precautions will be observed. Information: Sue Price 01297 552362.

21 October

Arts Society West Dorset 2.30 pm. Bridport Town Hall. Ancient Egyptian Treasures in the Fitzwilliam Museum Visitors welcome £7.50 taswestdorset.org.uk Collage Art with Frida Kahlo 10am – 3pm With tutor Heather Ford (£25) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Old Herbaceous - Artsreach PMac Productions with Artsreach.

Performances at 2:30 and 7:30. Ticket includes afternoon tea (2:30 performance) / a glass of beer or wine (7:30 performance) Shipton Gorge Village Hall Full information and tickets available online at www.artsreach.co.uk For enquiries, call 01308 897407 Charmouth Bridge Club A friendly group of bridge lovers playing duplicate or team bridge, 6.45pm (for 7pm start). St Andrews Hall, Lower Sea Lane, Charmouth DT6 6LH. Contact: Stephen Penty 07753 493 512 or Di Penty 07709 222 272 Concert at Eype Centre for the Arts Jess Upton, Robbie McIntosh and Steve Wilson + support - £12 + booking fee. Starts 7.30, doors 6.30 Bookings - https://umweype.eventbrite.co.uk Bar, Parking St Peter’s Church, Eype DT6 6AP

21 - 30 October

Bridport Housing Week Workshop on combining modern design and building methods with the use of local natural materials

22nd & 21st October & 29th & 30th October at Plottingham Playing Fields (by Bridport Bus Station). Organised by Raise the Roof, visit: raisetheroof.info. We Can Do It Ourselves -Tackling Bridport’s housing crisis through community-led solutions. An evening talk and discussion Thursday October 21st, 5:30 – 7:30pm, Bridport Town Hall. Book a free place via Eventbrite https:// www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/we-can-do-it-ourselves-tackling-bridportshousing-crisis-tickets-170409822366 or email lucy.beasley@ wessexca.co.uk. Bridport Housing Event 10am to 2pm, Saturday 30th October, Bridport Town Hall. Energy Efficiency Campaign, Lowering Household Bills 12am to 4pm, Saturday 30th October, W.I.Hall, North St. Please visit our website at wwwBridportACH. org.uk or Facebook page @BridportACH

22 October

East Devon Ramblers Moderate 4.8 ml walk from Branscombe.

Contact 07854-685433 Albert Lee and Band 7.30pm The Beehive, Honiton. www. beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050 The Unravelling Wilburys 8pm, Herrison Hall, Charlton Down, Dorchester DT2 9UA Ticket price: £16 / £14 members & concessions Performing the songs of the 1980s supergroup.

Alan Barnes, Art Themen and the Dave Newton Trio Modern Jazz (£20) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Slow stitch Christmas cards half day workshops Morning session 10am – 12:30pm Afternoon session 1:15pm – 3:45pm With tutor Paula Simpson (£20) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Somerset Wildlife Trust Ilminster/Chard group October illustrated presentation by Colin Ryall: “World of Cuckoos & other brood parasites” Meeting starts at 7.30pm at the Parish Hall, North St, Ilminster TA19 0DG, roadside parking (subject to availability), Tesco or public car parks.Suggested donation: Adult members £3, non-members £4, no charge for children. The meeting will take place within current Covid-guidance. Enquiries: Valerie 01460 234551

23 October

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 6 mile walk from Broadwindsor. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

Scottish Dancing Party in Chardstock Evening of Social Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall. 7.30 p.m. - 10.30.p.m. No partner required. Please bring your own plate of food. Tea and coffee provided. Contact David on 01460 65981. Cost £3.00 www.chardscottishdancing.org Beginners sewing machine one day workshop 10am – 2:30pm With tutor Paula Simpson (£35) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973

24 October

East Devon Ramblers Moderate 10.5 ml walk Golden Cap. Contact 01395-260114 Divine Union Soundbath 2pm-4pm Ninesprings Natural health Centre 70 Hendford Yeovil BA20 1UR £15. Please book firmly in advance. 01935 389655 ahiahel@live.com www. centreforpuresound.org Celebrating Honiton and Crown Dorset Pottery a presentation

by Gill Sarre highlighting special occasions, medals and commemorative pottery. At The Heathfield Inn Function Room, Walnut Road, Honiton EX14 2UG Visitors welcome £2 More info on our HPCS Facebook Group Page or website www.hpcsoc.com or Email hpcsoc@hotmail.co.uk

25 October

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall. Bring your own water bottle 7.30- 10.00 p.m. No partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981. Cost £1.50

26 October

Creative acrylics one day workshop 10am – 3pm With tutor Heather Ford (£25) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Show of Hands ‘The Best One Yet’ tour 7.30pm. The Beehive, Honiton. www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050 Bridport and District u3a presents the postponed illustrated talk by Colin Varndell entitled ‘A Year in the Country’ at Bridport United Church Hall 2pm, and Covid safety measures will be in place. Pease note, pre-booking is required as numbers will be limited. Visit www.bridportu3a.org.uk, or email info@bridportu3a. org.uk

27 October

East Devon Ramblers Moderate 9 ml walk Woodbury Common.

Contact 07706-078143

28 October

Learn to Sew Together one day workshop 10am – 3pm With tutor Gary Mills (£55) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Charmouth Bridge Club A friendly group of bridge lovers playing duplicate or team bridge, 6.45pm (for 7pm start). St Andrews Hall, Lower Sea Lane, Charmouth DT6 6LH. Contact: Stephen Penty 07753 493 512 or Di Penty 07709 222 272

29 October

East Devon Ramblers Leisurely 5.3 ml walk from Hawkchurch.

Contact 01460-220636 Beatles with Wings Classic Pop Classic McCartney songs from a superb tribute group 8pm (£20) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973 Beginners Sewing Machine Cushion one day workshop 10am – 3pm With tutor Paula Simpson (£35) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973

30 October

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 8 mile walk from Cogden. For information 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman On Reflection 8pm, Dorset Museum Ticket price: £18 / £16 members & concessions An introduction to Calligraphy one day workshop 10:30am – 1:30pm With tutor Ruth Sutherland (£30) Ilminster Arts Centre Box Office 01460 54973

31 October

Garden Open Just Lawsbrook, Brodham Way, Shillingstone.

DT11 0TE 10-4pm.

Shute Festival Talking Walk with tree expert Jill Butler in Shute’s Deer Park 2-4:30 pm £15 Book via www.shutefest.org.uk Meet at Shute Gate House EX13 7QR Divine Union Soundbath 2pm-4pm Oborne Village Hall, Oborne, nr. Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4LA £15 Please book firmly in advance. 01935389655 ahiahel@live.com www. centreforpuresound.org

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 21

Woodbury Castle A glimpse of ancient history in East Devon by Philip Strange

T

he Pebblebed Heaths in East Devon constitute the largest block of lowland heath in the county. Named for the underlying pebble-rich geology, this extensive area of heathland lies along a ridge between the Otter and Exe rivers.

Many rare creatures flourish here and numerous remnants of past lives are also dotted about. These include prehistoric burial mounds and earthworks but the archaeological jewel in the crown of this special East Devon place is the Iron Age hillfort of Woodbury Castle. Its extensive ramparts are at least 2500 years old but remarkably well preserved and holding a history well worth uncovering, as I found when I visited on a sunny day towards the end of August.

Woodbury Castle is situated on Woodbury Common, one of the tracts of heathland making up the Pebblebed Heaths and I parked in the visitors car park, set in a clearing surrounded by trees and scrub. Rose bay willowherb also grew there, its bright pink flowers partly replaced by white cotton wool seeds, a rather unsubtle reminder of the impending approach of autumn. The earthworks of Woodbury Castle were a short walk from the car park, partly concealed in a grove of broad leaf trees.

It was only when I got closer to the Castle that the size and extent of the earthen ramparts became clear. The main fortification consists of two impressive soil ridges, separated by a deep ditch, that snake their way around the perimeter of the site. Further soil barriers and ditches provide additional protection in some parts. In the past, visitors were able to scramble across the earthworks leading to considerable erosion. Recent repairs have added wooden stairways to protect the ramparts and provide easier access.

I climbed the stairway over the lower ridge and paused at the bottom of the ditch to get a better view of the ramparts and to appreciate their size. After scaling the second, higher ridge, I descended about three metres into a large, roughly oval, open area approximately the size of two football pitches.

This is the main enclosure protected by the fortifications.

Dappled light filtered through the mature beech trees growing there creating a peaceful scene.

Helpful information boards with pictorial reconstructions were provided, giving some idea about contemporary life.

Large earthworks such as these were probably centres for tribal groups. They would have required a huge effort to build and perhaps reflected the status of the community, being as much about display as defence. Excavations have provided evidence that the enclosure contained several thatched roundhouses where people lived and a granary raised above the ground to protect the contents. The site is interrupted by the road splitting it into two sections, making it difficult to

22 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

envisage the full extent of the enclosure. This apparent desecration of an ancient site is not, however, recent and a track is thought to have existed here for many hundreds of years.

I paused to stand in the enclosed area and tried to imagine life at the time. I smelt woodsmoke from fires in the roundhouses and heard the chatter of people and the noises they created as they went about their work including fashioning wooden items and spinning wool.

A few were standing on the ramparts, perhaps watching for new arrivals or even invaders. Woodbury Castle is set on the highest point on the Heaths, 185 metres above sea level, and there would have been little tree cover at that time. Our lookouts would have enjoyed panoramic views across Woodbury Common—to the East over the Otter Valley, towards the sea at what are now Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton and to the west

Opposite: View of the ramparts and ditch at Woodbury Castle.

Below and opposite: Brimstone butterfly on bell heather; Cross-leaved heath; Ling (heather) in the foreground with bell heather behind.

over the Exe Valley with views as far as Dartmoor and Exmoor on a clear day.

We know very little about what has happened at Woodbury Castle since prehistoric times but there are a few clues. In 1549 during the bloody Prayerbook Rebellion, armed forces may have camped in the earthworks before the inconclusive Battle of Woodbury Common. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Castle was used as an army training camp and since then Woodbury Common has been exploited periodically for military preparation. A large Royal Marines camp was built on the Common in the run up to the D-Day landings during WW2 and remains of the buildings can still be found among the heather. To this day, parts of the Common are used regularly for training by Royal Marines from Lympstone Barracks.

Most of the time, though, Woodbury Common is quiet and a popular place for walking. In the main, the landscape is undulating dry heathland with a low covering of gorse, bracken, heathers and a few trees but there are some small areas of wetland where the vegetation is richer. The Common is criss-crossed by clear paths and walking is exhilarating with occasional views across Lyme Bay to the south. Some paths are quite pebbly reflecting the underlying geology. Many rare species including the Dartford warbler, the nightjar and the heath potter wasp can be seen on the Common and

the area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. In 2020, the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths were designated as a National Nature Reserve in recognition of their unique habitat and wildlife.

When I visited, the heathers were in flower lending the heath a subtle purple tinge. Bell heather was beginning to turn but the ling (heather) was in full purplish-pink flower. Cross leaved heath with its pink bells also showed well in places. Whenever I stopped to look at the heather flowers, there was a background low buzz from the many honeybees foraging; local beekeepers were clearly doing well. On one occasion, though, I had left the main path and walked a little way on to the heath to examine the heathers when a voice boomed out behind me: ‘There are quite a few adders about! Just warning you!’ I hadn’t seen any adders but I thanked the owner of the voice and retreated quickly back on to the path to continue my walk. A good number of butterflies were on the wing in the sunshine including small tortoiseshell and gatekeeper but the highlight was several brimstone butterflies dancing about above the heath like fragments of bright greenish sunshine.

Philip Strange is Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Reading. He writes about science and about nature with a particular focus on how science fits in to society. His work may be read at http://philipstrange.wordpress.com/

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 23

News&Views

CORSCOMBE Tractor Death

Officers investigating a road traffic collision in West Dorset are appealing for witnesses or anyone with relevant dashcam footage to come forward. The collision near Corscombe involving a yellow Renault tractor, which was equipped with a front end loader and a rear fitted hay bobber, resulted in the death of the driver, a local woman aged in her 60s. Road closures were put in place to allow the emergency services to respond to the incident and for an examination of the collision scene to take place. Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk, via email at scit@dorset.pnn.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting incident number 6:755.

DORCHESTER Music While You Shop

Signs of life returning to our high streets were further enhanced by the return of the popular Saturday live music performances in Dorchester. Funded via the businesses of Dorchester through the DBID, shoppers enjoyed a wide range of quality performances from The Decadettes, We are Wilson, Emily Jean, Ed Hintze, In2theBlue and Nica Garcia. South Street benefitted from some lovely music drifting through the air from outside the Last Post.

LYME REGIS Candles on the Cobb

It has been announced by The Rotary Club of Lyme Regis that Candles on the Cobb will be back next year on 28th August 2022.

It will be particularly poignant after the traumatic effect of the last two years where it had to be delayed because of the Covid 19 pandemic. The event, normally held every three years was created by Phil Street (ex Town Crier) and Mike Higgs (Deputy Harbour Master) in 2000. Over the years it has raised approaching £150,000 for local charities. Next year over 5000 candles will be lit to light up the Lyme Regis Cobb harbour and each candle will be available for members of the public to sponsor. Follow progress at www.lymeregisrotary.org.

24 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

DORCHESTER Dorset

South Western Railway (SWR) has announced the completion of six cycle parking schemes at stations across the BCP and Dorset council areas. As travellers return to the railway, and the weekly commute is reintroduced, customers using Weymouth, Dorchester South, Wareham, Parkstone, Bournemouth and Gillingham railway stations will now have access to new and improved facilities. As part of the projects, which were funded by the Department for Transport as well as Dorset Council and BCP Council, cyclists will notice increased parking for their bicycles as well as upgraded CCTV to improve security. A similar scheme was completed at Sherborne station last year.

WEYMOUTH Centres of Excellence

Two new Centres of Excellence offering the latest state-of-the-art training facilities for construction and engineering students in West Dorset have now been officially unveiled. The new Centres of Excellence for Construction and Engineering at Weymouth College have been made possible thanks to over £1.5 million of investment from Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) via a Government Local Growth Fund allocation. These facilities will provide a much-needed boost for the local construction and engineering sectors. For more information visit the Dorset LEP website http://www. dorsetlep.co.uk/

Man-Made Miracles Laterally Speaking by Humphrey Walwyn

I

t’s amazing what various scientists around the world have been working on during many months of lockdown. Here are just a few lateral examples of possible new products that might be available soon. In case you’re worried by some of them, don’t be. Most of them will never receive any financial backing to make them into real products. And if you do find some of these online, my advice would be NOT to buy them. They are probably untested, and might explode and turn you into a frog or something.

The Anti-Vax Vaccine (AVV): We may have rolled out the Covid vaccine to millions of people, but not everybody wants to take it. That’s quite understandable - nobody actually likes having needles stuck into their arm. This AVV jab will help you as it’s designed to soothe any fears about being vaccinated. It’s like a placebo—completely harmless and 101% safe—because there’s actually nothing in it! Just a few drops of sterilised water! It should remove any fears about needles or hurty arms or any Q-Anon conspiracy worries about politicians dressed as lizards and fake sugar ingredients. You can see with your own eyes that the AVV vaccine is completely transparent and clear like water, because that’s all it is. H2O. Water. Will it hurt? Will I get sick? Will I grow into an iguana etc? No worries! Once you’ve received the AVV jab, you then realise that being vaccinated is a perfectly OK procedure. Afterwards, you can go and have a real Covid injection without any further doubts or concerns!

The Time-Shifter: This is the month when the clocks go back one hour. Are you already worried about it? This little battery radio device (realistically priced at only £2,995) is tuned to the gentle muzak of Radio 2 and will instantly soothe you to sleep and remove any fears you might have about putting the clocks back. Turn it on all night on October 31st and simply remember not to touch any of the clocks in your house! Just leave everything as it is. Simple, Easy! The following morning, you wake up and look at your bedroom clock. Lo and Behold, phew—it’s still only 8am!

But you’ll find that everyone else in the world has gone

mad. They think it’s one hour earlier at 7am, but you just tell yourself they’re wrong. OK, so you might turn up one hour early for every meeting today, but you’ll be seen as energetic, fresh, alive and keen to get ahead (which of course you already are by one hour). It may be the rest of the world’s winter, but you’ll stay in summertime all year long!

The Sporty Pill: We all witnessed last month some amazing UK sporting successes. These were of course down to exceptional sporting talent and skill, but it’s a little-known lateral fact that some sportsmen and women may also have benefitted from swallowing a remarkable new skill pill.

Exclusively imported from North Korea, it’s the same size as a Smartie and comes in different flavours: red is for tennis and blue is for golf. Don’t take the yellow one—it’s supposed to make you a better swimmer but it’s still in development and all it’ll do for you now is make you quack loudly and grow webbed feet. But the red one really does work and it’s available right now! Just take one at breakfast each day and you’ll be on Wimbledon’s Centre Court before you can say Emma Raducanu!

Fake News Detector: Sold as small packets of pink tissues, if you read something in the newspaper that you’re sure is untrue, remove a Fake News tissue and lay it on top of the offending article. If the newsprint goes bright red, you’re correct! It’s full of lies. This is so useful! Try it on the adverts in next Sunday’s newspaper. Or small ads for second hand cars. Watch as the porky pies are instantly revealed!

Tally Band: Pop this neat little wrist band onto your arm and within just a few days you will have grown a magnificent dense beard! I tried it and it works! See my photo on this page. Quite remarkable. Your beard almost grows in front of your very eyes. WARNING: not to be used if you’re female. Not only do women look fairly uncool if they’re sporting a large beard, the Tally Band is unpredictable and might cause you to be stoned without further warning.

Either that or they might chop off your beard with an axe.

Unfortunately, this often includes the removal of your head along with your beard.

Growing a beard can transform your look and your life. NB: I am the one on the right

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 25

Advertorial

BEER QUARRY CAVES IN OCTOBER

T

he exquisite English novelist LP. Hartley, like our caves, is a bit understated. But his best known quote that “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there,” from his book The Go Between applies very much to Beer Quarry Caves. That’s why we invite you here to see them; to explore this foreign country that is our past. Recently, we have been humbled by the extraordinary enthusiasm, especially of our younger and teenage visitors, for what the guides have to tell them about the caves. We are working hard, especially through this Winter, to have a lot more of the detailed geography of the past to share with visitors next year.

In October Four of Swords perform Medea at Beer Quarry Caves, For those who like the remote past in dramatic form our resident players to be, (we hope) the Four of Swords theatre company, will be with us in October to perform Euripides’s Medea, first performed in Greece in 431 BC. This is a play that is older than the worked parts of the caves, that has survived the test of time, uniquely. The work was rediscovered in Rome in the first century AD, then vanished until the European enlightenment of the 16th century. Now, it is never off the stage somewhere in the world, perhaps because there is something very modern about the plot.

Faithless sailor husband Jason abandons posh celeb wife Medea for another. Medea takes revenge by murdering her replacement and then her children by Jason. You don’t have to ponder for long to see the plots of a thousand and one TV police-detective dramas here. Nonetheless, Sarah White, one half the Four of Swords founding team, with Peter Kingslan John, plays a Medea such as I have never seen, even on the West End stage in London. She performed sublimely beyond the professional. There was an intensity of passion that Sarah projected in her last performance at the Caves, that was totally riveting. You could feel the story reach out across all those centuries and pin you to the rocky walls of the caves, nail you there, even. In the local drama competition for the year 431 BC at Dionysia, Euripides came third out of three. Mind you, Sophocles was one of the other competitors.

Here is what a commentator in Exeter said about an earlier performance of Medea at the caves.

“There’s only one problem with intimate and almost tangible theatre like this, the kind that which surrounds you, whisks you up and takes you with it – you won’t want to go back to sitting in an auditorium again.”

Fran McElhone, Express & Echo For booking visit www.beerquarrycaves.co.uk Going even further underground at BQC. In a bid to find out more about the past at the caves we are planning Project Arlo. This will see a camera sent down into

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a space we have only heard stories about. The story is that two potholers some years ago, got into a set of hidden caves beneath the caves you can see around you, for two days.

Unfortunately they left no written records. We thought of hiring more potholers but Arlo Cahill, 10, Stoke Hill Primary School Year Six made the more practical suggestion that we send a camera down first, and limit the risk to humans—and costs. So that we’ll do, as soon as we can, hopefully with the media in attendance.

Young Arlo will deputise with Steve Rodgers in the project, perhaps learning one of life’s vital lessons; never volunteer for anything lest you succeed, and they give you the job.

Top of the world. Trip advisor.

To our huge surprise, since it’s a competition you cant apply for, and which only the subscribers to Trip Advisor can vote in, Beer Quarry Caves was rated amongst the top 10% of visitor attractions—in the world this year. Truth to tell our visitors this year do suggest that our caves are popular and all we, Steve, me and the guides can say is “Hey, you ain’t seen nothing yet” And, like our country, which is still suffering a bad pandemic, what we like to do is to look on the bright side of things. There is still plenty of it. The country made the UEFA final but far more spectacularly, came 2nd in a world of 197 countries in the Tokyo Paralympics. The only country that beat us, China, has a selection of 1.3 billion athletes to choose from, to our 65 million. And mentioning China, did anyone notice that our new tennis superstar, 18 year old Emma Radacanu from Bromley in Kent addressed her Chinese fans in Mandarin, the main language of the People’s Republic of China—and of 1.3 billion people. What a fan club to have?

Flint.

For over 2 million years flint was mankind’s main and only tool resource. Put another way, flint has only not been mankind’s main tool for a little over 2,000 or 3,000 years.

Steve plods the fields and scours the hillside above the caves for the gorgeous flint artefacts he finds there. He is convinced and the evidence supports him, that the area of the caves was a flint source, supplying flint widely in the West Country and maybe abroad to the Channel Islands and to France. This Winter Steve will visit Stonehenge, the British Museum and places further north, to find out all he can for our visitors, about the story of flint at Beer.

Steve Rodgers. Member of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, Director and Flint Master at the Caves.

Kevin Cahill, Fellow emeritus of the Royal Historical Society, historian in residence and author of Who Owns Ireland, 448 pages, The History Press, Published on 1st August 2021

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...ad Astra

By Cecil Amor

M

y posting was to RAF Chivenor, near Barnstable, North Devon and I found the usual wooden hut, but divided into three sections, each holding about 5 beds and a coal fired stove. The walls were lined with composition board. Adjacent to the bed opposite mine was a large colour photograph of Princess Margaret, probably a centre fold from a magazine such as Picture Post, common at the time. The next occupier of that bed looked at the picture and started to tear it down, to reveal a large hole in the wall lining. He hastily replaced the picture, as we all knew the phrase “barrack room damages”, which we would be responsible for, although the originator was long gone, probably after a fight with a broom. From time to time our billets were inspected by an officer and NCO, for cleanliness and damage and on one visit, the officer commented “Good clean and regal billet”. What was not noticed was that wind entered the gap under the lining, creating the effect of breathing on the royal breast.

At that time the electricians were in two groups, Aircraft and Ground. I was in the latter, so did not touch an aircraft during my two years service. As the title implied we dealt with everything except aircraft and the only aircraft item we were involved with was charging batteries, both those carried on aircraft and those used to start the engines. So we manned the battery charging room, taking turns by day and night. The engines were started from a Trolley-Accumulator, which carried a number of heavy duty batteries, larger than car batteries and charged by wheeling the trolleys to surround the charging room, via large plugs into sockets around the building. These Niphan plugs were very unwieldy on wet freezing nights, as we had to clamber over the large trolleys to check if the batteries were fully charged, so that another could be wheeled into place.

With leave, sickness and courses, we were often short of a spare hand in our section. On a rota, one electrician spent a week as Duty Electrician, sorting out any problems on the camp, by day and night. One regular job was to switch the Flasher Beacon on before dusk, situated in a distant part of the airfield. This had several large neon tubes, which flashed the station call sign at intervals to advise any nearby aircraft. We would get a call telling us that the beacon was to be switched off again, usually in the small hours, as there were no neighbouring flights, with the usual threat that if you do not get out of bed and switch it off “you will be on a charge”. This of course disturbed everyone. We had the use of the Station Bicycle for this purpose, which was satisfactory riding out, but having reached and switched off the beacon, I was still dazzled by the light and the airfield was pitch black. The Air Traffic Control office was the only light left on, so I headed for that and then could find my way.

Another regular call out was to the Station Police billet, to repair a fuse. The SP’s regularly ironed the knife edge creases in their tunics by plugging in an electric iron into the lamp socket, which naturally was against standing orders. On one occasion I was returning to camp by train overnight with another airman and we both slept through a call that the train would

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divide and we went on to the next resort. When we eventually returned to our camp we had overstayed our leave pass, as the SP on duty at the gate had pleasure in telling us, and that we would be on a charge, probably meaning a fortnight in the cell at the gatehouse, with chores. Then he suddenly looked at me again and said “You are one of the electricians” and I agreed, so he said you had better get back to your Section and we will forget it. Two wrongs sometimes make a right !

We frequently had to service the flare path, along the side of the runway, with aircraft taking off or landing very close. The lamps were sodium type. On my first experience I accompanied a more experienced airman and when I stopped to find suitable tools to remove a casing, he said “No need for that, just give it a kick”. A very useful lesson, which I repeated many times! We had to report to a Flight Control Caravan as we first approached the runway and on one occasion I was told to be careful as “they were a fresh lot of pilots and they are all over the place”. The camp was a conversion airfield from piston engined aircraft to jets.

Another electrician, who had signed on as a regular, but decided he wished to return to “Civvy Street”, was trying to plead mental illness. When he was Duty Electrician, and so confined to camp for the week, he was also manning the battery charging room by day. He left camp and next day was marched in front of the Group Captain to receive punishment. I was detailed as one of his guards and I was worried as I had not shaved that morning, but this went unnoticed as his long list of charges was read out. He had left camp without leave, left the charging room unattended, left the keys to the charging room “open to theft” in his billet, and so on. He was sentenced to several weeks in the guard room, which left us one man short to cover other duties.

Following his pleading he was sent to RAF Wroughton, in Wiltshire, for examination by a doctor skilled in mental illness.

The visit was over the New Year and two escorts were required from the Electrical and associated Instrument Section. The senior NCO was very considerate and found a Flight Sergeant who came from Bristol and myself from Wiltshire, with the suggestion that we hand the prisoner over and then could visit home for the week end. On the train journey we changed trains and whilst waiting for the connection our “prisoner” asked if he could use the toilet block on the platform, and we agreed. We were not handcuffed and he entered. After some time the “Flight” said “Do you think there is an exit at the rear?” and we both went to investigate, but there was no other exit. The prisoner eventually appeared and said “I hope you chaps were not worried?”

On arrival at Wroughton on Friday we were told they were on 48 hour leave, so could not take charge of our prisoner, but we could stay there and look after him. The “Flight” quietly said to me that he thought the prisoner would be no trouble before his interview, so he proposed to go home to Bristol for the night, returning next day, when I could go to my home near Devizes, stay the night, New Year’s Eve, and return next day. We

successfully completed these arrangements and I made a surprise visit to my parents. The prisoner completed his interview with the doctor and the “Flight” was given papers with his report to take back to our Station Commander. During the trip back to our camp the prisoner continually begged to have a sight of the papers, which might give him suitable information for future examinations. This was resisted. The prisoner was safely returned and eventually saw the Station Commander again. After some time we learnt that the prisoner was being posted to another camp, in Wales.

This was the usual service answer for awkward men, move them on, but in this case it was sensible, as he came from Wales and would be nearer to his family.

We had annual visits from the Officer Commanding the Area. One lunch time the Airmans Mess suddenly appeared with white table cloths over the usual bare wood, with flowers. Also potted palms and some of the RAF orchestra at one end of the Mess. The meal was unusually good and we could truthfully answer the visitors that the food is good. They also visited our workstations, which had linoleum flooring, normally scratched by boots. Our Corporal told me to go to the Naffi and tell the Chief that their floorpolisher was due for its regular checkover and she gladly gave it to me. We polished the floor satisfactorily and returned it to the Naffi, saying it had past its tests and she thanked me gratefully! Our wooden benches were clad with sheet metal which had been painted with gloss paint, which was badly scratched by the items worked on. Again I was instructed to borrow some black gloss anti acid paint from the battery room and this made them very bright and shiny, but one would assume the bench had not been worked on. Then I was told to fit a small component to an electric drill and be seen to be working on it when visited, so I did so, stripped it again and refitted it again, and again. The officer inspecting eventually looked around the workshop and commended us on its smartness.

Chivenor had a cinema on camp, the “Astra”.

Imagine what is was like when full of men, when showing a film featuring Marilyn Monroe! On the day of our de-mob 3 or 4 us, unknown to each other but linked by having commenced our National Service on the same day, assembled to see an officer individually, who suggested that we might rejoin as a regular. I told him that National Service had interrupted my career and I was looking forward to recommencing it and continuing the necessary qualifications. When I joined the others they could not understand why I was not carrying papers to rejoin and when I asked how they had replied to the officer, they said they might rejoin, as they did not wish to hurt his feelings!

So ended my time with “Per ardue ad Astra”, (The RAF).

Bridport History Society will meet on Tuesday 12th October at 2 for 2.30, when Brian Bates will talk about Villians, Victims and Tragedies, from the Dorset Archives, his latest book. (Still on Zoom).

Cecil Amor, Hon President, Bridport History Society.

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House&Garden

Vegetables in October

By Ashley Wheeler

O

ctober is the last real push in the garden before things really start to quieten down. Almost all of the outdoor planting is now done for the year (apart from some garlic and broad beans), and this month brings the turn around of the polytunnels, with all of the remaining summer crops being taken out and beds planted up mainly with winter salad, but also some early peas, spring onions, parsley, chervil, coriander, chard and perpetual spinach.

Outdoors there is still time to cover any bare beds with either mulch (straw or compost) or ideally a green manure to keep living roots in the soil. It is best to have a mix of different plant types in a green manure, but at this time of year it is only really feasible to sow cereal rye and maybe some other grains. Earlier in August and September we were sowing mixtures of oats, phacelia, fenugreek, linseed, buckwheat, trefoil and white clover, but temperatures are getting a bit low for these to germinate now. The different plant types all root in different ways and provide a more diverse habitat and food sources for the life in the soil, which in turn leads to more diverse soil life and healthier plants.

With cereal rye we tend to sow at around about 25-30g per square metre and rake it in (and ideally roll it), and this will germinate even up to December. Another technique that we have been trying this year is oversowing a crop with green manures, which has allowed us to get more of a diverse mixture sown earlier in August and September, as opposed to waiting for the crop to finish in October and sowing then.

We successfully oversowed chicory, lettuce and fennel by planting out the crop, then hoeing it one week later, and then a week after that we sowed the green manure and hoed the beds again. This not only hoed off the next flush of weeds, but also the hoe acts as a rake and helps to incorporate the seed into the soil a little, helping the all important soil to seed contact and improving germination.

The basic principle of having the soil covered over winter is to protect it from the heavy rains which can compact it and cause soil erosion. Covering the soil also provides favourable conditions for soil life. In the case of mulches there is added organic matter for soil life to live on through the autumn, winter and spring. With living green manures, the roots of the plants give off exudates which feed the soil life, and these exudates also help to bind soil particles together so that it is far less susceptible to erosion. The result in spring is that you are left with a soil that is alive, aerated and friable, meaning that sowing or planting into it is far easier, and the spring crops have instant connections to the soil life, and therefore instant access to fertility.

Once the green manuring is sorted outside we will spend time sorting out the crop plans for next year, working out

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Sow Spring onions for polytunnel or glasshouse this month

what worked well this year and what didn’t and changing the plans accordingly. That all then feeds into our sowing plans for next year, and we can work out how much seed we need and start the exciting process of seed buying! We always try a few different varieties each year, but also have the stalwarts that return year on year and seem to suit our conditions and soil type.

WHAT TO SOW THIS MONTH: Spring onions (for polytunnel/glasshouse), broad beans, garlic, peas, sugarsnaps and peashoots (all for overwintering in the polytunnel/ glasshouse), mustards, rocket, leaf radish (last chance for sowing these for overwintering in polytunnel/glasshouse) WHAT TO PLANT THIS MONTH: OUTSIDE: overwintering spring onions (if not before), direct broad beans and garlic.

INSIDE: overwintering salad leaves, coriander, chervil, chard, perpetual spinach, parsley, spring onions, overwintering peas.

OTHER IMPORTANT TASKS THIS MONTH: continue mulching beds for the winter, and it is probably your last chance to sow cereal rye as an overwintering green manure in any bare ground. Make a start on your winter job list before it starts getting too wet and cold!

DWT project to inspire rewilding countrywide A Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) project for 170 hectares of land near Bere Regis aims to provide inspiration and guidance for rewilding projects around the country according to the nature conservation organisation’s latest Yellowhammer photograph Chris Gomersall fundraising appeal.

As vital surveying gets underway to uncover the secrets of the site, the wildlife charity is appealing for donations to support this ground-breaking project. Carrying out repeatable baseline surveys with urgency is key to understanding how wildlife and the land respond in years to come. These studies will reveal which species are already at the site, the water quality and quantity and the make-up of the soil.

The exciting vision for the project includes the creation of 11 hectares of new community woodland and 30 hectares of new wetland, alongside a new community orchard, space to grow food sustainably, plus room for visitors and locals to explore the wild and forge a deep connection with nature.

Further plans for transforming the landscape from being intensively managed to letting nature take the lead will be developed in conjunction with the surrounding community, giving local people more opportunities to connect with nature while also benefitting local wildlife. This will include meeting directly with the community in Bere Regis, connecting with existing local groups and creating new local volunteer groups.

Using rewilding principles on this large site will mean that species such as yellowhammers and orchids, already present on site and nearby, will gain the space and restored habitat they need to thrive.

To donate and find out more, visit dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/RewildingDorset.

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October in the Garden

By Russell Jordan

U

nlike last month, when the weather could still deliver days that felt like summer, October is when autumn proper picks up it’s skirts and gets going.

It’s definitely cooling down now so preparing for winter becomes more pressing. Early in the month the greenhouse, cold-frames, porch, or any other area where you plan to overwinter tender plants, needs to be emptied out, glass cleaned and provision made for moving precious, non-hardy, plants back under cover.

General garden tidying up is important this month because most herbaceous plants are beginning to die down and editing out those that are past their best allows the ones that are still providing structure and colour to shine out.

The kind of plants which can still be looking good at this point of the year include; many of the daisy tribe (Helianthus, Helenium, Rudbeckia, Silphium, Solidago etc.); a huge array of salvias, although many are tender, sedums (now renamed Hylotelephium), that stalwart of the late border; Japanese anemones; Asters (another victim of renaming but the common name prevails for me); various grasses although it is the stately Miscanthus, in its many forms, which make the most impact now that it is crowned with its feathery plumes.

Also, of course, those infernal dahlias will still be doing their stuff as long as they’ve not collapsed or run out of steam. Good staking, regular dead-heading (cutting blooms to display on social media) and copious watering during dry spells should keep them flowering right up until the first frosts—hopefully a few weeks away yet.

On a smaller scale, but hugely dramatic where they are allowed to form large drifts, the autumn flowering cyclamen, Cyclamen hederifolium, is well into its stride by now.

It usually starts flowering, fitfully at first, as soon as there is

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appreciable rain at the end of summer—as early as August in many years. Another bulbous species (although cyclamen are strictly corms) that is triggered by cooler temperatures and moisture after the warmth of summer, even in the UK, is Nerine bowdenii. It will have started to send up its long flowering stems last month, the strap like leaves having died down during the summer, with full flowering starting this month and building well into November.

The common N. bowdenii has bright pink blooms, which may offend the more refined gardener who eschews such garish displays (!), but the other available colour selections, and species, are often less hardy or reliable in our climate.

Even the knicker-pink variety only performs at its best when planted somewhere where it gets a good baking, in the summer, and reasonably good drainage. Shade, cold exposure and poorly drained soils will not bring out the best in this plant which hails from sunny South Africa.

On the subject of bulbs, echoing what I wrote last month, October is still peak planting time for spring flowering bulbs which are widely available in garden centres, supermarkets and from online specialists. Autumn flowering bulbs, such as ‘Autumn Crocus’ and various Colchicum species, can sometimes be bought as dry bulbs which are beginning to flower. In fact, this phenomenon can be used to produce a novel indoor display and the bulbs, after flowering inside, can then be planted in the garden to flower in a more ‘normal’ way in future years.

Windy autumnal weather can wreak havoc with tall plants which, even if supported adequately until now, may not stand up to proper gales. Shorten the growth on fastgrowing / short-lived shrubs, such as buddleia, as this will stop them from getting ripped out of the ground. They

receive a total chopping back in early spring in order to keep them vigorous.

In complete contrast; one of my absolute pet hates is when people cut off the extension growth on climbing roses. I can understand why they do it because the stems seem to shoot out from nowhere, whipping around dangerously, at the end of summer. The gut reaction is to ‘chop off their heads’—but this is folly. It is these strong, long, extension growths which are tied in to replace older stems from previous years. Building up a framework of flowering stems is at the heart of rose training as it allows the oldest stems to be continuously replaced by younger, more floriferous, growth from year to year. This is actually at the heart of many of the maintenance tasks in gardening; the constant desire to maintain youthfulness.

For me climbing roses are a bit of an exception to the main body of rose pruning which I tend to do in the fully dormant, winter, period. The excuse for doing climbing roses earlier is the aforementioned risk of damage, if the whippy growths are not tamed before they get snapped off, but also because the growth you are attempting to bend to your will, tying them down into graceful arching patterns, are more flexible while they are young and sappy. It’s worth tying them roughly into position now even if you leave the full training / pruning until the winter, when the absence of leaves makes the framework easier to see. Rough positioning now is easier than trying to bend them onto horizontal wires, to maximise flowering, once they’ve lost their flexibility in a few month’s time.

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A Life with Flora Connie Doxat speaks to botanist and writer on plant folklore, Roy Vickery about his memories growing up exploring the flora of the Marshwood Vale

W

hen I arrive, Tooting Common appears nothing more than a pleasant patch of greenery; a place where locals come to escape the hustle of South London. After joining Roy Vickery on a guided plant-walk, however, this slice of scrubland feels like a teeming and exotic jungle. Over an hour, Roy shared snippets of his wisdom on the plants here and their weird and wonderful folklore as we meandered across grasses and woodland.

Roy has built-up his encyclopaedic knowledge over a lifetime dedicated to collecting, writing and sharing information on plant-lore and botany. For over 40 years, he worked at the Natural History Museum; beginning as a scientific assistant in the Lichen Section in 1965, and then moving to the General Herbarium, where he was in charge of the curation of around three and a half million specimens of flowering plants. He has also served as a vicepresident of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, and on the committee of both the Folklore Society and the Society for Folk Life Studies. Although he retired in 2007, Roy is still active, frequently giving talks and guided urban walks on the array of plants most of us brush past without even realising. He has also written several books on the subject, most recently Vickery’s Folk Flora, a fantastic and extensive work mapping the folklore of British and Irish plants from A-Z, charting the staggering cornucopia of local names, herbal remedies, traditional customs, riddles, legends and uses of them through history. Currently, Roy also remains a Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum and is President of the South London Botanical Institute.

Despite living in London for over 50 years now, Roy tells me how his obsession with flora spawned from a childhood

spent roving the leafy depths of the Marshwood Vale. ‘My first flowering encounter was inauspicious; I picked some flowers of herb-Robert, brought it indoors and placed it in a jam jar, where to my disappointment it rapidly shed its petals. I went on to have a quiet appreciation for herbRobert for as long as I can remember. I’m intrigued by the smell when its crushed; it’s difficult to categorise whether it is pleasant or unpleasant. Some people detect the odour of foxes and hence it developed the term fox-geranium as one of its 130 local names. Alternatively, in Cumbria it was known as death-come-quickly, possibly relating to the rapid shedding of its petals, and it was said that if children picked the flowers one of their parents would die. In County Cavan, people boiled and then drank the resulting liquid of the plant to treat kidney trouble’.

Roy was born in March 1947 in an almost tumbledown cottage on the Sadborow estate, where the Dorset, Somerset and Devon borders converge just outside Thorncombe. He tells me the cottage was primitive; actually condemned unfit for human habitation, it was brought back into use following the post-war housing shortage. Roy’s father was a tenant farmer on the estate and so from an early age he remembers being encouraged to help on the farm. He recounts one of his more minor tasks as a young boy collecting goosegrass, or cleavers, to feed to the young turkeys in a bid to bolster their poor immunity—a remedy that he has not come across elsewhere, although the use of stinging nettles for such purpose was widespread.

Other than Roy’s younger brother Roger, children of his age were thin on the ground when they were growing up; ‘Looking back we had a very isolated, rural childhood really.

I guess it was due to this social isolation that I had to make

my own entertainment, and so I spent a lot of time walking through the woods looking at the plants and animals that filled them’. He tells me of how they did lots of walking as a family, usually on summer evenings once his father had finished his work on the farm. A curiosity for flora also rolled down through two generations; Roy’s mother always enjoyed collecting wildflowers and her mother before that harboured a great interest in garden flowers.

As he grew older, Roy tells me he began venturing further afield to gather flowers and remembers seeking certain plants in the build-up to the much anticipated annual flower show at Holditch. ‘One particular flower which I remember searching for was the autumn lady’s tresses, which grew on the south side of a local hill called Devil’s Three Jumps. Roy tells me this name arises from a local legend after the Abbot of Forde Abbey had an argument with the Devil and kicked him off into the air. Clumps of trees allegedly grew up on the three hills where he bounced as he flew through the air across the Marshwood Vale, before splashing into the sea at West Bay. Roy also tells me that his trips here paid off and he invariably won the first place prizes of 15p at the flower show.

After leaving Woodroffe School with biology A-level, Roy went on to find a job working in a local butter factory at Chard junction. ‘The days were long but I enjoyed my work there—the factory workers were natural, straightforward people. After a while though I wanted to get away and do something else, and so I wrote around to various places. The only place with a direct reply was the Natural History Museum who told me they were having interviews next week if I’d like to go along. So I went and I got the job—a sort of apprenticeship—and I ended up staying there for over 40 years’.

I was curious after over 50 years living in London, to ask whether Roy has ever craved the abundance of country flora again. ‘Much to many people’s surprise I actually think you tend to see more in urban areas. You often see really exotic plants springing up randomly in parks, like people being drawn into cities from across the world I guess. The wildlife is also often easier to see; in London squirrels will come towards you, raising their tiny fists and demanding food, in the country they sprint away. It’s similarly paradoxical to what happened when I was plant collecting in Costa Rica in the early 1980s. Due to various mishaps our equipment arrived late into our trip, and so consequently instead of going off to conduct macho collecting in the rainforests, we concentrated on urban and rural areas. I found I was fascinated by the thriving European plants that had been introduced there—seeing gorse and white clover flourish I realised the exoticism of what grew back home. I enjoy learning about the folklore of new plants outside of the city, but there is just so much to see on your doorstep that you don’t realise’.

Roy tells me although he doesn’t practice or advocate many of the traditional uses or herbal remedies he encounters in plant-lore, they are more widespread than we think: ‘sometimes I ask people if they know of any traditional remedies, and often the immediate answer is no, almost as if insulted; they are ‘modern’ people and don’t rely on old wives’ potions. Then I ask what they do if stung by a nettle: the responses is always ‘rub a dock leaf of course’.

Alongside the array of fascinating walks, talks and articles Roy keeps himself busy with, he also has a website, www.plant-lore.com, which is an open archive currently holding nearly 9,000 items of information from around 3,000 contributors on plant folklore.

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PROPERTY ROUND-UP

Turn Over a New Leaf

By Helen Fisher

NORTON-SUB-HAMDON £785,000

A beautifully restored wing of an impressive late Georgian Grade II listed house. Originally built as a ballroom for the manor house, the property is spread over 3 floors and has 2 double bedrooms. The garden extends out towards a neighbouring orangery behind which is a garage and parking space.

Knight Frank Tel: 01935 808426

LOSCOMBE £1,100,000

A Grade II listed Dorset longhouse, dating back to the 16th Century.

Located in a quite, unspoilt valley with numerous characterful features and 5 bedrooms. With a secret garden with detached home office plus veg garden. Plus 3 paddocks and track down to a stream and self-contained shepherd’s hut. Garage and ample parking. All set in 4.86 acres.

Symonds and Sampson Tel: 01308 422092

HODGEDITCH £800,000

BRIDPORT £350,000

Large detached period 4 bedroom home with attached 1 bedroom self-contained annex. Parts dating to 17th Century. Set in a small community surrounded by meadows. Formal garden with sun terrace, plus water meadow, stream, orchard, fruit and veg gardens, outbuildings, garaging and ample parking. Set in 1.75 acres.

Gordon & Rumsby Tel: 01297 553768

A modern house, built about 20 years ago in a traditional town house design with 3 bedrooms spread over 3 floors.

With wooden double glazed windows and dormer window to the attic rooms. With a large communal garden square to the front and an enclosed private rear garden plus private parking.

Kennedys Tel: 01308 427329

LYME REGIS £895,000

WEYMOUTH £795,000

A stunning newly completed single-storey grand design style home with 3 double bedrooms, outstanding eco-credentials and sea glimpses.

This contemporary living space has double-height ceilings and hi-spec attention to every detail. Gravel parking area with electric car charger and attractive, private rear courtyard garden.

Stags Tel: 01308 428000

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A well appointed and spacious luxury apartment with 3 bedrooms over 2 floors. Master bedroom suite with balcony and stunning panoramic Jurassic coastline views. Security entrance system, lift access and parking permit. Level walking to town and all local amenities.

Symonds and Sampson Poundbury Tel: 01305 251154

Mary Anning - Lost in Time DORSET’s As One Theatre Company is touring a new play about the famous Lyme Regis fossil hunter Mary Anning, with Dorset dates at the Exchange at Sturminster Newton on Saturday 2nd October, the Marine Theatre on 6th October, and Dorchester Arts at Sunninghill School on 9th, with further dates planned for the autumn and the new year.

Lost in Time begins in 1846. Lyme Regis is battered by howling winter-gales. Dying and increasingly dependent on laudanum, Mary Anning reflects on her life. By challenging the status quo while making remarkable strides in a male-dominated scientific world, her work threatens to disprove the very foundations she was raised on.

Haunted by hallucinations of friends, enemies and even the creatures she spent her life hacking out of the living rock, Anning tries to make sense of her existence in her last moments.

With company founder Jane McKell as Mary Anning, the play has been written by Peter John Cooper and is directed by Marta Vella. It features As One’s regular blend of narrative, movement, music and visuals to tell this true story about legacy and coming to terms with the past. For information visit www.as-onetheatre.co.uk.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 37

Food&Dining

VENISON AND COGNAC SAUSAGES

LESLEY WATERS

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

• 675g (1 ½ lb) boned venison meat (haunch or shoulder) • 450g (1lb) rump steak • 375g (¾ lb) pork fat • 110g (4 oz) breadcrumbs • 1 large egg, beaten • 1 tablespoon juniper berries, crushed • 1 garlic clove, crushed • ¾ tablespoon salt • 4 fresh sage leaves, chopped • ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg • ½ teaspoon crack black pepper • 100mls (3 ½ oz) red wine • 75mls (3 fl oz) cognac • 1 large Coxes apple, grated with the skin on • sausage skins, washed • oil for frying

1. Using a mincer, mince the meats and pork fat and mix together. Beat in the remaining ingredients until well mixed together.

2. Check the seasoning of your sausage mix by frying a little of the filling in a pan and tasting.

3. When the seasoning is correct, fill the sausage skins with the mix, ensuring the skins are not over-filled to prevent bursting. Twist the skin every 4-5 inches to form each sausage. Chill until required.

4. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200C / 400F. 5. To cook, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan. Add the sausages and cook over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. Transfer to the oven and cooked for a further 15-20 minutes until the sausages are browned and cook through.

Makes approx. 16 sausages

38 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

The Syrian Baker in Dorset FARNHAM Maltings, the theatre company that makes theatre specifically for village halls, brings a new production, The Syrian Baker, to Dorset in October for a short tour with Artsreach, the rural touring arts charity.

The tour includes Yetminster’s Jubilee Hall (01935 873546) at 8pm on Saturday 16th, and Litton Cheney (01308 482514) for a 3pm matinee on Sunday 17th.

The Syrian Baker is a story of two people who have decided to go home, despite the state of their country, in a world in which almost one in 20 of the population are on the move, desperate to escape war, famine and other upheavals.

It is a piece about humanity, hope and courage told with affection, irrepressible humour and bread, because without bread nothing else will happen. It is about how we all have so much more in common than we realise. The audience can expect an evening in the company of friends with stories, freshly made bread, Syrian coffee and Mamoull like the ones from the Caffe Plaza in Homs old town Full details and tickets can also be found online at www.artsreach.co.uk

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 39

DEEP FRIED COURGETTE FLOWERS The courgettes in the Fox kitchen garden have served us well over the last couple of months, yielding a good supply of both courgettes and flowers. This year I grew yellow and green and was quite surprised by the yield so they will definitely be on my planting list for next year.

I do like gardening although there is so much to learn and trial and error but I think my grandad Bill is probably watching over me with his wishful experience eye

MARK HIX

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

• 2-3 small-medium courgettes • 1 red or green chilli, trimmed and finely chopped • A few sprigs of fennel, torn • The juice of 1 lemon • 2-3 tbs rapeseed oil • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • 4 large courgette flowers • 70-80g White Lake or another soft goats cheese • 120g Dove farm gluten free self-raising flour • 200ml ice cold water • Salt and freshly ground black pepper • Vegetable or corn oil for deep frying

1. First make the batter, slowly whisk the water into a bowl with the flour until you have a smooth consistency. Add the salt and pepper and give it a final whisk.

2. With a mandolin or peeler, shave the courgettes as thinly as possible and mix them in a bowl with the chilli, fennel, lemon juice and rapeseed oil and season.

3. Meanwhile, heat some vegetable oil to 160-180C in a deep-fat fryer or heavybased saucepan (but no more than half full). Test the oil by dropping a little batter into the oil. If it browns after a minute or so then it’s ready.

4. Spoon the goats cheese into the centre of each flower and seal them up. Dip them into the batter and fry for a couple minutes, turning them with a slotted spoon until they are crisp and light golden.

5. Remove the courgette flowers from the oil with a slotted spoon and put on a plate with some kitchen paper. Arrange the courgettes on serving plates with the flower on top.

Serves 4

40 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

Isinglass

By Nick Fisher

N

ext time you look longingly into your pint of beer, spare a thought for fish. Your pint wouldn’t look like a pint of beer as we know it, if it wasn’t for the intervention of fish. The art of fine brewing owes a huge debt to fish, particularly for one unique ingredient: isinglass.

This bizarre-sounding stuff, was originally derived from the swim bladders of sturgeon, and its most common use was in brewing beer. Isinglass was added as part of the process of clearing the beer’s natural yeasty cloudiness. The clarifying method is also known as ‘fining’. Basically it helps make beer look like a transparent and appetizing beverage, instead of sick Spaniel whizz.

It seems outrageous and incongruous to me that anyone should ever mix cloudy beer with the deepest, darkest organs of a sturgeon.

How did those two things ever get put together? Did some despondent brewer, depressed by the opaqueness of his ale, sit down and write a list of all the things he could possibly think of that might bring clarity to his brew? And if he did, how’d he ever come up with the sturgeon swim bladder? Why not just sturgeon head, or scales, or tail? Why go digging in such private places? What could possess anyone to go and stick dead sturgeon in a perfectly good (if slightly cloudy) barrel of beer? I don’t get it. Doesn’t make sense.

The accepted theory as to how isinglass was first discovered is by someone, back in ancient times when beer and wine were carried and stored in sewn-up animal skins, or fish bellies. One day, a cloudy wine was stored in a skin, and when it was poured out, it had miraculously cleared! Does anybody buy that?

Anyway, we’ll never know the whole murky truth. To extract isinglass, which is essentially made up predominantly of collagen, from a fish swimbladder, it needs to be dissolved in organic acids.

Once isinglass is added to the brewed beer, it works like floating magnets: isinglass is made up of positive molecules which latch on to the negative molecules of the cloudy yeast, creating heavier molecules that sink to the bottom of the barrel. Then the cleared or ‘fined’ beer can be siphoned off the top of the barrel leaving all the gunk at the bottom.

Isinglass was so important to the brewing trade in the 19th century that brewers would go to great lengths to secure a continuous supply.

Most isinglass came from Russia, because of the ongoing sturgeon harvest and trade connected with caviar and sturgeon products. But the advent of the Napoleonic Wars made trade through Europe to Russia increasingly difficult. As a result, the price of isinglass rose exponentially. Brewers who desired a premium beer product, one they could achieve top money for, knew they would only beat the competition if their beer was clear. Sure, clear beer can be achieved without isinglass, eventually, but it takes much longer for it to clear naturally. Isinglass accelerates the fining process which allows the brewer to brew and sell beer, faster.

So when William Murdock, one of the most celebrated engineers of the Industrial Revolution, invented a method of extracting precious isinglass from a much more easily available fish: cod, the brewing industry got very excited indeed. Isinglass extracted from sturgeon was rocketing in price to a brewer-choking 25 shillings a pound. But cod-derived isinglass was a fraction of the cost. The cost-saving was so substantial that the Committee of London Brewers clubbed together and paid Murdock a staggering two

thousand quid for the right to use his invention to extract isinglass from British fish.

Beer fining wasn’t the only important use for isinglass, confectioners and bakers used it for making jellies, blancmanges and high quality sweetmeats. Later, when the production of much cheaper gelatin was developed, isinglass was used less often in cooking, but it always had a vital role to play both in art and religion.

The purest form of fish glue was produced by using isinglass extracted from the membrane of the swimbladder from sturgeon.

Fish glue could be made simply from boiling down fish bones and skin, but the finest and most transparent adhesive was created from isinglass. The Egyptians were the first to use isinglass as a medium to bind colours for decorative painting, and to adorn royal tombs. Then, the mediaeval monks in the monasteries of Italy and Germany developed techniques for using isinglass in the painting of illuminated manuscripts. The fish-based glue could be made into such a fine and pure gum that it soon became the only medium to use with gold, for the gilding of illustrated illuminated manuscripts.

The development of isinglass and fish glue fixatives continued right up until the 20th century when they were phased out in favour of cellulose-based, chemically-produced glues. But without fish and fish-extracted products, most of the frescos of Renaissance Italy and the panel paintings of the Dutch Masters like Van Dyck, would have crumbled away to dust. In many ways, fish held the whole fabric of religious art together.

Even the brewing industry hasn’t completely chemicalised its processes; some breweries still use isinglass for the production of cask-conditioned, real ale beers. Although some vegetarians and vegans object, and won’t drink beers fined with fish or animal products. There is an alternative though: Irish Moss—a type of red algae which is introduced hot, at the beginning of the brewing process, rather than the end as with isinglass.

But asking you to be thankful to an algae for the beautiful beer in your glass just doesn’t feel right. Fish are what we have to thank for good, clear, natural beer. Fish.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 41

Arts&Entertainment

Horatio Clare

‘...actually you’re too mad...’

42 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

Best selling author Horatio Clare has written a book about his journey through madness, mania and eventual healing. He talked to Fergus Byrne in advance of his appearance at Bridport Literary Festival in November.

A

t Manchester airport, waiting to board a flight to Innsbruck, Horatio Clare begins to notice subtle gestures amongst fellow passengers. Concealed interactions slowly become part of a growing conspiracy. Suddenly, with a thump in his heart he realises he is involved, he is part of some ‘great and secret scheme’. When he and his family reach their hotel in the mountain village of Campitello De Fassa, guests include members of the British Special Forces, Italian Intelligence Services and Russian agents. Before long he believes that amongst the black pine trees and around the snow-covered mountain crags, elite soldiers are training—awaiting orders. He decides it will take time and patience for him to discover his role in this fast-developing international operation, but he knows he has to play a leading part.

Describing the early stages of a developing hypomania in his extraordinary book, Heavy Light, Horatio remembers how his room in the Italian Alps became a ‘relentless theatre’. On his balcony, he was being watched by dozens of unseen observers; television programmes and internet browsing contained messages that only he could decipher and he became consumed with the idea that the well-publicized drone sightings at Gatwick airport that same week were craft of a superior technology. In the grand scheme of things, he decided, the drone story was simply a cover-up.

The first chapters of Heavy Light bring the reader on a wild ride through the early stages of increasingly erratic delusional episodes, right through to the frightening conclusion that he has had a complete mental breakdown. In an initial assessment sometime before eventually being sectioned, Horatio explains that he has had two crises earlier in his life; one in 2008 and one in 2016. He says both involved ‘stress, heat, exhaustion and cannabis’. He has experience of

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 43

dealing with mental health services and knows not to present with either special powers; thoughts of killing himself or admittance to hearing voices. ‘If you can make a persuasive or at least coherent case that you are well, it is easy to slip between the different services’ he writes. Many can hide behind a bit of eccentricity.

‘I am not really able to process or even really hear information which does not concur with my delusions’ However for Horatio the episodes become one ‘chaotic, cyclonic poem’. Back home from the Alps and too frightening and unstable to stay with his partner Rebecca and his five-year-old son, he retreats to a flat in town where he hacks a hole in the back of a cupboard with a knife believing it’s a trap door to a secret passage, and dangerously fiddles with gas and electricity supplies. He becomes a harassing nightmare turning up at Rebecca’s house at all hours wanting to see his son. Rebecca’s memories help fill in the gaps in the story for Heavy Light. He posts insane rants on Facebook; races around the valleys near his home; patrols the moors and even attempts to drive into a lake believing he is being instructed to do so by voices on the car radio. ‘I am not really able to process or even really hear information which does not concur with my delusions’ he writes. Throughout the whole episode, he remembers the police, often helpless to intervene, becoming heroes. Afterward, he discovers that a huge proportion of their time is spent dealing with people in mental distress.

After being sectioned, another nightmare begins.

Horatio discovers that the only way out of the hospital is through a pill bottle. Dr. X, the name he gives to the psychiatrist handling his case, offers him a choice of three pills. By giving Horatio the choice of which medication to take, responsibility for any subsequent bad reaction is passed onto the patient. ‘Whatever the pills do to me will be the consequence of my choice, except there is no choice’ he writes. He can refuse medication but if he is not engaging with treatment he will not be allowed to leave. He sings Happy Birthday down the phone to his son before going to bed where a torch is shone on his face every hour to make sure he is OK. He likens it to torture through sleep deprivation.

Heavy Light is a gripping, illuminating, and at times horrifying description of one person’s journey through a serious mental health crisis. Horatio calls it a ‘personal journey through society, psychiatry and psychotherapy’. Through the book, he seeks a greater understanding of a widespread crisis ‘which shame

44 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

and fear have tended to conceal.’

Today, back home in Wales and rebuilding his life, Horatio is now appearing at Literary Festivals such as the upcoming BridLit and promoting Heavy Light in the same way he did for many of his previous best-selling books. He has occasionally said that he is glad he had a breakdown. On the telephone from St David’s he explained why: ‘I got into a rhythm of destructive behavior, both to myself and others’ he says. ‘So I used to enjoy the destruction of the rising high and then wallow in the depression and self-hatred—which is another form of narcissism, certainly the way I did it—of the down. And I think in a way that I probably would have been able to carry that on because the person that it makes you inside becomes someone not worthy of protection.’ He says the good thing about being sectioned is that it is unambiguous. ‘Society has said, actually, you’re too mad to be continuing.’ He says that although people say depression and mental health are not like a broken leg, for him at least, it was more like a broken neck.

‘Afterwards, I had to spend the two years since being quite humble in the face of reality. You have to be because you can’t talk you’re way out of it anymore and there’s no ambiguity. So I’m glad those things have happened because of the effect those things had on my family and the conversations we have had since the book came out.’ Today, he tells me, he and Rebecca have come to a different arrangement and says ‘my son’s parents are now happy and deeply fond of each other.’

Despite the unambiguity of time spent in a mental health institution and the trials of learning about and highlighting how episodes of mental distress are dealt with in this country, Horatio has shown enormous bravery and tenacity by putting his own life in the spotlight. I asked him how he coped with the label that inevitably comes with publicly promoting such an episode of enormous instability. ‘You have to own the label’ he says. ‘I don’t identify as someone who is bipolar and in remission, but rather as somebody who had a breakdown. Yes, I did think “am I going to be the writer where people think, yea he’s the guy who went nuts and got sectioned” and before the book came out that was a real fear. Those first interviews I did were really nervy and the photographs that lots of papers and magazines took, you can see the deep uncertainty, and yet the reaction has been astounding and incredibly heartening.’

He cited an appearance on Start the Week with Ahmed Hankir who he says identifies as bipolar in permanent remission and never took the psychotropic drugs. ‘It was really inspiring because he’s a front line psychiatrist and you suddenly realise that these models are written, and descriptive models drawn up by people who may have had many skills, but close observation and writing wasn’t one of them.

So we suffer individually and yet the model treats us in category, and the results I think are disastrous.

We’ve barely made any progress in a century. And yet we’ve spent billions and people have bravely, every day continued to take pills that are not without side effect and are not without harm. And they do it often for their loved ones and for authority and sometimes for their anxiety. …. all the evidence suggests that the model is shot.’

‘So we suffer individually and yet the model treats us in category, and the results I think are disastrous.’

In Heavy Light Horatio highlights less potentially destructive therapies and says he respects the good intention of psychiatrist practice. However, he says ‘In terms of the ones I met only one of them was practicing the kind of new model preaching which is de-prescription and social prescribing. And the others, certainly the two who treated me, might have well been pill dispensing machines. I mean Dr. X in the mental hospital tried, but he only had one model which was lifetime medication. Lithium destroys your liver, so it’s a proper curse I think. Yet people are told there’s no option really.’ He says that everyone is rightly very careful and respectful of those people who are taking them and those people who are prescribing them, for the best reasons. But he believes that Big Pharma ‘really does have a culpable role in the story because they’ve even withdrawn effective drugs that are no longer profitable, and a psychiatrist told me that. They don’t do third-generation research, they basically try and milk the models they have and they are incredibly successful at it.’ He bemoans the fact that the pandemic stalled the de-prescribing movement. ‘What we know is that people taking pills and coming on and off them are more likely to need re-admission and also bed nights in a hospital than those people who, for example, are fortunate enough to be treated through open dialogue. I think, without holding any group to blame, we have evolved a scandalous and inefficient system that does great harm while meaning to do great good.’

The current increase in mental health issues because of the pandemic makes Horatio’s story even more vital and crucial. Whether through fear of the consequences of illness or the insecurity brought on by lockdown, society’s battle for over a year and a half has been with a virus. However, the virus’s effect has also caused an enormous amount of mental anxiety, instability, and uncertainty. A disease that

causes a very physical illness has also produced a sizable element of obsession, distrust, and fear. The inevitable question of, “what’s really going on”, leads to growing uncertainty and in extreme cases, delusion.

Writing in the New York Times in November last year the philosopher Yuval Noah Harari pointed to the fact that there are those who believe “the world is secretly ruled by Freemasons, witches or Satanists; others think it’s aliens, reptilian lizard people or sundry other cliques.” He pointed out that theories such as these offer solutions; they offer a single, straightforward explanation when everything in life seems out of control. They also offer comfort in knowing that everything is being dealt with, as well as a platform to make people feel they have a piece of superior knowledge. I asked Horatio at what point do these manifestations become mental health issues, ones that would attract intervention. ‘The answer that the social services who section people would give is that, if it’s in character for you, if that’s the sort of person you are and you’re not threatening yourself or anyone else, then you’re free to believe what you want. It’s the moment that it becomes out of character and extreme and threatening that it’s, rightly I think, treated as illness and a deviation as it were, from what is safe.’

However, he says, there is ‘the question of how you define that from evolution under pressure, changes that might not have come if we’d been able to keep our own rhythm’.

Intervention on the scale that Horatio Clare experienced is chilling and the treatment he endured is nothing short of intimidating. He described the process of producing Heavy Light as two parts of a three-part structure, where the third part couldn’t be written until ‘we’d all come to terms with the sort of clarity and the discussions that writing and publishing brought’.

In this case the process has helped resolve a crisis, but the outcome was more despite treatment rather than because of it. In a world currently struggling to treat people face to face, his story leaves plenty of reason for concern about how others will cope and also about how we define what constitutes a need for intervention.

Horatio Clare will be in conversation with Jon Woolcott at The Bull Hotel Ballroom for Bridport Literary Festival on Saturday 13th November 2021 @ 4.30 pm. For tickets visit www.bridlit.com.

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October PREVIEW

One of the most respected and renowned guitarists in music history, Albert Lee brings his band to the Beehive on Friday 22nd. Over his long career, Lee has worked with The Everly Brothers, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris and The Cricketts.

West Country folk stars Show of Hands bring their “Best One Yet” tour to Honiton on Tuesday 26th. Phil Beer and Steve Knightley are joined by Miranda Sykes and Cormac Byrne to captivate audiences with live renditions of their award-winning hits and festival favourites.

Bluegrass from Cornwall

Cole and Joe - India Electric Co at the Beehive in October

Home gig for indie duo

HONITON BEEHIVE JOE and Cole, aka the India Electric Co, make a welcome return to their home town, Honiton, with a gig at the Beehive on Friday 15th October, when they will launch their new album.

Sometimes folk, sometimes not, India Electric Co use traditional instruments in contemporary styles to explore diverse themes including Eastern Europe, Irish traditions and modern urban alienation.

The busy month of music begins on Saturday 2nd October with The Unravelling Wilburys celebrating the music of the supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys—Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.

Folk divas While and Matthews, described as “the undisputed queens of British folk duos” come to the Beehive on Saturday 16th, for an evening of gorgeous harmonies and brilliant musicianship.

Wednesday 20th is an open mic Beehive Acoustic session in the cafe, hosted by Terry Stacey. All welcome, whether it is just to listen and have a beer or to play and sing.

46 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

TOURING AUDIENCES are guaranteed an evening of energetic fun, with an invitation to dance, sing, clap and laugh along as Cornwall’s four-piece bluegrass band Flats and Sharps comes to Chetnole, Corfe Castle and Milborne St Andrew, from 8th to 10th October.

Artsreach kicks off the autumn season of live performances in rural communities with an evening of great music, including powerful and original songs from a band who have been delighting fans of the Appalachian music for eight years.

Flats and Sharps have been touring around the world, including multiple tours in Australia, Europe and around the UK with their fresh and modern outlook on footstomping bluegrass.

The band is at the village halls at Chetnole on Friday 8th October, Corfe Castle on Saturday 9th and Milborne St Andrew on Sunday 10th, all at 7.30pm.

Blues by the sea

LYME REGIS BLUES legends Dave Kelly and Bob Hall come to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis on Friday 15th October.

Friends since they were neighbours in the 1960s, Dave Kelly and Bob Hall have had illustrious careers in the British blues scene and have won many awards for their artistry.

Dave cut his teeth in the backing bands of Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker, and has played with Buddy Guy, Son House & Muddy Waters.

Bob has also accompanied Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker and a host of other stars, even Chuck Berry.

Great voices from Nigeria

BRIDPORT THE Yoruba Women’s Choir, described as Africa’s greatest choir, and one of Nigeria’s biggest musical exports, comes to Bridport Arts Centre on Thursday 21st October.

The choir, directed by founder Funmi Olawumi, creates music of astounding power. Each of the 11 singers is a soloist in her own right, and together they combine

The Yoruba Women’s Choir. Exquisite harmonies and joyful songs coming to Bridport in October

exquisite harmonies and joyful songs to create a spectacular show bursting with passion. Their songs lift your soul and uplift your spirit in a remarkable way.

Powered by a six-piece band that provides the pulse for a musical and spiritual alchemy that touches a worldwide audience.

Casterbridge after Covid

NEW HARDY PLAYERS ON TOUR COVID and its attendant lockdowns and restrictions brought down the curtain on theatres across the country, but one of Dorset’s best-known acting groups kept working and the results will be revealed when The Mayor of

The Mayor of Casterbridge at Dorset Museum in October

Casterbridge receives its gala premiere at the Dorset Museum in Dorchester on 6th October.

After months of virtual rehearsals, the New Hardy Players were finally able to meet face-to-face to put the finishing touches to the production. One of Thomas Hardy’s most famous Wessex novels, it has a smaller cast than some of the NHP’s previous productions. Large crowd scenes have been filmed and will be screened as a backdrop to the drama.

The Mayor of Casterbridge, originally subtitled The Life and Death of a Man of Character, opens with drunken Michael Henchard auctioning his wife Susan to a man named Newson at a country fair. The following day, full of remorse, and unable to find her, he swears off the drink. He becomes a successful merchant and mayor of the town of Casterbridge.

It is a powerful and tragic story of love and redemption, a story where fickle fate and fortune play with the lives of the mere mortals.

The production is directed by Emma Hill and Tim Laycock, with music by Alastair Simpson and the cast is led by Alastair Simpson and Mike Staddon as young and old Henchard, Liz Bennett as Susan, Amelia Chorley as Elizabeth Jane, Tom Marsh as Farfrae, Tom Archer and Alban O’Brien as young and old Newson and Katie Gallego as Lucetta.

The play tours to Morton village hall on 7th October and Portesham village hall on 8th October, both at 7pm, Sturminster Newton Exchange on Saturday, 9th, at 2pm and 7pm, and will be at Dorchester Corn Exchange on 14th and 15th December at 7pm.

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The Unravelling Wilburys get around this October

Sessions comes to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis

Therapy at 30

LYME REGIS ACCLAIMED and innovative theatre company Paines Plough, working with Soho Theatre, brings its latest production, Sessions, to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis on Thursday 14th October at 7.30pm.

Tunde’s 30th birthday is fast approaching. So he’s just started therapy because he hasn’t been able to get to the gym for weeks and a recent one-night stand ended in tears—his.

Interrogating the challenge of opening up and accepting our own vulnerabilities, Sessions, by Ifeyinwa Frederick, is a raw, funny, bittersweet deep-dive into the complexities of masculinity, depression and therapy. Joseph Black plays Tunde.

Gypsy jazz, folk and fusions

DORCHESTER DORCHESTER Arts’ October programme includes four concerts that celebrate the diverse influences of jazz, folk and country music.

Byron Wallen’s Four Corners will be at Dorset Museum on Friday 15th October, at 8pm. Widely recognised as a seminal figure in world jazz, trumpeter and composer, Wallen has released his new album Portrait featuring his band Four Corners. The repertoire is inspired by early Renaissance music, central and East African rhythm and polyphony, and the music of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and Thelonius Monk.

The hugely popular Budapest Cafe Orchestra will be at Herrison Hall, Charlton Down, on Sunday 17th at 8pm, with a programme of traditional folk and gypsy-flavoured music, evoking vivid images of Tzigane fiddlers and Budapest café life.

There is more of a country influence with The Unravelling Wilburys, who celebrate the great music of The Travelling Wilburys, and come to Herrison Hall on Friday 22nd October at 8pm. They will be performing the songs of the 1980s supergroup—George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne—including

48 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

End of the Line, Handle with Care and The Devil’s Been Busy.

There is traditional and original folk music from husband and wife duo, Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman, looking back on 25 years of making music together, at Dorset Museum on Saturday 30th at 8pm.

The music of repentance

DORCHESTER THE idea of repentance has inspired many composers, and chamber choir Tenebrae will be exploring this deeply poignant repertoire in a concert, Drop, Drop Slow Tears, with saxophonist Christian Forshaw, at Dorchester’s St Mary’s Church on Wednesday 6th October, at 7.30pm.

Taking their name from the Latin word for darkness, the choir is directed by Nigel Short, and has an international reputation.

The Dorchester concert will be an ethereal sequence of penitential settings, combining elements of ancient and modern to stunning effect.

Tenebrae is a religious service of western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter Day. Its rituals include the gradual extinguishing of candles, and a “strepitus” or “loud noise” taking place in total darkness near the end of the service.

There will be an outstanding opportunity for local singers to take part in a Tenebrae workshop that day— check the Dorchester Arts website for more details visit www.dorchesterarts.org.uk

Bringing back beavers

LYME REGIS FARMER, conservationist and rewilder Derek Gow gives the October talk in the Help Our Planet series at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, on Tuesday 12th October at 7pm.

Bringing Back the Beaver and its Pals focuses on the return of beavers to English rivers for the first time in many centuries. Gow has played a significant role in the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver, and the white stork in Britain.

His book, Bringing back the Beaver, has become a best-seller described in reviews as a beautiful, profound, important and consoling book. He lives with his children, Maysie and Kyle, on a 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border which he is rewilding.

The when?

time?

17

venue?

th Bridport Literary Festival

Sunday 7th – Saturday 13th November 2021

who?

Sunday 7 November Event 1 10.30 am Electric Palace Tim Bouverie

Event 2 12.30 pm Electric Palace Jonathan Sumption

Event 3 12.30 pm Sladers Yard Harbottle and Jonas

Event 4 3.00 pm Electric Palace Stephen Moss

Event 5 5.00 pm Electric Palace Marina Wheeler

Monday 8 November Event 6 10.00 am The Bull Ballroom Roland Phillips

Event 7 12.00 noon The Bull Ballroom Lisa Jewell

and Nancy Tucker

Event 8 2.30 pm The Bull Ballroom AC Grayling

Event 9 4.30 pm The Bull Ballroom Parm Sandhu

Event 10 6.30 pm The Bull Ballroom Emma Soames

Tuesday 9 November Event 11 10.00 am The Bull Ballroom Dr. Jim Down

Event 13 2.30 pm The Bull Ballroom Hugo Vickers

Event 14 4.30 am The Bull Ballroom Max Porter

Event 15 5 .30 pm The Bull Ballroom Natasha Brown

Event 16 6.30 pm Sladers Yard Mark Hix Wednesday 10 November Event 17 10.00. am The Bull Ballroom Boris Starling

Event 18 11.30 am Electric Palace James Crowden

Event 19 2.30 am The Bull Ballroom Dame Marina Warner

Event 20 4.30 pm The Bull Ballroom Patrick Barkham

Event 21 6.30 pm Electric Palace Alan Johnson

Thursday 11 November Event 22 10.00 am The Bull Ballroom Dr. Hilary Jones

Event 23 11.30 am The Bull Ballroom Tristan Gooley

Event 24 2.00 pm Electric Palace Anna Sebba

Event 25 3.30 pm Electric Palace Andrew Lownie

Event 26 5.00 pm Electric Palace Tim Marshall

Event 27 6.30 pm Sladers Yard Christopher Reid

Friday 12 November Event 29 10.00 am The Bull Ballroom Samantha Knights QC

Event 30 11.30 pm Electric Palace John Preston

Event 31 2.30 pm Electric Palace Saul David

Event 32 4 30 pm The Bull Ballroom Dave Goulson

Event 33 6.30 pm Electric Palace Jonathan Coe

Saturday 13 November Event 34 10.00 am The Bull Ballroom Jonathan Drori Event 35 12.00 noon Electric Palace Peter Gain

Event 36 1.00 pm The Bull Ballroom Adam Nicholson

Event 37 3.00 pm Electric Palace Polly Toynbee

and David Walker Event 38 4.30 pm The Bull Ballroom Horatio Clare

Event 39 6.30 pm Electric Palace Christina Lamb

what’s it about?

PERFECT PITCH: 100 pieces of classical music to know and love £12 LAW IN THE TIME OF CRISIS in conversation with Howard Davies £12 AN ENTERTAINMENT IN WORDS AND MUSIC £12/£25 BIOGRAPHIES OF BIRDS - the naturalist gives an llustrated talk £12 THE LOST HOMESTEAD – a family memoir in conversation with Susannah Simons £12 VICTOIRE – a wartime story of restistance, collaboration and betrayal in conversation with John Dean £12 THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED and THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING in conversation with Sally Laverack £12 FRONTIERS OF KNOWLEDGE – what we know about Science, History and the Mind £12 BLACK AND BLUE – one woman’s story of policing and prejudice in conversation with Stuart Prebble £12 MARY CHURCHILL’S WAR – the diaries of Churchill’s youngest daughter in conversation with Susannah Simons £12 LIFE SUPPORT – diary of an ICU doctor on the frontline of the Covid Crisis in conversation with Deirdre Coates £12 MALICE IN WONDERLAND – My Adventures with Cecil Beaton £12 THE DEATH OF FRANCIS BACON in conversation with Jon Woolcott £12 ASSEMBLY – new fiction in conversation with Max Porter £12 In conversation with Prue Keely £12/£25 THE LAW OF THE HEART - new fiction In conversation with Olivia Glazebrook CIDER COUNTRY - an illustrated talk followed by Cider Tasting £12 INVENTORY OF A LIFE MISLAID – an unreliable memoir an illustrated talk £12 WILD CHILD and THE WILD ISLES – an illustrated talk and readings £12 LATE TRAIN TO GYPSY HILL: a thriller In conversation with Jason Webster £12 FRONTLINE – a family saga in conversation with Sally Laverack £12 THE SECRET WORLD OF THE WEATHER How to read the weather £12 ETHEL ROSENBERG – a Cold War tragedy An illustrated talk £12 TRAITOR KING: Life of the Duke of Windsor An illustrated talk £12 THE POWER OF GEOGRAPHY – the maps that reveal the future of our world. An illustrated talk £12 THE LATE SUN – the poet’s latest work of poetry.

In conversation with James Crowden £12 LAW,RIGHTS AND RELIGION in conversation with Caroline Montagu £12 THE FALL – the Mystery of Robert Maxwell In conversation with Jason Webster £12 SBS – Silent Warriors: History of Special Boat Service.

An illustrated talk £12 SILENT WORLD – averting the Insect Apocalypse an illustrated talk £12 MR WILDER AND ME – a novel based on the film director Billy Wilder in conversation with Boris Starling and followed by a Screening of AVANTI £12/£15 AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 PLANTS £12 A PRETORIA BOY – the story of South Africa’s Public Enemy Number One in conversation with Clive Stafford Smith £12 THE SEA IS NOT MADE OF WATER – surviving a world of alteration An Illustrated talk £12 THE LOST DECADE 2010 -2021 and what lies ahead A discussion £12 HEAVY LIGHT – a journey through madness mania and healing in conversation with Jon Woolcott £12 OUR BODIES THEIR BATTLEFIELD what war does to women in conversation with Samantha Knights QC £12

All information online: www.bridlit.com Box Office: Bridport Tourist Information Centre, South Street, Bridport.

Telephone: 01308 424901 Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 49

A Feast for Book Lovers

W

hat a feast BridLit director Tanya Bruce-Lockhart and her team have lined up for book lovers next month.

Yes, Bridport Literary Festival is back, from 7-13 November, with some fantastic writers set to brighten the dark days of November.

The feather in the BridLit cap is the surprise appearance of sheep farmer and author James Rebanks, who has just won the Wainwright Prize for nature writing for English Pastoral: An Inheritance. In an addition to the published programme, the festival will go out on a high with an audience with James Rebanks at The

50 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

Electric Palace, Bridport, on Saturday 13 November at 7.30pm.

The story of his family’s farm in the Cumbrian Fells was praised by the Wainwright Prize judges as a ‘seminal work which will still be celebrated in 50 years.’ The award is named after writer and fellwalker Alfred Wainwright and goes to the book that ‘most successfully inspires readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world.’

Sales of books about the natural world are soaring. Natural history sales totalled £2.8 million July and August, according to Nielsen BookScan, up 21% on the same period last year and 31% on 2019.

Nature writers are a strong feature of this year’s BridLit, with Stephen Moss at Bridport Electric Palace on Sunday 7 November at 3pm. He’ll be giving an illustrated talk on his latest bird biography which throws the spotlight on that most majestic of creatures, The Swan. Over recent years, the bestselling nature writer and broadcaster has published biographies of some of our best loved birds, including The Robin, The Wren and The Swallow.

Described by Chris Packham as ‘a superb naturalist and writer’, Moss is president of the Somerset Wildlife Trust and a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Originally from London, he now lives with his wife and children on the Somerset Levels.

Patrick Barkham is at the Bull Hotel Ballroom on Wednesday 10 November at 4.30pm. In an illustrated talk, he’ll be speaking about Wild Child: Coming Home to Nature, described by Horatio Clare as ‘engaging…elegant and moving’ and The Guardian as ‘compelling…a book that deserves to flourish’.

Part memoir, part polemic, Barkham argues for greater access to nature for all children. As a parent, he spends a year volunteering in his local Forest School, run by two pioneering teachers, watching children learn and play in a wilder environment. ‘All of us,’ Barkham writes, ‘of all ages are so much happier if we spend a fair chunk of our waking hours outdoors.

It is how we used to live; it is how we are meant to be.’

Other nature writers include James Crowden on Wednesday 10 November talking about Cider Country: How an Ancient Craft Became a Way of Life; bestselling author, navigator and explorer Tristan Gooley at The Bull Ballroom on Thursday 11 November on The Secret World of Weather: How to Read Signs in Every Cloud, Breeze, Hill, Street, Plant, Animal and Dewdrop; Dave Goulson on Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse on Friday 12 November; Adam Nicholson on The Sea is not made of Water: Life Between the Tides on Saturday 13 November, and Jonathan Drori on Saturday 13 November at 10am taking readers on a trip across the globe with a sumptuously illustrated talk about Around the World in 80 Plants.

As well as nature writing, travel, politics, journalism, art, music, thrillers, history, cookery, gardening, memoir, contemporary fiction and biography are all part of the audience-winning mix for this year’s festival. With the international lens on Afghanistan, journalist Christina Lamb’s talk on Saturday 13 November about Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women feels very timely.

Rape and war have a long and painful history, stretching from Alexander the Great through the ‘comfort women’ of the

Imperial Japanese Army to the abuse of German women by the Red Army during World War Two. Today, the story hasn’t changed. Rape is a cruel, insidious and growing part of war, used against hundreds of thousands of women—often as part of barbaric military strategy.

In this searing, angry reckoning of a book—the first major account to address the scale of sexual assault in modern conflict—Christina Lamb exposes the unheard stories of these women with unfailing care and humanity. How in countries around the world rape is used as a weapon. It is also a biting condemnation of the way rape is accepted and ignored.

Polly Toynbee and David Walker examine The Lost Decade – 2010 – 2020 and What Lies Ahead for Britain on Saturday 13 November. From austerity to Brexit, food banks to Grenfell and ending with Covid 19—the worst global pandemic in recent history—the decade has been gloomy and lifechanging. Progress in renewable energy, legalisation in samesex marriage and an awareness of environmental issues might be considered progress, but how can we gain optimism for the future. What went wrong? What went right? And where do we go from here?

Lisa Jewell’s latest bestseller tells what happens when a teenage single mother disappears without trace. Where do you start to search? The Night She Disappeared is described by New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben as her ‘best thriller yet.’

She and fellow crime novelist Nancy Tucker will be at The Bull Ballroom on Monday 8 November at 12 noon

in a lively discussion on how the issues involved in writing psychological thrillers are irresistible. How easy is it to get behind the criminal mind? Why are women writers so successful at this genre of fiction? And why are readers so addicted to the ‘whodunnit’?

West Dorset-based writer Boris Starling will be in conversation with writer Olivia Glazebrook on Wednesday 10 November. In his ninth novel, The Law of the Heart, his three protagonists confront emotions they’ve all tried to suppress.

For rollercoaster designer, Theo, life is living on the edge, immune to commitment. In North Korea he meets tour guide, Min, who has a soul that wants to soar but feels safer to have walls around her heart and mind. Min’s grandmother, Cuckoo, hides her own heartbreak. How much are all three prepared to risk?

Britain’s favourite on-screen GP, Dr Hilary Jones, has found his writing voice, launching his epic historical series in the midst of a pandemic. He’ll be at BridLit in conversation with Sally Laverack on Thursday 11 November. They’ll be talking about Frontline, a sweeping sumptuous World War I medical drama set during the Spanish Flu pandemic, when only the strongest survived.

The pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people, with the mortality rate higher in the 20-40s age range and those below five and over 65.

Bridport Literary Festival take place from 7 to 13 November. Tickets are available from Bridport Tourist Information Centre on 01308 424901. For more information, visit the website bridlit.com

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 51

October GALLERIES

Until 2 October

Tobit Roche: Sea and Sky fifth solo exhibition of work and Samantha Cary: Unsettled Times open Thursday - Friday, 10am - 3pm, or by appointment. The Art Stable. The Art Stable Child Okeford Blandford Dorset DT11 8HB. kellyross@theartstable. co.uk

2 - 4 October

Hinton St George Arts Exhibition. Local artists will be displaying paintings, prints, drawing, photography, glasswork, sculpture and craft. St George’s Hall, Merriott Road, Hinton St George, Somerset TA17 8SL. 11 am - 5 pm. Free entry.

2 – 17 October

Zee Jones: Perfect Balance Sou’-Sou’-West Arts Gallery & Shop, Symondsbury Estate. sousouwest.co.uk 01308 301326 lymebayarts.co.uk

Until 3 October

Somerset Open Studios one of the largest Open Studios events to date there will be work from more than 300 Somerset Art Works Members in over 200 studios and spaces across the county this autumn. Visitors have the opportunity to go behind the scenes and meet the artist, find out what inspires them and experience the working process- engaging with creativity at the source. Studios occur in a variety of unique situations and the event is the perfect opportunity to discover hidden locations and workspaces- in person and also online. Also new for this year is an Open Studios App somersetartworks.org.uk/what-we-do/art-weeks/or Paul Newman at Somerset Art Works 07715 528441 paul.newman@ somersetartworks.org.uk ‘Kimmeridge - Between The Ledges’, Rita Brown’s latest show has a focus on fossils and the Jurassic coast: geology and palaeontology have been a recurring theme throughout her career.

Rita’s collection of specimens and visits to Kimmeridge and Charmouth have been a huge motivation and inspiration for this

52 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

recent work. Sou’-Sou’-West Arts Gallery, Symondsbury Manor Yard. sousouwest.co.uk 01308 301326 lymebayarts.co.uk, open daily 10:30-4:30.

4 – 17 October

Russell Coulson: Line & Tone Sou’-Sou’-West Arts Gallery & Shop, Symondsbury Estate. sousouwest.co.uk 01308 301326 lymebayarts.co.uk

Until 9 October

Urban Rural Art Group Exhibition Linked by a fascination with urban and rural landscapes and connections with society and contemporary issues, they seek to reveal and explore underlying themes and new ways of seeing. Exhibiting artists: Eric Gaskell; Ferha Farooqui; Frank Creber; Jane Smith; Jennie Ing; Karen Potter: Liz Somerville; Rory Brooke; Steve Edwards; Stewart Taylor. Tues – Saturdays, 10am to 4pm. Free entry The opening even is Saturday 4th September 5-7pm. This will include a presentation on the work and artists. All welcome. Bridport Arts Centre, South Street, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 3NR https://www. bridport-arts.com or The Urban Rural Group: https://www. roryart.co.uk/post/new-urban-rural-.

Vanessa Cooper: It’s A Wonderful Life. White Space Art, 72 Fore Street, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5RU. The Natural World – Man’s Impact Group of textile artists from Dorset and Somerset exhibiting in the Main Gallery, with the theme of environmental issues and nature conservation. Ilminster Arts Centre. 01460 54973 Coast A solo exhibition of Sue Durant’s coastal paintings in the Café Gallery Ilminster Arts Centre. 01460 54973

11 – 6 October

John Maddison A selection of John Maddison’s stunning still life, interior and landscape works in a solo show. The Jerram Gallery, Half Moon Street, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 3LN. Tuesday Saturday 9.30am - 5pm. 01935 815261 info@jerramgallery.com.

Peter Coates at The Courtyard Gallery Lyme Regis in October

12 - 20 October

Paintings, etchings, and calligraphy Solo exhibition with artist Janet Jordan. lminster Arts Centre. 01460 54973

15 October - 7 November

‘What are you looking at?’ Angela Charles. 11am 5pm Thursday to Saturday. 11am - 3pm Sunday. OSR Projects, Church Street, West Coker, Somerset, BA22 9JR

16 October – 13 November

Henrietta Young Repetitive Landscapes. Open Thursday - Friday, 10am - 3pm, or by appointment.

Kelly Ross Fine Art, The Art Stable, Child Okeford, Blandford, Dorset DT11 8HB

18 – 31 October

Anne Townsend: Shapes & Sculpture Sou’-Sou’-West Arts Gallery & Shop, Symondsbury Estate sousouwest. co.uk 01308 301326 lymebayarts.co.uk

16 October

The Place I Love Art Exhibition and Sale of work inspired by and created in Broadwindsor, Dorset, at Comrades Hall, High Street, Broadwindsor, DT8 3QP, from 10am until 4pm. Free admission. Refreshments available.

GALLERIES IN NOVEMBER Live or Online send your November gallery details to info@marshwoodvale.com

by October 15th.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 53

October GALLERIES

19 - 30 October

Pictures From Home and Away New landscapes, seascapes, abstract and textiles designs by Peter Coates. Peter Coates’s latest exhibition features landscapes and seascapes ranging from the Dorset and Devon coast to the hills of Provence and the plains of the Alentejo in Portugal. Most of the 20 or so pictures have been painted this year. That’s not to say Peter has been travelling all that time. He always travels with a sketch book and the vibrant, warm scenes he creates are a combination of sketches made ‘en plain air’ and photographs taken at the time. Nearly all the paintings in the exhibition are oil on canvas. He’ll also be showing some abstract paintings for the first time. Although a new departure they are still inspired by the rich colours of the Mediterranean where Peter lived for several years. There will also be some new abstract designs drawn on an Ipad, available as prints as well as some of them being applied to cushions and wall hangings. Peter is hoping the Courtyard Gallery will be a lucky space the fourth time around as the previous three exhibitions were near sell outs!

Peter will be stewarding his exhibition each day from 10.30 until 4.30pm. You can view Peter’s work at www.petercoatesart.co.uk and on Instagram and Facebook at petercoatesart. 10.30 – 4.30pm.

Courtyard Gallery, Town Mill, Lyme Regis DT7 3PU

22 October - 10 November

Ann Armitage, Caroline Frood, Bryan Hanlon and Mhairi McGregor. Still Lifes and Landscapes. The Jerram Gallery, Half Moon Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3LN. 01935 815261 www. jerramgallery.com.

This and That, June Ridgway from Urban Spaces

23 - 24 October

The Way I See It. Contemporary art exhibition by Colyton based artist Trevor Hunt at the Bomb Shelter in Beer. Drawing inspiration from the local countryside and the Jurassic coastline, Trevor will be displaying his colourful work for the first time in Beer. Free admission. Open 10.00am - 4.00pm. www. trevorhuntartist.com

often ignored specimens, from bird’s feathers and spent flower heads to sea shells and animal skulls. Rotunda Gallery, Lyme Regis Museum, Bridge Street, Lyme Regis DT7 3QA, check website for opening hours/days, www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk

23 - 24 & 26 - 31 October

New Arts in Hospital Exhibition at Dorset County Hospital Zennor Box, Bristol-based artist’s fabulous concept art is now on display. For Arts in Hospital programme please visit: https:// dchartsinhospital.org.uk

Urban Spaces. A show by 10 members of Wesca. Photography, painting, sculture and inventive installations make for a stimulating and diverse response to our theme. Displayed in a Georgian house overlooking the Borough Gardens in Dorchester. 10.30-4.30 daily but closed on Monday Entrance is free. 2 West Walks, Dorchester DT1 1RE Telephone 01305 260 215.

23 October – 7 November

Christine Allison: The Sky Is The Limit. Sou’-Sou’-West Arts Gallery & Shop, Symondsbury Estate. sousouwest.co.uk 01308 301326 lymebayarts.co.uk

Until 24 October

Fossils, Fish and Feathers An exhibition of watercolours by Lyme Bay Artist Trisha Hayman that focus on some of nature’s 54 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

Until Mid October

Until 31 October

Turning the Tide Discover the history of plastic and the problem with single-use plastics. Learn how you can help in the fight to reduce microplastics in our oceans. Admission free, donations welcomed. West Bay Discovery Centre. TuesdaySunday 11am - 4pm. www.westbaydiscoverycentre.org.uk.

Until 14 November

Gaia: recent collages and sculpture. Marzia Colonna MRBS. Sladers Yard, West Bay Road, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4EL. 01308 459511. gallery@sladersyard.co.uk.

Screen Time with Nic Jeune

CINEMA No Time To Die Been a long time on the shelf waiting for cinemas to open. The filmmakers were quite clear that this film should open on the big screen. Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond.

Walking at West Bay, Marzia Colonna at Sladers Yard until November 14

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary of the first Harry Potter.

Daniel Radcliffe was 11 when he made this, the first of the franchise and 21 when he acted in the last.

“A red-blooded adventure movie, dripping with atmosphere, filled with the gruesome and the sublime, and surprisingly faithful to the novel” Roger Ebert Chicago Sun Times.

BBC

Until 21 November

Breathe by Michelle Sank will be shown in Gallery 20 at RAMM alongside RAMM’s Covid-19 commission Biophilia: The Exeter Florilegium by Exeter artist Amy Shelton. Sank’s photographic series documents the first Covid-19 lockdown in the Wonford area of Exeter taken on her daily walks, and Shelton’s commission, The Exeter Florilegium (2021), includes a herbarium of pressed plant and wildflower specimens compiled on her daily lockdown walks around Exeter in spring and summer 2020. The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) https://www.rammuseum.org.uk

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) Excellent performance by Zac Gottasgen “The Peanut Butter Falcon refuses to condescend to its star and tells a story that’s authentic to the life and experiences of adults with Down Syndrome.” Alan Ng. Film Threat

Until 31 December

Together Again Gallery and guest artists at Tincleton Gallery, The Old School House, Toncleton DT2 8QR Tel. 01305 848909 www.tincletongallery.com.

Until 3 January 2022

Eduardo Chillida was one of the foremost Spanish sculptors of the twentieth century.Also Thomas J Price ‘Thoughts Useen’ Price’s multidisciplinary practice confronts preconceived public attitudes towards representation and identity. His inaugural exhibition with Hauser & Wirth presents two decades of conceptual enquiry spanning film, early sculpture, and the artist’s largest figurative bronze to date.Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0NL.

Until 16 January 2022

Dame Elisabeth Frink RA (1930 – 1993) Man is an Animal the most extensive collection of large-scale sculptures by Dame Elisabeth Frink to be shown in this country since the artist’s death in April 1993. Messums Wiltshire. Place Farm, Court St, Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6LW. E: info@ messumswiltshire.com T: 01747 445042.

AMAZON PRIME Carrie (1976) One of the best adaptations of a Stephen King novel.

“The best scary-funny movie since Jaws—a teasing, terrifying, lyrical shocker, directed by Brian De Palma, who has the wickedest baroque sensibility at large in American movies. Pale, gravel-voiced Sissy Spacek gives a classic chameleon performance as a repressed high-school senior.” Pauline Kael. The New Yorker.

Trees Lounge (1996) “If anybody ever wrote a Field Guide to Alcoholics, with descriptions of their appearance, sexual behavior and habitats, there would be a full-color portrait on the cover of Tommy, the hero of Trees Lounge.” Roger Ebert. Chicago Sun-Times.

NETFLIX Fantastic Fungi (2019) “The totality of Fantastic Fungi is so entertaining, informative and appealingly hopeful about the hard-working cure-all for our ailing world lying beneath our feet.” Robert Abele. Los Angeles Times.

YOUNG LIT FIX IN OCTOBER PICTURE BOOK We’re Going to Find the Monster By Malorie Blackman, Illustrations

by Dapo Adeola Puffin Books, RRP £6.99 REVIEW BY Antonia Squire THE ever awesome, former children’s laureate and author of the Naught and Crosses series, Malorie Blackman has turned her talent to the youngest of children with her very first picture book, and it does not disappoint! As Charlie and Eddie are playing in the garden one morning dad calls them in for breakfast. Ever adventurous they know that first they need to find The Monster as they traverse oceans and mountains and jungles and encounter whales, wolves and tigers as they embark on their quest.

When finally, they approach the deep, dark (kinda stinky) cave to find the monster. Furious when they wake him the hungry, tired and grumpy monster chases them all the way past the tiger in the forest, over the wolf at the top of the mountain, down the mountain, around the whale in the ocean and into the kitchen where they are caught by the monster and tickled into submission—only to be rescued by mum and dad! Dapo Adeola’s gorgeous illustrations bring to life the glorious imagination of childhood as Eddie and Charlie transform stairs into a mountain, family pets into fearsome beasts and the terrifying (not really) deep, dark cave that is the bedroom of their older (teenage) brother— the eponymous ‘monster’ of the tale. Perfect for children aged 3 and up, this is a fun and funny story that children and adults will enjoy reading over and over again.

MIDDLE GRADE The Bewitching of Aveline Jones

By Phil Hickes Illustrations by Keith Robinson Usborne RRP £6.99 REVIEW BY Nicky Mathewson THE fun of reading fiction for children is that you can often be drawn into the story within moments of it starting. A really good children’s author will get you hooked in the first few pages and I love that. Phil Hickes does just this, after an exquisite opening line and a subtle hint toward the temperament of the main character, he has set the scene before the end of page two. Wonderful. I’m in and I need to know more! This is his second Aveline Jones mystery beautifully and spookily illustrated by Keith Robinson. As with book one, it is set in the

school holidays, but this time she is on holiday with her mum in a small village not far from their home in Bristol. It’s the best her mum could manage with her busy work schedule and although Aveline would rather be on a hot beach somewhere, she’s happy to be spending time with her mum. With her interest in the macabre and the mysterious, it is a pleasant surprise for Aveline to find that there are “Witch Stones” at the end of the garden. What do they represent and who put them there? Whilst exploring them she meets a local girl called Hazel who is very keen to be friends and show off the “magic” of the stones. It seems like harmless fun, but something about Hazel makes Aveline feel rather uncomfortable and it’s not long before she finds herself way out of her depth. This is a perfect mystery for young fans of spooky and don’t forget to check out our fabulous window painting by Keith Robinson himself when you’re passing by the shop! Suitable from age 9.

TEEN S.T.A.G.S

By M.A. Bennett Published by Hot Key Books, RRP £7.99 REVIEW BY Nicky Mathewson S.T.A.G.S is the first in a 4 (so far) book series, and the first book recently came out. I was going to pass on it, but my sales rep told me it was really good, and to put her money where her mouth is, sent me a review copy of the first book to read. Five days later I’d whizzed through the entire series and by god the whole thing is simply thrilling!

When Greer McDonald is heading off to sixth form from her school on the ‘wrong’ side of Manchester she thinks she’s really lucky to gain a scholarship to the exclusive St Aidan the Great boarding school in Northumberland.

With her Mancunian accent, confidence and pride in her working-class roots Greer struggles to fit in and finds herself becoming more and more isolated amongst her peers—the ‘so-called’ elites. So it is with great surprise that she receives an invitation to a stately home from one of the most elite of her peers for a weekend of “Huntin’, Shootin’ and Fishin’” As she sets out to Longcross Hall, alone except for the taciturn game keeper, the weekend gets stranger and stranger as she soon begins to realise that she is not the only misfit to have been invited on this long weekend and danger is all around. There are definitely blood sports on the weekend agenda, but what becomes less clear is the nature of the prey. Greer soon begins to suspect that she’s in danger and has very few options as to who she can trust…

10% off RRP of these books for Marshwood Vale Readers at The Bookshop, 14 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NQ. 56 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

Health&Environment

Eco Nurses

Eco-friendly and economic is the way forward for district nurses visiting patients in communities around Dorset.

Dorset HealthCare’s mobile nursing teams are switching from cars to electric bikes to help the environment, bypass traffic jams and promote healthy living.

The idea was pioneered in Purbeck, and expanded to other areas such as Dorchester and Bournemouth after bosses at the NHS Trust provided £2,000 to encourage more nurses to get on their e-bikes.

And the bikes have more than paid their way—with average car mileage costs for just one full time member of staff in the Swanage area topping £600 a year, for example, moving to pedal power is helping to deliver major transport savings.

Now, with traffic again filling our roads as we come out of lockdown, more nurses are enquiring about the electric bike option.

Hattie Taylor, Lead District Nurse for Purbeck, made the bid for the funding in the Trust’s ‘Dragons’ Den’ staff innovation competition after seeing the difference e-bikes made to her team.

‘We had the idea after a trip to Gouda in Holland, where healthcare staff use bicycles to get to appointments all the time,’ she explained.

‘Purbeck isn’t quite as flat as Holland, so we found electric bikes worked better, especially when you’re trying to go uphill.

‘Even so, they are a much better alternative to cars. You can get through traffic more easily, and don’t have to worry about finding a parking space when you get to an appointment.

‘Our patients love it when we turn up with our helmets on. It’s an amazing feeling getting around the community on two wheels, it’s like district nurses use to do in the old days, and I was keen for other teams to have that choice.’

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 57

Services&Classified FOR SALE

FOR SALE

Elite magnetic variable Wallflower plants £5 per resistance, £35 All in good 100. £1 per 20. Tel. 01460 condition. 01305 871863 74572 Chicco Pocket Meal child’s high chair. As new, Pottery equipment used only twice for visiting including Cromarty grandchild now outgrown. workhorse Kiln unused £10 Buyer to collect from new chamber (Colyton). 01297 553614 w18’’xd18’’ Gladstone type Kelly Holmes Exercise potters wheel several glaze Bike. Excellent condition.

Many different training colours many accessories and tools £950. Call 01297 modes. Fully assembled.

Can be seen and tried.

32847 for details.

Buyer collects (Colyton) Henry hoover £25 call 01297 553614. £40.

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Demi-Johns x 5 plus wine Child’s Car Seat Joie Elevate, 9-36 kg, (9 mths& beer making equipment 12 yrs), Cup holder. As including hydrometer. £20 new, occasional use by 01297 21197. grandparents. £50. 01935 Hedge trimmer, Black 882769 & Decker corded, 240volt, 3 Stag horn-sumac 375mm blade. £20 ONOtrees. One is 6ft high 0794 705 9486 £25.00. Two are 3ft high Grey 2-seater Sofa Bed. As new, excellent condition. £10.00 each. good healthy Easy action pull out to good examples. 01297-678602 Alto Saxophone, student sized very comfortable model, 4 years old, hardly single bed. Ideal for sleepused. Serviced, ideal overs/weekend guests etc. learner/advancing player.

Fire safety label. Used five or six times only. £250 ono. Black nickel silver body, silver key work, engraved Buyer collects. bell. £225 with accessories.

Integrated Fridge under 01308 425037, can deliver worktop, 60cm wide, Bridport.

Zanussi, vgc, includes all Ukulele, as new, boxed, fixings £50 buyer collects Brunswick Concert, black.

COT, plain wood, no mattress, FREE, collection £8. Xmas Tree with stand, boxed, not new, hence £10 only 01308 281497.

Fridge, under worktop, 60 ovno. Tel 07398760637. cm wide, Liebherr, has small DT11SG Garden pebbles, various freezer compartment £12 buyer collects 01308 281497. colours and sizes 3mm -7mm diameter.6 x20kg@ Lovely large bespoke £5 each. Sand coloured wooden painted Neptune plate rack. W105 cm H70cm round stepping stones, 12x42cm diameter £3 each.

D28cm £100. Can Email Compost bins, 330lt £10, photo Tel 01297 489257 220lt £7. Spinning black Bridport area chimney cowl £20. Gazco Natural plinths assorted Logic HE coal effect gas sizes, one cubic yard, free fire complete with frame. for collection. Plus smaller (not required as replaced natural stones equally free with electric one).Cost 01305 848358 £700 -only £200.Tel.01308 Frank Thomas calf 423849 length motorcycling Rollator 4 wheel with boots, “commando” seat and shopping bag soles, fit size 7/8 £25.

Belstaff Tourmaster waxed £80. Rollator 3 wheel with zipped bag £40. Z bed motorcycling jacket, £35 . single with cover £40. Bath Cycle turbo trainer,Volare 58 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

chair lift £75 Gourmet Maxx multi grill brand new in box £15. Cordless kettle Tipper £10. Raised Mobilease toilet seat £15.

All items VGC. Tel: 07974 313227 (Sherborne) Piano For Sale Rogers London no. 32425 overstrung & underdamped £995 ono Good condition Bright tone Sherborne area Stool included Please call Whittick 01963 220855 07765771184.

Sherborne Electric arm chair new unused five years guarantee, dark green upholstered, collect. £600.

01297 631490.

John Wayne (30) DVDs £20. Various DVDs 3 for £1. 01395 515253.

Caravan Awning Ventura Atlantic 925. Fibre-glass poles fits awning rail 911 – 925m, very good condition, little used. £250, phone 07790 086669 or 7818 497681.

Early 1970s G plan lounge furniture suite, comprises curved 4 seater settee, plus two chairs. Oatmeal fabric, antimacassars and arm-covers included, vgc, buyer collects, payment on collection £100ono. 01305 263651.

Peter James best-selling thriller author, whole ‘Roy Grace’ series, 14 paperbacks from ‘Dead Simple’ to the latest release ‘Find them dead’. £25 01395 577859.

Coal storage bunker 300kg capacity rigid plastic hinged lid and drop down access door. Easy to move empty. 900 w x 740 d x 940 h. £40. Photo can be emailed. 01395 577859.

Rocking Chair American antique late 19th century.

Newly upholstered padded back seat and armrests in cream with original sprung rockers. Photo can be emailed £160. 01395 577859.

Kitchen table green tiles top, light wood surround,

COTTAGE WANTED

Retired single man would like to rent small unfurnished cottage in 2022.Will pay one years rent in advance. m.hyman123@btinternet. com Dec 21

FOR SALE green base and legs plus 4 matching chairs light wood seats and green legs. 1.2 x 0.76. £65. 01395 577850.

Youngman Trade 350 two stage aluminium ladder, 5 metre extend to 10 metre.

Rope and pulley extension, buyer collects £10. 01395 577859.

Venetian blinds, white 170cm x 168cm, plastic 81cm x 81cm. £10. Brown 75cm x 91cm wood £5.

Roman material blind, cotton backed 165cm x 91cm £15. Cable reel, 50 metres 5 sockets £30.

Photos emailed. 01460 54578, 07939 553167.

Bevelled glass dressing table mirror set £35. Wood glazed spoon display racks £15 each. Wheel and tyre 5 stud brand new, 195/55 R15.8H £35. Photos emailed. 01460 54578, 07939 553167.

Ladies shoes unworn size 5, 1 pair soft navy leather laced ankle boots £30. 1 pr faux suede turquoise wedge shoes £25. 01308 488086.

3 seater reclining sofa dark red leather vgc £800. Also 2 seater reclining sofa dark red leather vgc £500. 01297 20392.

2 Folding Bikes Kansai with carry bags, good condition, no gears, perfet for motor home holidays, £100 each bike. 078403 43873.

Toyota Aygo full size spare wheel and tyre, both unused £75. 01404 881289.

‘Gong Ting’ cross-stitch kits 16 as new and unopened craft kits complete. Buyer to collect £25. Musbury 01297 552131.

CLEANER WANTED

Gardener required to help manage large wildlife friendly garden near Winsham. Text or phone for further details 07961 486924

CLAIRVOYANT Emma Howe Clairvoyant. Established 25 years, BBC recommended. Spiritual solutions to worldly problems. Spiritual Medium. Life Guidance.

Astrology/Tarot. 01458 830276 / 07881 088664Sept 21

RESTORATION 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

Dec 21

SURFACE PREPARATION

Alberny Restoration In-house blast cleaning for home and garden furniture, doors and gates. Agricultural/ construction machinery and tooling. Vehicles, parts and trailers etc. 01460 73038, email allan@alberny. co.uk, FB Alberny Sandblasting STONE CARVING

House names, memorials, hand carved in local natural stone.

Call words in stone 07516 714901. www. wordsinstone.co.uk

ELECTRICAL

WANTED

CHIMNEY SWEEP

Vintage & antique textiles, linens, costume buttons etc. always sought by Caroline Bushell. Tel. 01404 45901.

Oct 21

Secondhand tools wanted. All trades.

Users & Antiques.

G & E C Dawson.

01297 23826. www. secondhandtools.co.uk. sept 21

Dave buys all types of tools 01935 428975

FOR SALE

films each £2, (30 films).

Teddy bears each £25.

07917 838202.

Clothing sale £5 up £10 Wanted: Old tractors each. Curtains £50 per pair, and vehicles. Running, curtains flowers £25 per non running. Good pair. 07917 838202. price paid. 01308 Joie Spin 360 car seat 482320 07971 866364 Dec 21 group 0+/1. Birth to 18kgs. 150 Fix, immaculate condition, bought for Coins wanted. Part grandson’s visits and used or full collections once only. £100. 01308 purchased for cash.

867407.

Please phone John on Matchbox collector, 01460 62109 Oct 21 1980s Charlbury Match Co, Dorset towns and landmarks, full set of FOR SALE twenty with slides and Ladies bicycle vgc £40. contents plus part set of 01297 624222. five outers only. All ex Jaques Vert, Mother of con. £50. 07870 591473. the Groom 3 piece outfit, DT6 area. jacket, top & skirt. Grey/ Large book by C H Wedel green/ pink/ white size on American Gasoline 16 silk 38% viscose 68% Engines since 1872, very plus pink fascinator and good condition with 2350 pochette. A very attractive illustrations, buyer collects outfit. Can forward from South Chard. 01460 pictures. £100 ovno. 01460 220786. £80ono.

54578.

Shrubs, large mature, Medici, Mother of the 4ft, pot grown. Elaeagnus, Groom outfit muted pink Pittosporum, Jasmine, silk dress & jacket. Both climbing Hydrangea etc. lined worn once. Size 16, £10-£20 each. 01297 dress length 51”/ 130cm.

599237. £60. Happy to send photos. Chaise longue vgc, claret 01460 54578. colour £100. Kitchen unit, Black leather 2 seater shelves, cupboard below. settee £20 ono. Oak wood gc cream/teak £50ono. wardrobe with 3 drawers Tabletop cooker new £50 £20. Small coffee table ono. Karcher Pressure wooden £25 ono. Mob washer, used once, £50ono. phone, new 102 £20. Old 01935 434239.

Oct 21

Double partable electric hot plate still boxed, small, compact. Also Venetian blind, light beige 25mm aluminium slats 3m wide 2.5 drop, excellent condition. Hot plate £40ono. Blind £40oo.

07594 687485.

AquaJoy bath lift, used less than a dozen ties. £140.ono. Wrought iron wall plant holder, two, 2 pot £12 each. Two 1 pot £1 each or £40 the lot.

01297 33246.

Car Battery 12V YuaSa YBX 3000, 1 year old, only £40. 01305 871089.

Headboard 4ft 6” lovely condition First to see will buy. £20. Two tins of paint outside weather shield 5 litres each, unused, Jasmine white. Accept £20 for both.

01308 861474.

Model makers stand, adjustable height 26” x 41”. Wooden top manually rotates. Metal stand. £20.

Metal general purpose table with numerous slots for mounting power tools. 28” high, top 21” x 17”. £15.

01460 234755.

Circular display dress stand, ideal car boot, assembled 55” high, 28” across. £10. 2 heavy duty adjustable roller ball stands.

16” support, height 27” to 48”. £30. 01460 234755.

DISTRIBUTION

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 59

FREE ADS for items under £1,000 This FREE ADS FORM is for articles for sale, where the sale price is under £1000 (Private advertisers only — no trade, motor, animals, alcohol, firearms etc). Just fill in the form and send it to the Marshwood Vale Magazine, Lower Atrim, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5PX or email the text to info@marshwoodvale.com.

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Monthly Quiz –

Win a book from Little Toller Books

Send in your answer on a postcard, along with your name and address to: Hargreaves Quiz, Marshwood Vale Magazine, Lower Atrim, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5PX. Study the clues contained in the rhyme and look carefully at the signposts to work out which town or village in South Somerset, West Dorset or East Devon is indicated. The first correct answer drawn out of a hat will win a book from local publisher Little Toller Books.

There is no cash equivalent and no correspondence will be entered into.

Last month’s answer was Little Bredy. The winner was Jonathan Edmonds from Highbridge.

60 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 Tel. 01308 423031

BUSINESS NEWS Sustainable clothing alternative from Devon WHAT started as a means of quiet entertainment as a child has developed into a new business venture for Devon based Hannah Page founder of Pinhay Studios.

Upcycling her wardrobe throughout her teens eventually led to completing a first class textiles degree in adulthood. ‘Growing up with a need to be thrifty, develops great creativity’ says Hannah. She left university and worked in various creative jobs in illustration, ceramics, and sewing work, as well as many cafe jobs to make ends meet. Teaching came next, and with that expanding her own skills in pattern making and soft tailoring.

Pinhay Studios clothing on the beach Hannah is an advocate for taking care of the planet. ‘With increasing awareness of climate change and witnessing the impact the textiles industry has on the planet’ she says, ‘it is obvious the way we buy clothes needs to change.’ It appeared in conversation with people she met that there is a need for more eco-friendly clothing options, not only that but a service that made these clothes to fit.

Hannah hopes that in time it’ll be easier to live sustainably, and that the high street and communities will be revived in the process.

Pinhay Studios provide a sustainable clothing alternative with an optional tailoring service. ‘Our intention is to create clothes with a comfortable fit that you’ll want to wear for years to come’ says Hannah. ‘We use earth friendly materials to make your clothes, from companies based in the UK. So not only have they begun their lives in an earth friendly way, they’ll completely biodegrade. There are no plastics, just natural materials. Clothes for work, clothes for play, clothes for wandering the coast path… clothes for wherever your journey takes you. We also run a range of sewing classes for all abilities.’

For more about Pinhay Studios visit www.pinhaystudios.co.uk.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2021 61