The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019

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Magazine West Dorset East Devon South Somerset

Marshwood THE

The best from in and around the Vale

No. 241

APRIL 2019

© Steven Spurrier Photograph by Robin Mills

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COVER STORY Robin Mills met Steven Spurrier at Litton Cheney, West Dorset ‘I was brought up in Derbyshire where my family wanted to sell. But not knowing me she was worried have lived for several hundred years. We have been that I might destroy her late husband’s reputation as church wardens of the village church at Marstona caviste, and that my poor grasp of French would on-Dove, where my elder brother still lives, since be a disadvantage. So I agreed to work for her for six 1632 without a break. He will be the final church months to prove myself, then do a deal if it worked warden there. out. We exchanged contracts on April Fool’s Day, The Damascene Conversion moment for me was and I then put an ad in the Herald Tribune, published Christmas Eve, 1954, probably my first in long trouin Paris, which ran “Your wine merchant speaks sers because I’d just started at Rugby public school, English—call Steven Spurrier. The only Englishdining with my grandfather, parents and brother in speaking wine shop in Paris.” At that time all the the family house. He said “I think you’re old enough British and American banks, and major law firms, for a glass of port”. A glass was brought, the decanter were represented in Paris, and they were pretty much was pushed in my direction, I poured myself a glass all in the Madeleine, where I was. So my clientele and tasted it, and said “Gosh, Grandpa, what was were already there, and unlike other wine shops I that?” “Cockburns 1908, my boy”, he said. And that, was choosing and selling my own wines from my in all honesty, put me in the wine trade. The bottle of knowledge of the vineyards. One of my American © Steven Spurrier Photograph by Robin Mills vintage port, with its label, date, and country of oriclients suggested that I put together a wine course, gin I could identify with in the same way as my stamp and I teamed up with American wine writer, Jon collection, which then became a point of reference Winroth. We took over the premises next to the shop, in my geography and history lessons at school, because I was learning Jon taught the courses there while I continued to run the shop; Patricia how wine production fitted with those subjects. Later at the LSE, having Gallagher became the manager, and L’Acadamie du Vin was born in late joined the Wine Society, I was quite clear about wanting to go into the ‘72. We were the only game in town, but by forming cooperative busiwine trade when I had finished my education. ness ventures with two or three of the other great wine shops in Paris, My father didn’t approve of my ambitions, and advised me to use my between us we were beginning to shake up the whole Paris wine trade. degree in Economics from the LSE to get a job in the City. In the end I The biggest shake-up however occurred on the 24th May 1976 at a blind did a deal with him, saying that if I could get two different job offers in tasting L’Acadamie du Vin had organised, by the top French wine experts the City, I wouldn’t accept them but it would at least show that my degree of the day, comparing some of the up and coming Californian wines to had employment potential, and I would still look for a job in the wine a selection from the finest French chateaux. The tasters had no knowltrade. He accepted that, although in truth any employer in the City in edge of what was in their glasses, with only their palate and experience those days would have offered a job to a young man with an economics to judge the wines. To our astonishment the results of the tasting put degree and a private income. I was on to a winner. the Californian wines, especially the Chardonnays, ahead of the French.

So in 1964 I joined Christopher’s in St James’s, reputedly the oldest The reaction to the results from the French tasters was understandably wine company in the country. It was definitely the old fashioned wine shock, horror and disbelief. One of the tasters, Aubert de Villaine, called trade, and I spent a year as a kind of indented slave in the wine cellars, it “un coup dans le derriere pour les vins Francais”, a kick in the backside but learning the whole time. In ’64 they sent me to Burgundy for a week for French wines. The Californian producer of the winning Chardonnay, and Champagne for another week, then in ’65 they sent me abroad (at when told he’d beaten the French at their own game, said drily, “Not bad my own expense) for 6 months in Europe—to Bordeaux, Burgundy, the for kids from the sticks”. Reporter George Taber from Time Magazine, the Rhone Valley, Germany, Oporto—although nothing about Italy. This only journalist to be present, recorded the event in his book, and the day was pretty much standard practice in the 1960s for a young man wanting became known as “The Judgement of Paris”, such was its significance in to make his career in the wine trade. I had written in advance to all the the years to come. employers, the great wine houses of the regions I was about to visit, Ten years later, Bella and I were thinking it was time to come back to saying that I was looking forward to working for them and learning all I England, but I was persuaded to go to New York instead, being advised could, but that I was fortunate enough to not need to be paid thanks to that having been so successful in Paris I couldn’t help but be even more my private means. That resulted in a certain amount of preferential treat- so in America. As it turned out, it was a complete and utter disaster, ment towards me compared to the other “stagiaires” (trainees), so that I nearly the end of our marriage, and mainly due to taking my eye off the would get asked to join the wine tastings, and sometimes lunch, with the ball over my business ventures, financially we were in poor shape. Back aristocratic, and slightly snobbish, employers, who possibly saw me as in London, I created the wine courses at Christies, but by 1989 I sold off “one of them”. The result was that I learned a massive amount, because everything. My 20-year stint as Steven Spurrier, Marchand de Vin, was I saw it from the inside, and through getting to know the members of over. My debts were greater than the value of my only asset, my London the great families who had been producing wine for hundreds of years I flat, as the guys I’d sold the businesses to failed to pay up. learned about the history.

The years 1990 to 1993 were pretty bleak, but the road back began Returning to London and the Swinging Sixties, I continued to work in with the offer of a job with Singapore Airlines as a wine consultant, and the very active wine trade of those days. Having inherited a substantial then came the offer of a regular column with Decanter magazine. I was sum from the sale of the family sand and gravel business, I bought a becoming much better known as a wine writer, having written 5 successproperty in Provence, a ruin which I intended to restore. I had also met ful books on wine, and it became something I loved doing because I was my future wife Bella in ’64, so in 1968 we married, and the same evening travelling the world with Singapore Airlines, and writing about the wines took the Golden Arrow train to Paris, and thence to Provence, to make a I was discovering. That put me back in the centre of the wine trade, and new life in France restoring the ruined farmhouse. Sadly, we were ripped I’m still writing my monthly column. off right left and centre, and realised by 1970 it wasn’t going to work Bella had bought the farm here in Dorset in 1987, and noticing the out. Not wanting to return to England with my tail between my legs, we abundance of chalk under the thin topsoil I took a sample to Michel decided to go to Paris where I could return to the wine trade. On arrival Bettane, France’s great wine guru. I asked him where he thought it came I soon found there wasn’t a wine trade in the same way as England; there from, to which he replied “Champagne, of course”. “Actually, Dorset”, I were wholesalers, and there were wine shops, but nothing in between, replied. “In that case you should plant a vineyard”, he said. The idea took so I decided the best bet was a shop. Passing a boutique de vin in the a few years to come to fruition, but in 2009 we planted our first vines Madeleine one day, I remarked to my friend that it was my absolute here at Litton Cheney. There have been some quite good years, some not dream of a shop. So we went in, and by good fortune the lady owner good, but this last sunny summer has given us our best, by a long chalk.’

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MV UP FRONT I’ve always looked forward to April. There is a general feeling of anticipation and hope—winter is behind us, and we can look forward to growth again. But I’m not sure about this April. We live in such confusion that it’s hard to anticipate the general atmosphere after March 29th. However, my brother reminded me of a story from April 1934 that briefly side-lined that question.

It is about an event in my Grandfather’s life. Back in the early thirties, my Grandfather was a local County Councillor during a time when farmers were refusing to pay controversial land annuities that had dated back to the 1800s. When refusing to pay, some farmers had their livestock confiscated to be auctioned off to pay the fine. On this particular day, five head of seized cattle were due to be auctioned to pay the fine levied on a local farmer. However, due to the presence of protesting farmers supporting the man whose animals had been seized, the sale was aborted—there were no bids. With yelps of delight, some of the protesters then broke the cattle out of the pens, and, pursued by the local constabulary, drove them down the side streets of the town. The bemused animals were soon joined by an excited crowd cheering them on. It was all a great laugh until they turned a corner to face a line of police with batons drawn. Even the cattle participated in the ensuing standoff, and, concerned that things might get nasty, the police asked my Grandfather—a man described as a, ‘very influential man in the county’—to calm the crowd. This he did, stressing the fact that the police were, as he put it, ‘the custodians of the public peace, and should not be molested’. The crowd dispersed and no doubt many of them made their way to nearby hostelries to discuss the day’s events, and maybe even the price of cattle. The story might have ended there, except the following week; in a dawn raid that might have looked more at home in an episode of Line of Duty, my Grandfather, along with eight other members of the community, was arrested and thrown in jail for public order offences. The constabulary’s case was eventually thrown out but not before hysterical testimony that included descriptions of the crowd as ‘possessed with hysteria’ and ‘maddened and infuriated’ and even a suggestion that men were ‘frothing at the mouth’. This was, of course, all cobblers, as the barrister for the defence was later to prove. But I couldn’t help thinking that the descriptions might easily have applied to recent activity in Westminster.

Published Monthly and distributed by Marshwood Vale Ltd Lower Atrim, Bridport Dorset DT6 5PX The Marshwood Vale Magazine is printed using wood from sustainable forestry For all Enquiries Tel: 01308 423031 info@marshwoodvale.com

This Month 3 6 8 34 36 38 39

Cover Story By Robin Mills A New look at Hedge Coppicing By Owen Day & Paddy Parsons Coast & Countryside Events Holloways & Hideouts By Ines Cavill Courses and Workshops News & Views Laterally Speaking By Humphrey Walwyn

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House & Garden The Canterbury Tales By Cecil Amor Vegetables in April By Fergus Dowding April in the Garden By Russell Jordan Property Round Up By Helen Fisher Catfish Florida By Nick Fisher

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58 58 62

Food & Dining Green Shakshoukeh By Joudie Kalla Chocolate Brownies By Lesley Waters Boiled Duck Eggs with Asparagus Soldiers By Mark Hix People in Food By Catherine Taylor

70 72 73

Health & Beauty Services & Classified People at Work By Catherine Taylor

Arts & Entertainment A Private War in Bridport By Fergus Byrne Museums and Galleries, Performance, Preview and Film

“Things are more like they are today than they ever have been before.”

Fergus Byrne

Like us on Facebook and watch out for the next Marshwood Face

Editorial Director

Contributors

Fergus Byrne

Deputy Editor Victoria Byrne

Design

Fergus Byrne Emily Secrett-Hill

Advertising

Sue Norris sue@marshwoodvale.com

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Cecil Amor Ines Cavill Owen Day Fergus Dowding Helen Fisher Nick Fisher Richard Gahagan Margery Hookings

For local events follow us on Twitter @marshwoodvale

Mark Hix Russell Jordan Joudie Kalla Robin Mills Paddy Parsons Gay Pirrie-Weir Catherine Taylor Humphrey Walwyn Lesley Waters

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.

A New Look at Hedge Coppicing A burgeoning opportunity for rural jobs and renewable energy

The management of hedges is an important, complex and often thorny subject, that can divide opinions as passionately as Brexit. From medieval times, hedges have been managed by laying and coppicing, providing communities with a source of wood for fuel and tool-making. In the 1950s, higher labour costs and cheap heating oil encouraged most farmers to move to mechanical flailing of hedges. The current need to reduce fossil fuel use and an increasing demand for wood as a renewable fuel has rejuvenated interest in hedge coppicing. Ross Dickinson, a local farmer based near Pilsdon, is developing an approach that could provide both profits for farmers and benefits for wildlife, soils and carbon sequestration. Dr. Robert Wolton, Chairman of the Devon Hedge Group, went so far as to say, “…it is truly ground breaking: it has the potential radically to change the way many farmers view their hedges and how they manage them”. Owen Day and Paddy Parsons went to meet Ross and find out more.

ROSS has been a farmer all his adult life, gradually building up the 400 acres at Thane Farm and Racedown Farm near Pilsdon where he lives with four generations of his family. A dairy farmer until 2003, the downward pressure on milk prices forced him, like so many other small dairy farmers in the South-West, to take the painful decision of selling his herd and finding new ways to make a living from his land. Cutting and selling forage from his organic grass fields now provides the bulk of his income, and he also sells firewood, which he harvests with his son Euan from the 12 miles of mature hedges and small copses on his land. Ross coppices his hedges on a 15 to 20 year rotation, leaving the larger trees (standards) every 20 metres or so. He estimates that hedge growth on his farm is below average for the SouthWest, and that hedges on more sheltered farms with better soils could grow twice as fast. The hedges along roads are flailed instead of coppiced, as felling small trees near traffic is obviously hazardous.

Ross sells four wood products from his coppiced hedges. First, the usual round and split logs (4-8 cm diameter) from the

trunks of small trees are mostly sold in bags to people in the local area. Secondly, the hazel rods and other small branches (between 2 and 4 cm in diameter) are cut up by a rugged Czechoslovakian machine into “cobs”—small chunks of wood 5cm long. These cobs are sold for small top-loading wood burners, as found in shepherd’s huts and boats. Thirdly, what he calls “ugly sticks”, the thinner branches of less than 2cm in diameter, he sells to glamping and camping businesses for open fires. As the market for “ugly sticks” is very limited, most of these are burnt

by Ross and his family on their own eight wood burners. Finally, some of the brash material is sold as kindling in small nets.

He uses his big dairy barns to store the logs, cobs, sticks and kindling, where they are air-dried down to 20% moisture.

The bulk of the brash, including all the blackthorn, hawthorn, holly and brambles is burnt on site, though potentially could be chipped and sold as fuel for biomass boilers.

In 2018, Ross decided to examine the profitability of his hedge coppicing business in more detail in the hope that

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it might also help other farmers generate a supplementary income and avoid the significant costs of hedge flailing. He conducted an experiment on a 220 m hedge that was ready for coppicing and that had a typical mix of about 25% thorns, 25% Sycamore, 5% Ash, 10% Hazel, 10% Holly, 10% Willow, 5% Field Maple, 5% Oak and 5% Bramble. All the costs and revenues involved in coppicing this 220m hedge were carefully measured and showed a profit of £1,530. The results of this experiment were written up and presented by Ross at the 2018 Organic Congress in the agroforestry section.

His excellent presentation can be seen at https://youtu.be/gIAroLWyOic. As Ross told us, the results he obtained may not always be replicable on other farms, as conditions and availability of labour may differ. The profit he measured was achieved without subsidy from any environmental schemes. The current support for hedge coppicing is £4 per metre; if this support was included then it would add a further £880 to the profit, giving a total profit of £2,410 or £10.95 per metre over the 15 year coppicing cycle. If a farm

Some newly cut wood and a hedge ready for coppicing above Racedown Farm

Paddy and Ross examining a newly coppiced hedge with standards left every 10 to 20 metres

‘Ugly sticks’

Ross Dickinson next to bags of cobs for sale

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switched from flailing to coppicing, it would increase its “natural capital” which, given the probable nature of the subsidy changes post Brexit, might help the farm attract more support.

Dr Robert Wolton is a leading authority on hedges and has produced a detailed review of the enormous “natural capital” they provide to our society and our environment. They provide valuable habitat for our wildlife with an incredible “2,070 species identified from a single hedge, all big enough to see with naked eye. The true total is likely to be close to 3,000”.

Hedges also provide services for soil conservation, pest and disease control, crop pollination, shelter for livestock, carbon capture and storage, flood risk reduction, landscape beauty, and cultural and historical heritage. Unfortunately, natural capital does not always translate into cash for farmers, and as Dr Wolton points out “to be healthy and ultimately to survive, hedges have to provide some value to farmers. They must be seen as an asset, not a drain on resources. If they can pay their way, or better still provide an income for the farmer or contractor, so much the better. In this context, the experiment that Ross reports on here is truly ground-breaking: it has the potential radically to change the way many farmers view their hedges and how they manage them”.

New legislation on wood burning stoves The New Clean Air Strategy was published in January 2019 and sets out the Government’s plans for dealing with all sources of air pollution. In 2022 new regulations will come into force that will require all new stoves to meet the ECODESIGN emissions standards, regardless of where they are used. www.hetas.co.uk/ecodesign-ready/

Is burning wood bad for the environment?

Woodfuel is considered to be carbon neutral or “carbon lean”, meaning that each tree absorbs the same amount of carbon dioxide when growing as it releases when burned. When a woodland is managed in a sustainable manner, the overall contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is minimal. Make sure your wood fuel comes from a sustainable source and has no more than a 20% moisture content. www.woodsure.co.uk

Coppicing may appear brutal for the hedge, but the root systems remain intact and regrowth is rapid. The change in the environment allows a wide variety of species such as foxgloves to flourish and the 15 year rotation provides the variety of habitats that nature thrives on.

Far from wanting to tell his fellow farmers what they should be doing, Ross simply wants to help the farming community explore new opportunities for supplementary income. He sees the potential for providing significant rural employment, especially as the jobs would be flexible and have low start-up costs.

With the threat of climate change and the urgent need for all of us to do our bit by using renewable sources of energy instead of oil, Ross sees that coppicing could make a significant contribution. “With global warming it’s all hands to the pumps” he told us as we left his inspirational farm.

For full references and a table showing costs and profits, read Owen Day’s column on www.marshwoodvale.com

Ugly sticks (far left), branches and hazel rods for cobs, and logs (top right)

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Coast &Countryside Events WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH AVDCS Walk 10am – 12.30pm Holyford Woods. With Mike Lock. For spring flowers and early migrant birds. Meet at Seaton Tower lay-by. SY233914. No dogs please.

East Devon Ramblers moderate 10.5 mile circular walk from Corfe. 10am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads.

01823 421038.

West Dorset Ramblers 7 miles. Melbury Meander. Starts at 10am. Bring picnic.

No dogs. All welcome. Please call 01308 423346.

Coffee Morning 10am - 12noon. Free Entry. The David Hall, South Petherton www.thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240340.

Maiden Newton Art Group 1.30pm – 4.30pm. As one of our Spring workshops, this weekly Wednesday afternoon group are holding an Open Workshop/Lecture

by Pamela Simpson MA on ‘Considering Landscape and Still Life Painting’, a comparative study exploring the very different and wide ranging approaches taken by artists. Maiden Newton Village Hall DT2 0AE. Non Members £5 to include tea and homemade cakes at the interval.

Colyton Parish History Society East Devon Floods Remembered 2pm – 7.30pm. Colyton Town Hall, Come along and share your memories. 3.30pm a Short guided walk of Colyton flood sites. An extensive exhibition by The Environment Agency Free Admission – All Welcome.

Meeting at 7.30pm Start 7.30pm except where noted. Entrance fees £2 for members, £4 for non-members - meetings open to everyone.

Uplyme & Lyme Regis Horticultural Society 7.30pm Uplyme Village Hall.

‘Designing a Border’ – a Planting Workshop with Garden Designer Sally Leaney. Sally won best in show for her garden at Taunton Flower Show last year. She will run a designing/planting workshop where we will discuss planting schedules, growing conditions, planting numbers etc and ‘have a go’ yourself at planning a border. Please bring a favourite reference book to use.

Bridport Camera Club Talk by Rod Fry – Contemporary Photography & Photo Books. 7.30pm Bridport Town Hall, DT6 3HA. New members always welcome.

All enquiries call the Club Secretary on 07737 405474 or email secretary@ bridportcameraclub.co.uk.

Easter Bingo with Cash House Prizes at North Perrott Cricket Club. Doors open at 7pm with Eyes Down at 7.30pm. Licensed Bar Open. The Pavilion, Willis Lane, TA18 8SN. www.npcc.co.uk.

Play - To Win The Day7.30pm. This acclaimed folk-drama, by Dorset-based

group Time & Tide, uses historical record combined with folk music of the time and area to create a song cycle of the Tolpuddle women. Follow in the footsteps of the families of the ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’, whose lives were changed forever when their menfolk – husbands, fathers and sons – became ‘marked men’. Accompany these women on their journey, as they face prejudice against their class, religion and gender. Shire Hall, Dorchester For more information visit shirehalldorset.org.uk or call 01305 261849.

THURSDAY 28 MARCH Benefit Advice Session Dorchester an initiative by Dorset Welfare Benefits Partnership.9am - 12.30pm at Age UK Dorchester. To make an appointment, please contact Age UK Dorchester on 01305 269444 or at Rowan Cottage, 4 Prince of Wales Road, Dorchester DT1 1PW www.ageuk.org.uk/dorchester.

Chard Ladies’ Evening Guild AGM at their new venue at the Crowshute Centre.

All the news from the past year together with an illustrated holiday talk by one of their much-travelled members should make for an interesting and informative evening. New members and visitors are very welcome to join us at 6.45pm and there is convenient parking in the adjoining public car park.

Illustrated talk at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall 7.30pm local author Anne Mosscrop will recreate her recent adventure: ‘An Innocent Abroad (in Iceland)’, complete with humorous anecdotes. All welcome; £5 includes cheese & wine. For further information phone Mary 01460 74849.

The Mixdown 2.0 presented by Tenacity.

7.30pm The Bay Theatre, Weymouth College. A mixture of drum ‘n’ bass, EDM, hard dance, house and jump up from D.Wilson, Harry B, DJ Ren!, DJ Bilbo and DJ Brad. Also live music by Weymouth College Music Students. Doors open 7pm start time 7.30pm, £5 / £3.50 on the door or reserve in advance on 01305 208702 (24hrs). Info 01305 208827 rodney_teague@weymouth.ac.uk.

FRIDAY 29 MARCH East Devon Ramblers moderate 6 mile circular walk from Sidmouth. 10am start.

Assistance dogs only. 01395 519828.

The Living Tree cancer self-help group.

2pm Tripudio. 2.15pm Activity - Art with Libby. 2.30pm - 4pm – therapy session Peter Cove offering Swedish Massage for hands & feet (please check beforehand if you have Lymphoedema or lymph nodes removed). Drop in any time between 2pm and 4.30pm at Friends Meeting House, 95 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NZ.

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At The Ebenezer Stephen Moss : The Language of Birds Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. The Ebenezer in The Seed Factory, Aller, Somerset TA10 0QN. To RSVP, please email ebenezer@ ebenezerpresents.com.

2 one-act Chekhov comedy plays performed by Encore Theatre, at Loders Village Hall. In aid of Bridport Millennium Green. 7.30pm, tickets £10 including a drink. Details Sandra Brown, 01308 423078.

Isla by Spanish circus company, D’Click European circus theatre at its very best 7.30pm. Isla (Spanish for Island) tells the story of three shipwrecked characters who find themselves alone and dependent upon each other. Doors open at 6.30pm at Norton Sub Hamdon Village Hall, New Road, TA14 6SF. Tickets from Norton Sub Hamdon Village Shop or from John Bailey 01935 881227 or from www.takeart.org.

Pop Club Birthday Bash 8pm (doors & bar 7.30pm) £5Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www.dorchesterarts. org.uk. Pop Club is celebrating its 18th birthday and you are invited! Inspired by shows such as Later with Jools Holland and Top Of The Pops, the young people of Pop Club have curated an evening of musical entertainment featuring multiple stages filled with music of many genres and styles, such as pop, rock, folk, soul and more.

Pete Oxley & Nick Meier Exemplary jazz and world music from two worldclass guitarists, with Raph Mizraki on acoustic and electric basses and Paul Cavaciuti on drums. At 8pm. Tickets £16 (£31 with pre-show supper at 7pm – must be pre-booked). Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

SAT 30 – SUNDAY 31 MARCH Mother’s day treats at Seaton Wetlands 10am - 4pm, Discovery Hut at Seaton Wetlands. Visit Seaton Wetlands during Mother’s day weekend and enjoy a delicious cream tea from the Discovery Hut. Suggested donation £3 per cream tea (cash only), no booking required. Find out more at wildeastdevon.co.uk. Contact Wild East Devon at: wild@eastdevon.gov.uk, 01395517557.

SATURDAY 30 MARCH Big Breakfast 9am – 11.30am at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall - full English breakfast £6.50, including fruit juice + unlimited toast & coffee/tea, in a friendly atmosphere with a lovely view. Disabled

Coast &Countryside facilities, ample parking; all welcome.

Further information/booking from Adrienne (01460 75313).

Breakfast / Brunch at Henhayes Centre Crewkerne. Great value at £4.50 (Egg, sausage, bacon, tomato or beans, toast tea or coffee) Extras available @ 50p each Vegetarian breakfast is available. Served from 10am - 12noon (last orders 11.30am) No need to book for more info tel:01460 74340.

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 8 mile walk from Thorncombe Wood. Puddletown Forest, Waterston Ridge, Stinsford. 10.30am start. Bring picnic. No dogs. All welcome. Please call 01308 898002.

Friends of Weymouth Library Talk from Gordon LePard, local historian on Day in a Georgian Household. Weymouth Library Great George Street DT4 8NN 10.30am £3 non members of FOWL all welcomeTickets from Library Desk more info from 01305 832613.

Bridport and District Gardening Club 2019 Spring Show in the United Church Hall, East Street, Bridport.

The closing date for entries is 27th March from members or non-members, schedules are available on line from www.

bridportgardeningclub.co.uk or from Ann Brown on 01308 424055. The show opens at 12noon until 3pm and entry is free. Teas and light refreshments are available and there will be a plant stall from 9am.

Sid Valley Horticultural Society Coffee Morning Sidford Social Hall, Byes Lane, Sidford Sidmouth EX10 9QX 10am – 12noon Entry £1.

Lyme Folk Fundraiser National and local acts perform at this concert, which secures funds for the town’s popular folk festival that takes place every year in September - its headline concerts are here at the Marine. Please check the website for the line-up. £15 advance / £17 on the door, 10% off for Theatre Friends, Bar opens 7pm., Starts 8pm. Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis www.marinetheatre.com.

Cantamus 7pm at Holy Trinity Church, Bothenhampton DT6 4BH. “Hope, Faith and Love”- inspiring seasonal music by an accomplished choir. Works by Gibbons, Byrd, Brahms, Pergolesi and Stravinsky among others. Tickets on the door £10.

Refreshments available. www.cantamusdorset.org.

Casson and Friends: Choreocracy 7.30pm at Yeovil College Main Hall. A fun, interactive dance show that puts the

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audience in control of the performance.

Choreocracy is part of Petherton Arts Trust’s programme of events specifically for youngsters; plus, ticket prices have been subsidised thanks to a generous donation from customers at the Co-op in South Petherton. Tickets: £10 Full.

No concessions. The David Hall, South Petherton www.thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240340.

Flanders and Swann: At the drop of (another) Hippopotamus 8pm (doors & bar 7.30pm) £17 / £15 members & concessions Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www.dorchesterarts.org. uk. Comedian Tim FitzHigham and BBC Radio 4 musical maestro Duncan Walsh Atkins return with another selection of songs from those ingenious comedy songsmiths, Michael Flanders and Donald Swann. They have starched their beards and trimmed their dinner jackets, and are ready to bring you an evening of wit and wordplay.

Mediterranean Evening Fundraiser Enjoy a delicious Mediterranean themed supper, live entertainment and help support the Arts Centre at the same time!

A fun and friendly fundraiser. 7.30pm.

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LOOKING TO INCLUDE AN EVENT? Charity and fund-raising entries in Coast & Countryside Events are free of charge. Please check times with organisers or venues.

Email: info@marshwoodvale.com before the 10th of the month.

Tickets £22 (must be booked in advance).

Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

SUNDAY 31 MARCH East Devon Ramblers moderate 8.5 circular walk from Cothelstone Hill.

10.30am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads. 01395 512973.

Mother’s Day afternoon tea For one day only, treat your mum to an afternoon tea at Shire Hall, Dorchester. Afternoon cream teas are just £15 each and are very popular, so please book in advance via 01305 261849.

Angels of Sound Voice Playshop 10am - 12.30pm Toning the chakras, Vocal Overtoning, Find your Soul Note (Key Tone) to work meaningfully with the notes of your key. (Chakra Tones CDs available in every key. Followed by Crystal and Tibetan Singing Bowl Soundbath 2pm – 4pm. Oborne Village Hall, Oborne, nr.

Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4LA. Experience a magical performance of Pure Sound by musician Dean Carter using singing bowls plus sacred vocal overtoning which promotes a deeply relaxing and healing state to rebalance and re-energise your

body, mind and spirit. Your ‘participation’ involves simply lying down and enjoying/ absorbing the sounds. (You may sit if preferred.) £12, Booking in advance and further details www.centreforpuresound. org ahiahel@live.com 01935 389655. Bring something comfortable to lie on and wrap around you.

Free Fun Family Friendly Scottish Ceilidh Organised by the Somerset Branch of the RSCDS 2.30pm - 4.30pm.

Caryford Community Hall, Muggs Lane, Ansford, Castle Cary South Somerset, BA7 7JJ. Hot and cold drinks will be provided foc. All dances will be called, dancing to CD’s. Wear some tartan if you wish. For more information contact Anita on 01460 929383 or anitaandjim22@gmail.com.

MONDAY 1 APRIL Friendly Badminton Group Every Monday 10am at Charmouth St Andrews Community Hall. Call Monique 07709022299 or drop in.

Coffee Morning in aid of Bridport Millennium Green, at Essence Lingerie, 3 Barrack Street, Bridport. 10am – 2pm, coffees and cakes by donation please.

Details Sue Wilkinson, 01308 425037.

ASD and Social Anxiety Group 6.30pm

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– 8pm Bridport Children’s Centre, Skilling Hill Road, Bridport. A support group for young people 11-18 years and the parents of kids of all ages who struggle like this.

Young people will get advice and support.

Parents get separate support. For enquiries call Karen 07974 826891.

Axminster Carnival Bingo Axminster Guildhall, eyes down 8pm.

Inspired by Archives 10.30am (Stepping into Nature) Enjoy the countryside?

Love history? Enjoy both with pictures, maps or recordings at the Dorset History Centre (Dorchester) and learn something new about the natural world and local artists. The group is open to everyone including carers, those with dementia or with mobility, sensory or learning difficulties or those who would just enjoy the company and stimulation. It’s all about relaxing, meeting new people and having fun. Contact Maria on 01305 228947 or m.gayton@dorsetcc.gov.uk to book. Visit www.stepin2nature.org for more info. Also 15 April.

Scottish Country dancing every Monday 7.30pm - 9.30pm at Ashill village hall nr Ilminster TA19 9LX . Learn steps, formations and dances – led by fully qualified teacher. Come along for

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Coast &Countryside fun, fitness and friendship. For more information contact Anita on 01460 929383 or email anitaandjim22@gmail. com.

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Social Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall, tea or coffee included.7.30pm – 10pm. No partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981; Ann on 01308 422927; or Andrew on 01297 33461, or just come along. Cost £1.50. www. chardscottishdancing.org. Also 8, 15 [AGM], no dancing on Easter Monday.

Saturday 27 April. Dance.

The Arts Society Neroche South Somerset 7.15pm at Frogmary Green Conference Centre, South Petherton.

Drawn from Life: The extraordinary Art and Life of Augustus John by David Haycock. Visitors £5.

Bridport Folk Dance Club 7.30pm 9.30pm in the WI Hall, North Street, Bridport DT6 3JQ. Enjoy folk dancing mainly in the English tradition from Playford-style to modern-day compositions at Bridport’s long-established weekly club, with club callers and recorded music.

All welcome, no partner or previous experience required. Admission £3 for members, £4 visitors (membership available). Taster sessions available at no cost. Contact Mecki on 01308 423 442.

Also on 8, 15, 29 April.

TUESDAY 2 APRIL The Arts Society Axminster Doors open at 9.45am for 10.30am illustrated talk at Axminster Guildhall EX13 5NX. Talk entitled: The Artists of Montmartre: Pilgrims of Babylon’ by Douglas Skeggs.

This is a free taster session with the aim of setting up a society in Axminster in the future. Contact me on 01404 812071 or muff.dudgeon@icloud.com.

West Dorset Ramblers 7 miles/11.3 km.

Uplyme to Lyme Regis. Starts at 10am.

Bring picnic, no dogs. All welcome. Please call 01308 459282.

Sing and stroll in Bridport (Stepping into Nature) If you would like to gently improve your fitness, sing along, meet others, exercise your memory or just meet up and have fun, this is for you. Join on a guided walk to natural spaces in and around Bridport. Basic refreshments will be provided. All These walks are FREE and are dementia friendly. Starting at 1.30pm at Buckydoo Square in Bridport.

To book your place email timeandscale@ gmail.com or call Peter on 07817 397331.

Visit www.stepin2nature.org for more info.

Honiton Decorative & Fine Arts Society Prague: City of the Winter Queen – Douglas Skeggs. All lectures held at 2pm, The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton, EX14 1LZ. www.honiton-dfas. org.uk.

Travelling into History Talks Series 2pm - 3pm. £8 on the door, or from the Kennaway House office. Escape the winter blues with armchair travel from the Roman and Greek Empires, to St Ives and Scotland, in the company of an archaeologist and an art history graduate. mail@kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551. Kennaway House, Sidmouth www. kennawayhouse.org.uk. Also 9 and 15 April.

Psychic Development Group every Tuesday 7.30pm - 9pm Black Dog Tea Room Uplyme committed individuals only more info contact sonia@ blackdogtearoom.co.uk.

WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL Benefit Advice Session Bridport - an initiative by Dorset Welfare Benefits Partnership. Sessions will operate on the first Wednesday in each month, between 9.30am – 12noon at Age UK Dorchester shop in Bridport, 16 West Street, Bridport, DT6 3QP2846. To make an appointment, please contact Bridport shop on 01308 424859.

Lasting Power of Attorney Age UK Dorchester is holding an Information Event to de-mystify the subject of Lasting Powers of Attorney. If you wish to understand whether you need a Lasting Power of Attorney, Ian Campbell, Principal at Blanchards Bailey solicitors, will be providing a talk on the subject at 10am at Rowan Cottage, 4 Prince of Wales Road, Dorchester, DT1 1PW. Please confirm your attendance and telephone 01305 269444.

East Devon Ramblers leisurely 8 mile circular walk from Charmouth. 10.30am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads.

01404 45944.

The Pottery - Spring opening The Pottery Kitchen reopens after the winter break. Jess will be serving lunches, Teas, Coffees & refreshments Wednesday Saturday 10am – 4pm. Dennis Chinaworks, Open for visitors and customers from Monday - Saturday 10am – 4pm. Vintage glass & book shop, Museum of Childrens China Monday - Saturday 10am – 4pm.

Shepton Beauchamp, Somerset, TA19 0JT www.dennischinaworks.com 01460 240622.

Lyme History Walks 11am from the Marine Theatre, this and every Wed and Sat in April. Discover the unique and colourful history of Lyme Regis. Hear stories of amazing people and adventures on land and sea. Experienced Tour Guide Chris Lovejoy. Lasts 1+1/2 hours. Cost: £8, Children half www.lymehistorywalks. com 01297 443140 / 07518 777 258 for further information. Booking not required.

The Story of Axminster Heritage Centre and a Preview of the New Gallery prior to Opening. Today’s

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Axminster Heritage Centre is the culmination of work going back to 1982.

It has been made possible through the award of numerous grants and donations for which Axminster Heritage is very grateful. We tell the story of how it all came together and then visit the new gallery display prior to its opening on April 6th. An Axminster History Society Talk All welcome, £2 guests. 7.30pm at The Bradshaw Meeting Room, Thomas Whitty House, Silver Street, Axminster, Devon, EX13 5AH. Shylock: Rhodri Miles 8pm (doors & bar 7.30pm) £13 / £11 members & concessions Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www.dorchesterarts.org.uk.

Bridport Scottish Dancers at Salwayash Village Hall. Evening of social dancing 7.30pm – 10pm. Cost £2 including tea or coffee and cake. Contact Caroline on 01308 538141 or Ann on 01308 422927.

Gittisham Folk Dance Club 8pm - 10.15pm in Gittisham Village Hall, Gittisham EX14 3AF. A friendly club with live music and guest caller every week this week featuring Jigs for Gigs with Gill Spence calling. Membership available, with entry at £4; visitors £4.50, includes light refreshments. All welcome, no partner or previous experience required. Contact Steve on 07793 124 229 or secretary Rosie, secretarygittishamfolkdance@gmail.com.

See https://gittishamfolkdanceclub.org.

Also 10, 17, 24 April.

THURSDAY 4 APRIL Axminster Country Market Thursdays 8.30am – 12noon, Masonic Hall, South Street, Axminster. Come and meet the producers! Cakes, savouries, crafts, cut flowers, plants, free-range eggs, fruit & veg - all seasonal, produced in or near Axminster. Reduce your carbon footprint, with food you can trust. Tea & coffee available too, come and say hello.

West Dorset Ramblers 9 miles/14.5 km.

Coast and country views - Symondsbury, Ryall, St. Gabriels and Chideock. Starts at 10am. Bring picnic, no dogs. All welcome.

Please call 01308 424722.

Wellbeing Walk at Radipole Lakes (Stepping into Nature) 11am – 12noon.

This is a relaxed, sociable and gentle monthly walk which is open to all , a health walk for healthy body and mind. We generally walk about a mile in distance taking 40 minutes to 1 hour, usually around our Radipole reserve in the heart of Weymouth. You may see fabulous wildlife on the walk, but the focus is simply a stroll and chat. This walk is dementia friendly, and particularly suitable for anyone wishing to lose weight, recovering from illness or wanting to improve their mental health and

wellbeing. Contact RSPB Radipole Lakes on 01305 778313. This event is free as it’s part of Stepping into Nature. Visit www. stepin2nature.org for more info. Also 18 April.

Lunchtime concert at St Mary’s Church, Beaminster, 12noon - 12.45pm. Hilary Kenway and friends. Admission free (retiring collection) Bring your lunch and enjoy informal concerts in this beautiful church. Tea and coffee available.

WDHS Retirement Fellowship 2pm in the Boys Brigade Hall, Sawmills Lane, Dorchester DT1 2RZ when Rod Harris OBE will be giving a talk on Lawrence of Arabia. New members welcome.

Friends of Lyme Regis Museum AGM at 2.30pm followed by refreshments. At 3.15 pm, Bruce Upton speaks about ‘The Bridport Trade : Rope & Net Making’ using samples of both to illustrate his talk. Talk starts at 3.15pm at Woodmead Hall, Lyme Regis. Entry is £2 for Friends of Lyme Regis Museum & £3 for non-members. For further information please contact David Cox on 01297 443156.

Broadwey, Upwey and District Horticultural Society AGM and Members Only Mini-Show 7.30pm at Memorial Hall, Broadwey. www.budhs.org.uk.

Chard History Group Philip Browne is this month Speaker who will tell the story of “The Unfortunate Captain Pierce and the Wreck of the Halsewell, East Indiamen, 1786”. His illustrated story traces the career to a tragic conclusion that shocked and upset the nation. Two centuries later, the facts still has the power to move us.

Refreshments are available downstairs in the Bar. New Members and Guests are welcome. Member £2 Guests £3 For information 01460 66165. 7.30pm on the first Thursday of every month in the Old ballroom at The Phoenix Hotel, Fore Street, Chard. https://chardhistorygroup.weebly. com/.

Abendbrot mit Lucy; German Evening with Lucy Chant 7.30pm. Free/Donation (inc. food and wine) LSi Bridport, 51 East Street, Bridport Dorset DT6 3JX www. lsibridport.co.uk.

Lyme Voices Community Choir Seeking new members to sing for fun. Learn tunes by ear. Everyone welcome, first session free. From 7.30pm - 9.15pm at the Baptist Church (Pine Hall round the back), Silver St., Lyme Regis, DT7 3NY. Visit www-petelinnett.co.uk, phone 01297 445078 or email petelinnett@naturalvoice.net. Also on 11, 18, 24 April.

Beaminster Short Mat Bowls 7pm in the Public Hall. Also on 11, 18 and 26 April.

Chard Camera Club Baptist Church Hall, Holyrood Street at 7.30pm. Anyone interested in photography no matter what level of experience should call in on the night and get to see just what is on offer to themselves and they would be made most

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LOOKING TO INCLUDE AN EVENT? Charity and fund-raising entries in Coast & Countryside Events are free of charge. Please check times with organisers or venues.

Email: info@marshwoodvale.com before the 10th of the month.

welcome. www.chardcameraclub.org.uk or clubs membership secretary Mrs Joyce Partridge on 01460 66885.

The Noise Next Door: Remix 8pm (doors & bar 7.30pm) £15 / £13 members & concessions / £5 Livefor£5 Age guidance: 16+ Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www.dorchesterarts.org.uk.

Veterans of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this improv comedy troupe presents a show that will split sides, blow minds, and drop jaws. Taking audience suggestions, they will transform audience suggestions into ferociously funny scenes and songs in the blink of an eye.

FRIDAY 5 APRIL Free Financial MOT at Age UK Dorchester Could your finances do with an MOT? If you find it difficult to budget, CAP money coaches can help you to build a balanced budget, and help you to budget, save and spend better.

9.30am - 12.30pm at Age UK Dorchester, Rowan Cottage, 4 Prince of Wales Road, Dorchester, DT1 1PW. To book your free surgery appointment, please contact Age UK Dorchester on 01305 269444. Please note that CAP coaches are volunteers, not financial advisers, and they do not recommend or sell financial products.

East Devon Ramblers leisurely 4 mile circular walk from Kilmington. 10am start.

Dogs on short leads. 01297 21797.

Every Friday Swanage Gardening 10am - 3pm (Stepping into Nature). This activity is free and delivered by Dorset Wildlife Trust as part of Stepping into Nature. Contact Katie on 01202 692 033 or kwilkinson@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk to book. Visit www.stepin2nature.org for more info.

Classical Concert 11am Bridport Arts Centre www.bridport-arts.com.

The Living Tree cancer self-help group.

2pm Tripudio. 2.15pm activity - Emma Gilmore, Director School of Bodywork, will be speaking about understanding the connective tissue, which creates adhesions after surgery & radiotherapy - learn some skills to self treat. 3.15pm - 4.15pm Therapy session– Worry Busting with Louise Wender.

An evening with Jacqui Gavin & Isobel Sheldon at 7.30pm. A new idea for The David Hall, when extraordinary people will be asked to share their lives. Jacqui Gavin is an inspiring public speaker, leading transgender role model and the D&I Lead for the Department of International Trade. She has most recently joined the Cabinet Office as a Diversity and Inclusive Culture Manager. Jacqui’s partner, Isobel Sheldon, is an accomplished engineer who has links with the motor manufacturing

industry. Izz has experienced life challenges that would send most people bonkers; however, she is made of sterner stuff and has inner strength that no doubt you will learn about on the night. Tickets: £10 Full. £9 Concessions. The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www.thedavidhall. org.uk 01460 240 340.

Sailing the South Atlantic with Jennifer Coombs Bridport Town Hall. Doors and Bar Open 6.30pm, Talk Starts 7pm Tickets £7. Jennifer will describe the challenging adventure she undertook on a six week, 6,500km sailing trip across the wild, windswept South Atlantic, sailing on Tenacious, the largest wooden ship to be built in the UK for 100 years. As part of the Jubilee Sailing Trust crew, Jennifer joined both the able and the physically disabled on this challenging voyage from the Falklands Islands to Cape Town via South Georgia. Proceeds to National Coastwatch Institution.

Meet the Author: Mark Taylor Hutchinson at Kennaway House 7pm.

Mark is a wildlife photographer, dive photojournalist and wildlife artist. He will discuss his experiences with sharks, and provide some insight into these amazing animals. Tickets are £13, and can be bought in advance from the Kennaway House office. 01395 515551 www. kennawayhouse.org.uk. Kennaway House, Sidmouth.

Wessex Water and Wildlife Dorset Wildlife Trust. Talk by Sarah Williams from Wessex Water on biodiversity in catchment management - linking up for wildlife. Starts 7.30pm at the Bridport United Church Hall, East Street, Bridport, DT6 3LJ. Suggested donation of £2 (£3 for non-members). www. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk.

Jazz Café: Charlie Sings Jazz 8pm Bridport Arts Centre www.bridport-arts. com.

Ronnie Jones Quartet with Simon Spillett Accessible jazz standards from a brilliant four-piece, led by drummer Ronnie Jones and with special guest saxophonist Simon Spillett. At 8pm.

Tickets £16 (£31 with pre-show supper at 7pm – must be pre-booked). Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

D’Click Circus Company – Isla 7.30pm Adult £9.50, Student £7.50, Family £26.

An outstanding physical circus show from Spain which uses acrobatics, Chinese pole and other circus skills to bring to life the story of three shipwrecked characters who need each other to survive. Full of imagination and humour. The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.

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beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Humanitarian Assistance Concert at 7.30pm in The Minster, Ilminster to raise money for the local refugee charity Raft (refugeeaidfromtaunton.org.uk. Refugee support group, South Somerset is grateful for the Serenade choir, the musicians and The Shanty Singers. Tickets £10, Children under 16 free, available from RSG members and The Fair Trade Shop, Ilminster.

SATURDAY 6 APRIL The New Axminster Heritage Centre opens to the public at 10am with the official opening ceremony at 12pm. It is open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm. Entry is free until April 18th so take a look and discover the history of the Axe Valley for yourselves. See https://axminsterheritage. org/ for info.

South Somerset Monochrome Group 10am – 12.30pm at The Monks Yard at Horton Manor, Horton Cross, Ilminster, TA19 9PY. “My World of Monochrome A story of textures, patterns, shadows and reflections” an illustrated talk by Alison Webber ARPS. All levels of experience welcome. £5 including refreshments.

For more information please email southsomersetmonogroup@gmail.com.

Chess Club Every Saturday 10am – 12noon. Free/Donation. Meet in our spacious indoor Courtyard, there will be introductory tuition for new players and competitors for those who know what they’re doing. www.lsibridport.co.uk/chessclub-on-saturdays-2/ LSi Bridport, 51 East Street, Bridport Dorset DT6 3JX www. lsibridport.co.uk.

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 6 mile walk from Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary. Snodbrook, The Byes, Soldier Hill 10.30am start. Bring picnic. No dogs.

All welcome. Please call 01308 898002.

Land of Nod 11am Bridport Arts Centre www.bridport-arts.com.

Lyme History Walks 11am from the Marine Theatre, this and every Wed and Sat in April. Discover the unique and colourful history of Lyme Regis. Hear stories of amazing people and adventures on land and sea. Experienced Tour Guide Chris Lovejoy. Lasts 1+1/2 hours. Cost: £8, Children half www.lymehistorywalks. com 01297 443140 / 07518 777 258 for further information. Booking not required.

Concert All Saints Church, Mapperton, 7pm - 8.30pm. Ludwig van Beethoven: Duet with two Obligato Eyeglasses WoO 32, for Viola and Cello, Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for Two Violins in C Major, Op. 56, Charlie Piper: Dances and Shrieks of Silver, for Clarinet & Strings. Interval.

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Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115. The quintet will be violinists Katharine Gowers and Maria Włoszczowska, clarinettist Matthew Hunt, violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez and cellist Bartholomew LaFollette. All are very distinguished musicians with great experience as soloists.

B Sharp are organising ‘Youth Sounds’ a gig for young people, at the Lyric Theatre in Bridport at 7pm. The gig showcases several local bands as well as being a great night out. Tickets from B Sharp info@ bsharp.org.uk Mapperton Estate Spring Concert in All Saints Church, adjoining Mapperton House at 7pm. 5pm – Mapperton Gardens open to concert-goers for walks and choosing picnic spots, 6pm – Drinks and light refreshments available in or outside the Coach House café, 7pm – Concert starts; 10 minute interval. From 8.15pm – Supper available to pre-order in the Coach House cafe. Tickets are £25 per person and include entrance to the gardens. To book your tickets call Mapperton on 01308 862645 or email: laurab@mapperton.com.

BMTC Showstoppers 7.30pm Electric Palace, Bridport. www.electricpalace.org.uk.

Sirius Chau - Flute Concert for Colyton St Andrew’s Church, Colyton at 7.30pm.

Tickets from The Little Shop, Market

Square, Colyton or on the door. £12, £10 for members, £5 for under 18’s. For more information on tickets please call 01297 552057.

Concert by the Axminster and District Choral Society at the Minster, Axminster 7.30pm. Josef Haydn The Seasons. 80 strong choir with orchestra and soloists.

Conducted by Judy Martin. Tickets £15 & £12 from Archway Books, Church St, Axminster, Tel. 01297 33595 or members of the choir. For further information phone 01404 881 838 or see website: www. axminsterchoral.co.uk.

Histories of the Unexpected Join Sam Willis, presenter of BBC’s The Silk Road and Invasion!, and James Daybell, one of the country’s leading professors of history, as they show us a new way to think about the past. 7.30pm £10 children, £14 adults advance / £12 children, £16 adults on the door Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www. marinetheatre.com.

Daoirí Farrell at 8pm. A former electrician, who decided to change profession after seeing Christy Moore perform on Irish TV, Dublin-born Traditional singer and bouzouki player, Daoirí (pronounced Derry) Farrell, is described as one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years. Tickets: £16 Full. £15 Concessions.

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The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www. thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240 340.

SATURDAY 6 - MONDAY 22 APRIL Count Your Chickens - Easter at Shire Hall Join the team at Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum for a host of fun this Easter Holiday. There will be a Count Your Chickens Easter trail around the museum to keep youngsters entertained and every day there will be Easter biscuit decorating and Easter craft activities. The Count Your Chickens trail will be free with the admission price, while there will be a small extra charge for the biscuit decoration. For more information visit shirehalldorset.org or call 01305 261849.

Dotty Duckling’s Easter Egg Hunt £2 (normal admission applies). Bring your little ones to Hestercombe’s Easter trail during the Easter school holidays. Join the Easter Egg Hunt and help Dotty Duckling gather eggs and find her way back to the Pear Pond (with a delicious prize at the end). Hestercombe, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton, Somerset TA2 8LG 01823 413923 www.hestercombe.com.

SUNDAY 7 APRIL Two Pair Fours - Short Mat Bowls This unusual format Tournament is played

in Pairs whilst simultaneously scored in Fours, on twelve mat arena at Cloakham, Axminster. Check in 9am, Bacon butties, lunch & afternoon tea available. Multiple club team entries accepted. Entry £7pp via forms from jurassic.bowls@gmail.com.

Sherborne Steam & Waterwheel Centre - Open Day From 11.30am - 3.30pm.

Waterwheel and steam engines running.

Audio Visual displays. Many items of local and historic interest. Tea Room. Picnic Area. Toilet. Oborne Road DT9 3RX. Free parking on road. Entry by donation.

SSWC.co.uk.

Dorset Countryside Volunteers will be dry stone walling at Swyre, West Dorset.

They welcome new people interested in learning and helping with this traditional countryside skill. For details see www.dcv. org.uk, email DCVpublicity@gmail.com, or text or message 07923498760 for them to contact you.

East Devon Ramblers moderate 9.5 mile circular walk from Yeovil. 10.30am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads.

01395 512973.

Bridport Chamber Orchestra Spring Concert 3pm St Swithun’s Church, Bridport. Spring from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, Meditation from Massenet’s “Thais”: solo violin Alexandra Ennis.

Other music includes Parry’s An English

Suite, Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer and pieces by Stamitz and Walton. Tickets £10 from the Bridport Music Centre and on the door – price includes afternoon teas.

Free entry for students 01935 824786.

Bold as Brass 3.30pm - 4.30pm The Sidmouth Town Band Ensemble, Musical Director : Fiona Harvey Free entry.

Sidholme Music Room, Elysian Fields, Sidmouth EX10 8UJ. Tumlyn Brass Quintet 3pm (doors & bar 2.30pm) £14 / £12 members & concessions Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www.dorchesterarts.org.uk.

The Tumlyn Brass Quintet was formed in 2017 by Dorset- based professional musicians who are passionate about making good music. Their programme will focus on British music and composers, with poems and readings from local actress and poetry recitalist Jan Wyld.

Themes will include folk music and readings from Thomas Hardy, as well as music by Malcolm Arnold.

MONDAY 8 APRIL Dawn Chorus Breakfast Spring is one of the best times to experience the incredible songs of the dawn chorus. Join us for this early morning guided walk at Kingcombe Meadows Nature Reserve before heading

back to the Centre for a hearty breakfast.

Meet at The Kingcombe Centre 6am.

Finish approx. 9am. £19 pp. The Kingcombe Centre, Lower Kingcombe, DT20EQ. T: 01300 320684. Visit www. kingcombe.org to book online.

Woodland Wellbeing Walk at Thorncombe Woods (Stepping into Nature). These regular 50 min strolls, mainly on surfaced paths, explore the seasonal magic of the nature reserve while getting you more active and in contact with nature. The walks are free and open to all for a one-off walk or to attend regularly. For those with mobility issues off road mobility scooters can be hired from the Visitor Centre as part of Countryside Mobility and refreshments are available to purchase. Meet Claire at the Hardy’s Birthplace Visitor Centre (DT2 8QH). Call Claire on 01305 251228 for more information or to book. This event is free as it’s part of Stepping into Nature.

Visit www.stepin2nature.org for more info.

Also 30 April.

Yeovil Probus Club from 1.30pm ‘From Russia to Mind’ The Yeovil Court Hotel.

New Members always most welcome, please contact the Hon. Secretary on 01935 414765 for further details.

West Dorset Flower Club Demonstration by Denise Jones entitled

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“Floral Dreams” at 2.30pm in the WI Hall, North Street, Bridport. New members and visitors are very welcome. For further details please contact the secretary on 01308 456339.

TUESDAY 9 APRIL Benefit Advice Session Portland - Easton (an initiative with Island Community Action). Sessions will operate on the second Tuesday in each month, between 10am - 12.15pm at Island Community Action, and will be by appointment only.

To make an appointment, please contact Island Community Action on 01305 823789 or at The Easton Centre, Portland DT5 1EB. office@islandcommunityaction. org.uk.

The growing season is in full swing!

Come and help at Magdalen Farm in the polytunnels and organic kitchen garden on their horticultural tasks 10am – 4pm.

Lunch, tools and all training provided.

To book your volunteer place please email julia@magdalenfarm.org.uk for details. The Magdalen Environmental Trust, Magdalen Farm, Winsham TA20 4PA. Telephone 01460 30144 www. magdalenfarm.org.uk.

Time for Tea and a Talk ‘Iceland and Greenland’ an Illustrated talk by John

Fawkes: Tea & cake served. 01404 831207 to book. 2pm - 3.30pm at The Bradshaw Meeting Room, Thomas Whitty House, Silver Street, Axminster, EX13 5AH. Lipreading & Managing Hearing Loss Bridport Community Hospital 2pm - 4pm.

Learn how to manage your hearing loss by using lipreading and coping strategies, while building confidence in a supportive environment. First session free. Small, friendly group. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided. Contact Ruth for further details ruth@bizleyart.com 01297 442239 or just come along on the day. Also on 23rd and 30th.

Bridport History Society United Church Hall, East St Bridport, 2.30pm. Dr Diana Trenchard will be talking about ‘Convict Ship Museum visits Dorset’. Do come along and find out more! Members £1 and visitors £3, all welcome. For more information contact Jane on 01308 425710 or email: jferentzi@aol.com.

Sidmouth Charity Tea Dances Ballroom, Latin and Sequence dancing with a warm, friendly welcome. £4 each, including Tea, coffee and biscuits at 2.30pm at St Francis Hall, Woolbrook, EX10 9XH. Further information from 01395 579856 or 577122.

Chard WI meeting at Chard Baptist

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Church Rooms, Holyrood Street TA20 2AH. Speaker Andrew McElwee, Behind the Scenes of the National Trust, starts 7.30pm. New members welcome. Call Madeleine on 01460 68495 or e-mail info.chardwi@gmail.com for more information. Meetings second Tuesday of each month.

Axe Vale Stamp Club 7.30pm for 8pm every 2nd Tuesday in the month at the Bradshaw Rooms, Silver Street, Axminster EX13 5AH. Display - Richard Stroud on “The Ionian Islands 1815-2000. 01297 552482.

Ile Valley Flower Club Broadway Village Hall 7.30pm start. Demonstrator Alison Finch Title “Well Read Vol 11” Guests and new members always welcome Guest £6 per evening for non members.

Chideock Society Event Steve Marsh from the Kingcombe Centre. Discover the Kingcombe Centre - a hidden gem in rural Dorset. 7.15pm for 7.30pm in Chideock Village Hall. Steve Marsh – West Dorset Visitor Experience Officer of the Kingcombe Centre will be giving an update regarding the work and current program of what Dorset Wildlife Trust hope to achieve moving forward with their development plans. Everyone welcome, Members Free. Visitors £4. Tea, Coffee &

Biscuits will be available - £1 per head.

Turn Lyme Green ‘The Ecology of Badgers’ Come and hear a fascinating talk by local expert Ian Mortimer on the natural behaviour of these fascinating creatures.

7.15pm for a 7.30pm start. The Blue Room, Royal Lion Hotel Lyme Regis. Free.

Donations welcome. Any queries contact Jo on 07525005430.

WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL Coach Trip to Wells An opportunity to visit the Bishop’s Palace and Gardens, the Cathedral, the Market or the Museum Picking up at Dalwood (9am), Axminster, Tatworth & Chard. £15 with discount for Children (£13.50 for AH members) Coach only, visit admission fees payable.

An Axminster Heritage Event. Info and to book call 01404 831207.

Uplyme & Lyme Regis Horticultural Society Outing all departing from Uplyme Village Hall (UVH) Depart by coach UVH 9.30am ‘Sculpture by the Lakes’ Dorchester. Nestling in 26 acres, visitors will find an impressive range of outdoor sculptures in the setting of beautiful gardens, hailed as a modern arcadia. Gallery Café for light lunches. Cost £16 total. Please ring Rose Mock 01297 34733 to book.

Antique and Vintage Textiles Fair Browse and buy from a treasure trove of vintage fabrics, antique linens, retro fashions and accessories, haberdashery and homewares. Curated by A Talent for Textiles. 9.30am-3pm. Admission free.

Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

East Devon Ramblers strenuous 11 mile circular walk from Cogden near Burton Bradstock. 10am start and bring picnic.

Dogs on short leads. 01395 516897.

U3A Heritage Coast Lyme Regis The fire in the Cathedral Yard, Exeter An illustrated talk by Dr Todd Gray .The fire that gutted the Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter horrified people all over the country. Dr todd Gray – a specialist in the history of Exeter will be speaking about the historical implications of the fire and what it revealed. Coffee from 10am - 10.45am followed by talk at 11am -12noon. Woodmead Halls, Hill road, Lyme Regis DT7 3PG.Oganised by U3A Heritage Coast Lyme Regis – free for members, nonmembers £2 donation suggested. To join U3A, see website www.lymeregisu3a.org or tel 01297 444566.

Dorset’s Living Memories The Evergreens Cinema will be playing host to an afternoon of memories and nostalgia to celebrate Age UK Dorchester’s web-based project, ‘Dorset’s Living Memories’ being 10 years online. Starts at 1.45pm, at Age UK Dorchester’s centre at 4 Prince of Wales Road, Dorchester DT11PW. Admission £2 to include tea and biscuits, ice creams will

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 23

Coast &Countryside also be available. For more information please telephone Lucy on 01305 269444.

Axe Valley Centre National Trust Last talk of the season, The Cathedral Yard Fire, Exeter by Todd Gray Colyford Memorial Hall 2.30pm Non-members welcome £2 including refreshments.

Further information, Membership Secretary 01297 631801.

Bridport Scottish Dancers at Church House, South Street, Bridport. 7.30pm – 10pm Classes with instruction and social dancing. 7pm – 8.30pm extra instruction for new dancers. Come and have fun – no partner required. Cost £2 including tea, coffee or squash and biscuits. Contact Ann 01308 422927 or Caroline 01308 538141.

Also 17 and 24 April.

Dorset County Museum Music Society Concert Alexander Soares, piano. St Mary’s Church Edward Road Dorchester 7.30pm. The Society’s AGM will take place before this concert at 6.30pm in St Mary’s Church. Tickets Dorchester Arts Box Office: 01305 266926 Tourist Information Centre: 01305 267992.

Bridport Camera Club Competition 4 – Creative - Judge TBC. 7.30pm Bridport Town Hall, DT6 3HA. New members always welcome. All enquiries call the Club Secretary on 07737 405474 or email secretary@bridportcameraclub.co.uk.

The Beehive Acoustic Café 8pm Free entry. A supportive open mic session in the Beehive bar with host and guitarist Terry Stacey. Come along to listen or to play. The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

20Ft Under; A talk about underwater Fashion photography by Russ Snedker.

7.30pm. £5 LSi Bridport, 51 East Street, Bridport Dorset DT6 3JX www. lsibridport.co.uk.

THURSDAY 11 APRIL Benefit Advice Session Weymouth.

An initiative by Dorset Welfare Benefits Partnership. Sessions will operate on the second Thursday in each month, between 9.30am - 11.30am at Weymouth Community Safety Centre (new fire station), Radipole Lane, Weymouth, DT4 0QF, and will be by appointment only. To make an appointment, please contact Age UK Dorchester on 01305 269444. www. ageuk.org.uk/dorchester.

West Dorset Ramblers 10 miles/16.1 km. Beaminster Hills and Farms. Starts at 10am. Bring picnic, no dogs. All welcome.

Please call 01308 862981.

Lunchtime concerts at St Mary’s Church, Beaminster, 12noon - 12.45pm. Martin Schellenberg (organ).

Admission free (retiring collection) Bring your lunch and enjoy informal concerts in this beautiful church. Tea and coffee available.

Margo and Mr. Whatsit Paddleboat Theatre Company 3.30pm Adult £8, Child £6, Family of four £22. Do you have an imaginary friend? A little piece of mischief only you can see? Sophia’s imaginary friend is called Mr Whatsit. A lively warmhearted family show (suits age 4-12). The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

The Heritage of the Ile Trust Annual General Meeting at The Shrubbery Hotel at 7.30pm. After the short AGM there will be a slide show presentation and talk by local history enthusiast Jackie Bennett entitled ‘A Walk Through Olde Ilminster – Cont’d’. A further slideshow of old photographs will continue during the Buffet. The cost is £10 which includes the optional buffet (£8) and annual membership of £2. For further details and to book please contact Rowland Garland on 0146052673 or Allan White on 0146053928.

Cantamus 7.15pm at St Candida and Holy Cross Church, Whitchurch Canonicorum DT6 6RJ. “Hope, Faith and Love”- inspiring seasonal music by an accomplished choir. Works by Gibbons, Byrd, Brahms, Pergolesi and Stravinsky among others. Tickets on the door £10.

Refreshments available. www.cantamusdorset.org.

Seavington Gardening Club 7.30pm , Georgie Newbery from Common Farm Flowers will give a talk and demonstration: Cut Flower Gardening & Hand Tied Posies. Seavington Millennium Hall .

Visitors are welcome £2 at the door.

Enquiries to Karen Day 01460 249728.

Thorncombe Gardening Club at 7.30pm in Thorncombe Village Hall. Talk by a representative of The Gold Club “Garden Trends”. Visitors welcome - £4 at the door. We are a very active group and also run day trips and outings for our members during the year. New members will be made very welcome and Subscription is only £10 per year. For further information please contact Mary Morris 01460 30938 Chard Royal Naval Association 7.30pm in Chard Rugby Football club, Essex Close. The members will be hopefully entertained by shipmate Dick Moon when he gives a talk on the life and times of William George Parker OBE RN who holds the title of Britain’s longest serving Able Seaman in the RN of 44years.

Further details can be obtained from the branch secretary Mr Gary Pennells on 01460 77978 or via www.royal-navalassociation.

FRIDAY 12 APRIL West Dorset Ramblers 10am 8.5 miles/13.7 km. Frampton to Wynford Eagle. Bring picnic, no dogs. All welcome.

Please call 01300 320084.

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East Devon Ramblers moderate 6 mile circular walk from East Budleigh. 10am start. Dogs on short leads. 01395 567337.

Food on Friday 12noon, at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall - two course lunch, roll & butter + unlimited tea/coffee, £4.50. Special diets can usually be catered for if requested in advance. Open to all ages; very friendly atmosphere, newcomers really welcomed, but please book places in advance by phoning June 01460 77057 or Jackie 01460 72324, who will also provide more information if required.

Special lunch at Henhayes Centre Crewkerne. Roast Chicken followed by Lemon Ginger Crunch. All start with a choice of 3 fruit juices and finish with tea/ coffee and chocolates. Vegetarian options are available. Booking is essential £8. (£9 for non members) Bar opens at 12noon.

Lunch is served at 12.30pm. 01460 74340 henhayescentre@btconnect.com.

The Living Tree cancer self-help group.

1pm Mindfulness with Sue Howse. 2pm Tripudio. 2.15pm Christine Laws, ‘Being kind to your skin’ – skincare while on and after Chemotherapy/radiotherapy. 2.30pm - 4pm Therapy session –Peter Cove offering Swedish Massage for hands & feet (please check beforehand if you have Lymphoedema or lymph nodes removed).

At The Ebenezer ‘Professor Mike Benton: Mass Extinction’ Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. In The Seed Factory, Aller, Somerset TA10 0QN. To RSVP, please email ebenezer@ ebenezerpresents.com.

Winsham Horticultural Society An evening with Forde Abbey’s Head Gardener, Josh Sparkes. Josh has kindly agreed to give a talk on “sustainable gardening in a changing world” a subject very dear to his heart. Entry is only £5 (£3 for WHS members) payable (in cash) on the door and will include tea/coffee & a slice of cake. There will also be a raffle so bring a few extra pounds to buy your tickets. It all starts at 7.30pm in The Jubilee Hall, Winsham. For further details call Debbie on 01460 432815.

Quiz Night, Hawkchurch Village Hall fundraising event at 7pm. Tickets £8pp to include 2 course buffet supper and luxury hamper for winning team. Cash bar.

Teams of up to 6. Hawkchurch Village Hall. Tickets available from Hawkchurch Village Shop or contact: g.e.robertson@ hotmail.co.uk/ Gill 01297 678271.

All proceeds will go to the upkeep of Hawkchurch Village Hall.

Funk ‘N Soul Night with The Jonah Hitchens Band + Psychadelephant 8pm £8 in advance, Students £5 in advance, £10 on the door (standing) With an exciting and fresh sound, The Jonah Hitchens Band have been playing together for 6 years, bonded by their love of Funk and Soul. Psychadelephant are a Psychadelic

Funk and Heavy Soul four piece (incl.

Jake Miller & Grace Gillan). The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www. beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Grassroots Opera: Orfeo ed Euridice Intimate and accessible presentation of Gluck’s opera sung by young professional singers, exploring the fine lines between love and obsession, reality and imagination.

At 8pm. Tickets £16 (£31 with pre-show supper at 7pm – must be pre-booked).

Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

SATURDAY 13 APRIL Martock Farmers Market 10am – 1pm in the shopping precinct. 17 stalls, including Whitelake Cheese, Duncan’s cauliflower, Eggardon black pudding, Peter’s walnut loaf, Barry’s bangers, Giles coffee, David’s honey, Gina’s cakes, Brenda’s marmalade and loads more local food. 10am – 1pm in the Moorlands Shopping Precinct, North Street, Martock. 01935 822202 for a table.

South Petherton Methodist Church Spring Sale is being held from 10am - 12 noon. Entry is free, and you will find the usual wide range of well-stocked stalls.

Refreshments will be served.

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 7.5 mile walk from Otterton. Bicton, East Budleigh, River, Coast Path. Choice of shorter 4.5 mile walk. 10.30am start. Bring picnic. No dogs. All welcome.

Please call 01308 898002.

Long Bredy village coffee break light refreshments and a home produce Bring and Buy stall. 10.30am till 12noon. Long Bredy village hall. DT2 9HP This is a

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 25

regular event, held on the second Saturday of each month.

C.U.P.I.D. at the Dorford Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester DT1 1RR 10am - 12 noon. The meeting will be a ‘Brains Trust’ with Vikki Andrews of the stoma clinic DCH, together with representatives from the Ileostomy, Colostomy and Urostomy Associations, who will invite questions from the audience. Tony Gammel from Dansac will also be available to show their products and to help with any enquiries. The usual quiz will be held which you can try your luck with as you enjoy a tea or coffee.

Come and Sing Day Come and Sing a cappella with Parnham Voices at St John’s, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset. The day will be led by Simon Earl, Director of Music at Christchurch Priory and will include music

by Lotti, Byrd, Victoria, Tallis, da Silva, Stoltzer, Gabrielli, Gombert and Palestrina.

The cost of the day will be £15 to include light refreshments and the booklet of music. Full details and application forms are available on their Facebook page (Parnham Voices News) or by e-mail to the Secretary at saffas73@btinternet.com.

Egyptian Society Taunton “Ancient Egypt – A History in Twelve Objects”.

Speaker: Lucia Jan Diamond. The event will take place at 2pm at the Friends Meeting House, Bath Place, Taunton, TA1 4ED http://egyptiansoctaunton.wixsite. com/home.

West Dorset Group of the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society meeting at Loders village hall, 2pm. Bruce Upton is talking about ‘A fine meeting there is there’ Bridport and the Quakers.

Members £1.50, visitors £3, all are welcome, tea and biscuits provided. For more information contact Jane on 01308 425710 or email: jferentzi@aol.com.

Beer Wurlitzer Theatre Organ Show with Len Rawle at the Congregational Church, Fore Street, Beer, 2pm - 4.30pm, £7 at the door, children free, visit beerwurlitzer.org.uk or phone 01297 24892.

Yandles Spring Handmade Market 10-4pm. Hurst Works, Martock, TA12 6JU. www.yandlesartandcrafts.co.uk The Hawkmen release debut album with Dorchester gig. At the Old Ship Inn as part of a 3 date minitour. Tickets for the gig are £8 advance and £10 on the door, with support on the night coming from popular garage / surf act Palooka 5. The Hawkmen blend northern soul, rockabilly, R&B and country influences, resulting in an authentic and original sound unique on the current live scene. Outstanding lead vocals from Scarlett Fagan and a band deeply rooted in its genres have created something that sits effortlessly in any era from the 1950s until the present day.

Doors 7.30pm. Tickets www.thehawkmen. com.

Noasis plus Support 8pm Electric Palace, Bridport. www.electricpalace.org.uk.

Taunton Deane Male Voice Choir will perform a Springtime Evening of light music and popular songs. At Seavington Millennium Hall, Water Street, Seavington St Mary TA 19 0QH. Bar open from 7pm, concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets £9 in advance, from Seavington Community Store, address as above, or telephone 01460 929605. Proceeds in aid of improvements to Seavington Community Store.

Jackie Oates – The Joy of Living at 7.30pm.. Jackie Oates is synonymous with the reinvigoration of English Folk. Her mellifluous voice, plaintive fiddle and tantalizing approach to Traditional songs gained her several BBC Folk Awards in a career that’s seen her perform as a member of the nascent Unthanks, collaborate with Alasdair Roberts and Belinda O’Hooley and release six acclaimed solo albums.

Tickets: £16 Full. £15 Concessions. The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www. thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240 340.

See Courses and Workshop listings for harmony workshop on same day.

Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash 8pm £17.50 adv, £20 on the door. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the formation of one of the most enduring and best loved British rock acts Wishbone Ash, Martin Turner and his band perform the 1976 album “New England”...plus other classics.

The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

SAT 13 APRIL – MONDAY 6 MAY Cerne Giant Festival in and around the Cerne Valley Dorset. This festival was born out of the vibrant May Day tradition, when the Morris Dancers and villagers gather at dawn on the Trendle, the original site of the village Maypole at the top of the Cerne Giant. Here they salute the sunrise and celebrate the start of summer with a barrel of Beltane Beer. This is the third year of the Festival, which has now extended to about 3 weeks. With a theme of ‘Celebrating Humanity in the Landscape’, there will be a huge variety of events including workshops, talks, and walks so that there is something for everyone to explore their own connection with landscape of Dorset and what it means to them. Details from Jane Still who can be contacted on 07823 778758 or still. family@virgin.net, or look on Cerne Giant Festival fb page.

SUNDAY 14 APRIL Frogmary Green Farm Wedding Fair 10am - 2.30pm Farm and Festival Weddings. Free Entry, Up to 40 Wedding Suppliers, Free Hog Roast for Wedding Couples, Goody Bags. South

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Petherton TA13 5DJ 01460 249758 www. frogmarygreenfarm.co.uk.

Mapperton Gardens Spring Plant Fair Mapperton, nr Beaminster, Dorset DT8 3NR 10am – 4pm. This popular event is now in its 20th year and one of the biggest fairs in Dorset, with over 30 stands spread throughout the grounds selling plants and garden ornaments including metal and willow work. Admission to the plant fair is £3 benefiting the Dorset Wildlife Trust, with discounted entry to house & garden is available on the day (house by guided tour only). Refreshments available from The Coach House Cafe and the Mapperton Shop will be open selling inspirational gifts. Details of stall holders at www.plantfairs.com.

East Devon Ramblers leisurely 7 mile circular walk from Blackbury Camp.

10.30am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads. 01297 23045.

Dorset Countryside Volunteers will be beach cleaning at Abbotsbury, West Dorset. This is a good event for families and others keen to keep our wonderful coast clean. Come along for part or all of the day. For details see www.dcv.org. uk, email DCVpublicity@gmail.com, or text or message 07923498760 for them to contact you.

Crystal and Tibetan Singing Bowl Soundbath 2pm – 4pm. Experience a magical performance of Pure Sound by musician Dean Carter using singing bowls plus sacred vocal overtoning which promotes a deeply relaxing and healing state to rebalance and re-energise your body, mind and spirit. Your ‘participation’ involves simply lying down and enjoying/ absorbing the sounds. (You may sit if preferred.) £12, Booking in advance and further details www.centreforpuresound. org ahiahel@live.com 01935 389655. Bring something comfortable to lie on and wrap around you. Bridport Unitarians, 49 East St, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3JX. The Sunday Sessions with Matt Benjamin This free entry post-roast music session in the lovely bar overlooking the Cobb. Guitarist Jack Harrison and cellist Matt Benjamin headline act, presenting other talented guests from the local music scene. Bar opens and starts at 3pm. Free entry, no tickets Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www.marinetheatre.com.

Hark The Echoing: Purcell & Britten 3.30pm - 4.30pm Musical Director : Ruth Hopkins Free entry. Sidholme Music Room, Elysian Fields, Sidmouth. EX10 8UJ. The Long Walk Back by Dougie Blaxland. RoughHouse Theatre & Live Wire Theatre 7pm £13 / £11 members & concessions / £5 Livefor£5 Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www. dorchesterarts.org.uk.

MONDAY 15 APRIL Family Explorer Day at Trinity Hill LNR 2pm – 4pm. Parents too, please. Meet Trinity Hill LNR car park (SY307959).

Book with EDDC at wildeastdevon.co.uk or 01395 517557. £5 per family.

Lym Valley Croquet Club Club sessions every Monday and Thursday afternoon, with Weekends as reserve days. This super game is open to all ages. Probably the least expensive sport in the South. Please call David Brooke-Smith on 07909 111512.

Musbury Garden Club The Care and Management of Trees and Shrubs at 7.30pm at Musbury Village Hall, EX13 8AJ. David Usher will explain to us how to look after trees and shrubs starting with selection, planting and aftercare; then moving onto the pruning of a wide range of specimens.

Doors open at 7pm with refreshments. All welcome.

Easter Bingo at Misterton Village Hall (TA18 8NA) - doors open 6.45pm, eyes down 7.30pm. Good prizes - hampers, Easter egs, etc. Raffle, tombola and light refreshments. Raising funds for Misterton W.I. Hall Enq. 01460 74808.

Axminster Carnival Bingo Axminster Guildhall, eyes down 8pm.

Jazz Jam Session Do you play an instrument? Do you want to try improvising around jazz standards and other well-known tunes? Come along to this informal group – you can play, or just sit and listen. 8pm. £2 to take part. Bar available. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

TUESDAY 16 APRIL The Tuckers Jazz Club 8pm The Amy Roberts Quintet. The Tuckers Arms, Dalwood, Near Axminster, EX13 7EG (just north of the A35 between Axminster & Honiton) Tickets £10 www.dalwoodvillage. co.uk 01404 831 280.

WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL West Dorset Ramblers 7 miles/11.3 km.

Dorset Downs, Southover, Cruxton and Compton Valance. Starts at 10am. Bring picnic, dogs on leads. All welcome. Please call 01300 341664.

East Devon Ramblers strenuous 11.5 mile circular walk from Thorncombe. 10am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads. 01297 22030.

Nordic Walking at Furleigh Estate 11.15am Intermediate Level with Paul and Julia from the Garden Studios. This session starts at Furleigh and takes in a 3 mile circuit between two vineyards. £10 per person which includes coffee, a glass of fizz and loan of poles. Furleigh Estate, Salway Ash, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5JF 01308 488991 www.furleighestate.co.uk.

The Bird Show 11am Bridport Arts Centre www.bridport-arts.com.

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Looking Ahead Wednesday 1 May

The Importance of Being Earnest Open 6pm Starts 7pm.

Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. Tickets from TIC or phone 01297 442138 www.marinetheatre.com.

FoSTB Coffee Concert in the Music Room, Sidholme Hotel Friends of Sidmouth Town Band Coffee 10.30am Concert 11am – 12noon. Steve Sykes International Tuba Soloist Royal Albert Hall Recitalist Amusing Raconteur Accompanied by Nicola Bracey with John McGregor … Free Admission Refreshments Disabled Access Retiring Collection for Sidmouth Town Band.

Lyme History Walks 11am from the Marine Theatre, this and every Wed and Sat in April. Discover the unique and colourful history of Lyme Regis. Hear stories of amazing people and adventures on land and sea. Experienced Tour Guide Chris Lovejoy. Lasts 1+1/2 hours. Cost: £8, Children half www.lymehistorywalks. com 01297 443140 / 07518 777 258 for further information. Booking not required.

Bridport Probus Club Roman Army by John Smith. Meets at the Eype’s Mouth Hotel at 12noon on the third Wednesday of each month for lunch, followed by a talk. For more information contact Graham Pitts on 01297 561569.

Inner Wheel Club of Crewkerne meet for a fun and friendship lunch at Haselbury Mill TA18 7NY on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 12noon for 12.30pm. Interesting speakers booked.

Prospective new members are welcome to visit, advance booking required. Contact innerwheel@uwclub.net or 01460 63856.

Honiton U3A speaker Dawn Lawrence - her talk is entitled ‘2 Steps Behind (The Dinosaur)’. Based on her book of the same name, Dawn describes the situation facing most of the world’s wild life. The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton Doors open 1.30pm for a 2pm start. Members Free and Visitors welcome (suggested donation of £2) Further Info: 01404 598008 Website: http://u3asites.org.uk/ honiton.

Behind the Scenes Tour at Shire Hall 2pm Tour is £2 per person, in addition to a valid Museum Annual Pass.

Limited availability. Booking advised, visit shirehalldorset.org or call 01305 261849.

The Arts Society West Dorset A Tour of Big Ben. Speaker: Tim Redmond.

The Seaside Boarding House, Burton Bradstock at 2.30pm. For details contact 01308 485487.

Colyton & District Garden Society Talk ‘Bumblebees: Ecology, Conservation and Monitoring’ by John Butler, Bumblebee Trust. 7.30pm at Colyford Memorial Hall.

Friday 3 May

The Living Tree cancer self-help group. 2pm Tripudio. 2.15pm Jenny Malyon talking on Homoeopathy as an effective, safe, gentle and scientific system of healing.

Members free, guests £3. For information, Sue Price 01297 552362.

Sherborne Group of the Dorset Wildlife Trust Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne at 7.30pm, talk entitled ‘Get Dorset Buzzing’

by Imogen Davenport, Director of Conservation, Dorset Wildlife Trust. Cost £2.50.

Thorncombe Rail Activities Club talk and slide presentation given by David Peel entitled “LMS Jubilees – A Celebration of 2nd Rank Power”. The meeting is at Thorncombe Village Hall, TA20 4NE and starts at 7.30pm. Non Members are welcome, there are refreshments, a raffle and the parking is free. Contact Richard Holt, Chairman Tel. 01460 30428 or Google TRAC “traclubsite” for information.

Chardstock Gardening Club 7.30pm.

‘Wildlife and the Garden’ - talk by Neil Lovesey. Chardstock Community Hall, Westcombes, EX13 7BJ. Everyone welcome. Visitors £3 on the door; tea/ coffee and biscuits included. Enquiries: 01460 221619.

The Nash Ensemble 8pm , £22 / £20 members & concessions. Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www. dorchesterarts.org.uk.

WED 17 – THUR 18 APRIL Secondhand Book Sale in the Jubilee Pavilion, Lyme Regis starting at 11am each day. For further information please contact David Cox on 01297 443156.

THURSDAY 18 APRIL Bridport & District Gardening Club ‘Growing Clematis Successfully’ Marcus Dancer 7.30pm in the Women’s Institute Hall, North Street, Bridport. Free to members, non-members £2.

South Somerset RSPB Group ‘Birding the Silk Route’ An illustrated talk, presented by Ian Gasper. 7.30pm The Millennium Hall, Seavington St Mary.

Group members £3, non-group members £4, under 18’s free (tea/coffee & biscuits included) – wheelchair access. Nonmembers very welcome. For further details contact: Denise Chamings (group leader) on 01460240740 www.rspb.org.uk/groups/southsomerset.

Chard Camera Club Baptist Church Hall Holyrood Street at 7.30pm for a talk entitled ‘Around the world and back again’

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Sunday 5 May

Excalibow by comedy quartet, Bowjangles 7pm Norton Sub Hamdon Village Hall, TA14 6SF. Tickets from Norton Sub Hamdon Village Shop, 01935 881227 or www.takeart.org.

by the travel and portrait photographer Mr Tommy Hatwell. Further details can be found www.chardcameraclub.org.uk of by ringing club membership secretary Mrs Joyce Partridge on 01460 66885.

FRIDAY 19 APRIL West Dorset Ramblers 9.5 miles/15.3.

Valleys and Bottoms, Magiston Farm, above Sydling, Godmanstone. Starts at 10am. Bring picnic, no dogs. All welcome.

Please call 01300 320346.

East Devon Ramblers moderate 8 mile circular walk from Belstone. 10am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads.

01404 45944.

Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure for Kids!

2pm Adult £8, U16 £6, Family of four £25. Do something awesome this Easter!

Join SK Shlomo, a world record-breaking beatboxer who makes music using just his mouth and a mic. Become one of his sidekicks in a world of funny sounds, brilliant noises and cool music, whether you’re aged 1 or 101! The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www. beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

The Living Tree cancer self-help group.

2pm Tripudio. 2.15pm a general social afternoon with Living Tree members.

2.30pm - 4pm Therapy session - Peter Cove offering Swedish Massage for hands & feet (please check beforehand if you have Lymphoedema or lymph nodes removed).

New Orleans Heat Red hot old style jazz from the ‘crescent city’, performed by a hugely accomplished and entertaining 7-piece band. At 8pm. Tickets £15 (£30 with pre-show supper at 7pm – must be pre-booked). Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster.

TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

FRI 19 – SATURDAY 20 APRIL 8th Tatworth Beer Festival Tatworth Playing Fields. Friday 4pm – 10.30pm with a vinyl night. Saturday 4pm - 11pm with live music from Phil Short from London and a BBQ. Entry is free and the proceeds will go to the upkeep of the playing fields.

Further details: http://tatworthpf.wixsite. com/tatworth1970.

SATURDAY 20 APRIL Sidmouth Food and Craft Festival From 10am - 4pm. A huge variety of

local producers, businesses, artisan traders and artists. Free Entry. Kennaway House, Sidmouth www.kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551.

Makers’ Demonstration Day 10am 2.30pm. Admission free. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

Frogmary Green Farm Easter Fair 11am - 5pm Easter Egg Trail, Family Dog Show, Food and Craft Stalls, Face Painting, Bouncy Castle, Pop up Tea Room, Hog Roast, Static Tractor Display and much more Free Entry. Frogmary Green Farm, South Petherton TA13 5DJ 01460 249758 www. frogmarygreenfarm.co.uk.

Lyme History Walks 11am from the Marine Theatre, this and every Wed and Sat in April. Experienced Tour Guide Chris Lovejoy. Lasts 1+1/2 hours. Cost: £8, Children half www.lymehistorywalks.com 01297 443140 / 07518 777 258 for further information. Booking not required.

Dr. Ranj’s Teddy Bear Hospital at Brewery Square. Children’s TV entertainer, Dr. Ranj is set to bring his Teddy Bear Hospital with two free performances at 11am and 1pm. Two special guests will be able to meet Dr. Ranj and friends after the first performance by entering the competition on Brewery Square’s Facebook page. Children are encouraged to draw, paint or create a teddy bear and two winners will be chosen at random from entries submitted by 12pm on Tuesday, March 19. Brewery Square will also be running its annual Easter Egg Hunt across the weekend, from Friday 19 until Monday 22, between 10am and 4pm. Children up to the age of 15 can collect a form from the Concierge Office and all completed forms returned will receive a free Easter prize. Visit www. brewerysquare.com for more information.

The Woodbury Community Choir at Sidholme Music Room 7.45pm - 8.45pm For more information see website ‘Friends of Sidholme Music Room’.

The Black Ven Spoken Word and Acoustic Music open mic nights at the Galley Cafe in Lyme Regis. Get warm and

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 29

cozy on the third Saturday of the month.

All welcome. Bring your ears and your songs, ballads, poems, story and acoustic music for a warm welcome and friendly reception. Sign up 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start £2 entry one and all. With Keian’s delicious home-made cakes, hot drinks and full bar available. blackvenpress@gmail. com.

SUNDAY 21 APRIL South Somerset Ramblers 12 mile walk from Broadwindsor Craft Centre. Meet 10am and bring a picnic. Details from Peter 01935 389348.

East Devon Ramblers leisurely 8.5 mile circular walk from Uplyme. 10am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads. 01395 577891.

Crystal and Tibetan Singing Bowl Soundbath 2pm – 4pm. £12, Booking in advance and further details www. centreforpuresound.org ahiahel@live. com 01935 389655. Bring something comfortable to lie on and wrap around you. The Scout Hall, Redcotts Lane, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 1JX. Sidmouth Charity Tea Dances Ballroom, Latin and Sequence dancing with a warm, friendly welcome. £4 each, including Tea, coffee and biscuits at 2.30pm Stowford Centre, EX10 9YL (opp Waitrose). Further information from 01395 579856 or 577122.

MONDAY 22 APRIL Charmouth Vintage Fair Community Hall 10am - 4pm next date: Monday 27th May. Enquiries: Tel: 01297560634.

West Dorset Jive Community Evening Dancing and Cake Event - Free to Attend – 7.30pm - Chideock Village Hall, DT6 6JW - All dancers welcome - No need to book, just turn up and bring friends.

TUESDAY 23 APRIL West Dorset Ramblers 8 miles/12.9 km.

A walk from Musbury. Musbury Castle and crossing the Axe. Starts at 10am.

Bring picnic, dogs optional. All welcome.

Please call 01308 898484.

The growing season is in full swing!

10am – 4pm Come and help Magdalen Farm in the polytunnels and organic kitchen garden on their horticultural tasks.

Lunch, tools and all training provided.

To book your volunteer place please email julia@magdalenfarm.org.uk for details. The Magdalen Environmental Trust, Magdalen Farm, Winsham TA20 4PA. Telephone 01460 30144 www. magdalenfarm.org.uk.

Birdwatch Portland for migrants.

Portland Bill and Observatory visit.

Inform Fran Sinclair 07804 835905 if attending. Donations. AVDCS event.

U3A Monthly Talk The U3A (University of the Third Age) offers a wide variety of general interest groups for retired, and

semi-retired people in Bridport and the surrounding areas. 2pm in Bridport United Church Hall in East Street. The cost to non-members for each talk is £2. Further Information can be found at www. u3asites.org.uk/bridport. Annual General Meeting and talk by Martin Lloyd – writer, speaker and broadcaster on ‘Passport Stories from History’.

Sidmouth Charity Tea Dances Ballroom, Latin and Sequence dancing with a warm, friendly welcome. £4 each, including Tea, coffee and biscuits at 2.30pm at All Saints Hall, Sidmouth EX10 8ES. Further information from 01395 579856 or 577122.

Martock History Group John Allen on Forde Abbey. The quality of the 1530s buildings and 1650s plasterwork is some of the best in the country, said Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, and the whole package is like a jewel tucked away in remote countryside, yet near Chard! John Allen is a deeply knowledgeable raconteur, and we may tour the actual abbey in the summer with him. With the added excitement of their “5 minute” AGM. Both meetings held at Martock School, Elmleigh Road, TA12 6EF. Coffee from 7pm, talk starts 7.30pm. Admission £3 or annual subscription only £10.

Dorset Industrial Archaeology Society ‘Brunel’s SS Great Britain’ is the subject of Ian Caskie’s lecture to the Society at 7.30pm in the Dorset Room, Colliton House, Colliton Park, Dorchester (opposite County Hall). Non-members welcome (small donation suggested).

Further details from: 01305 871863.

WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL Coffee Morning 10am-12noon Free Entry. The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www.thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240 340.

East Devon Ramblers moderate 8 mile circular walk from Wellington. 10.30am start and bring picnic. Assistance dogs only. 07922 651426.

Botanical Stroll Discover the diversity of plant life on an organic farm, with Mike Lock, 10am - 12.30pm, Trill Farm, Musbury EX13 8TU. FREE but booking essential trillfarm.co.uk 01297 631113.

Lyme Regis Bowls Club announce 2 special open days to encourage new members to join their well established Club which is now over 80 years old.

10am – 4pm on both days. The Club are offering half price membership for the first year with free taster sessions with coaching and mentoring included.

The Club has over 90 male and female members who participate in several social events throughout the year and have a full fixture list. The Club is fully licensed. Visit them on Facebook. Further information please contact David Sarson Tel 01297 442544. Also Sunday 28 April.

30 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

Bridport Camera Club Talk by Colin Varndell – A Year in the Country.

Ticketed event open to the public. One of the club’s founding members, Colin is internationally acclaimed for his wildlife and garden photography. 7.30pm Bridport Town Hall, DT6 3HA. New members always welcome. All enquiries call the Club Secretary on 07737 405474 or email secretary@bridportcameraclub.co.uk.

Wyvern: Words Take Wing 8pm (doors & bar 7.30pm) £13 / £11 members & concessions. Dorchester Arts, The Corn Exchange, High East Street, DT1 1HF 01305 266926 www.dorchesterarts.org.uk.

Uplyme & Lyme Regis Horticultural Society 7.30pm Demonstration ‘Hanging baskets’ by Mark Bugler from Groves Nursery. Competition: Also at the April meeting will be the Chairman’s springflowering bulb competition. Bring along your entries on the night from 7pm. https://ulrhs.wordpress.com/.

Colyton Parish History Society Start 7.30pm Entrance fees £2 for members, £4 for non-members - meetings open to everyone. Colyford Memorial Hall. St George’s Day & Shakespeare – An evening of Music & Verse by Adrienne Hesketh.

WED 24 – SUNDAY 28 APRIL From Page to Screen Bridport’s Film Festival Celebrating the adaptation of books into film. At Bridport Arts Centre and Electric Palace. For list of films and booking go to frompagetoscreen.org.uk or call 01308 424204.

THURSDAY 25 APRIL Benefit Advice Session An initiative

by Dorset Welfare Benefits Partnership.

9am - 12.30pm at Age UK Dorchester. To make an appointment, please contact Age UK Dorchester on 01305 269444 or at Rowan Cottage, 4 Prince of Wales Road, Dorchester DT1 1PW www.ageuk.org.uk/ dorchester.

West Dorset Ramblers 9.5 miles/15.3 km. Beaminster Ups and Downs. Hardy Way, Toller Whelme, return Hooke Park woodland campus. Starts at 10am. Bring picnic, no dogs. All welcome. Please call 01308 422514.

Stepping into Nature – Discover the nature of West Bay 10.30am for 11am start at West Bay Discovery Centre.

Open to all ages, suitable for the over 55s and dementia friendly, this is a free event. Donations welcome. Booking required. Further details manager@ westbaydiscoverycentre.org.uk.

Wildlife Wellbeing Walk at the Chesil Beach Centre (Stepping into Nature) 11am. This event is FREE as it is funded

by Stepping into Nature through the Big Lottery Fund. Meet at the Chesil Beach Centre, Portland (DT4 9XE). To book your place please call Chesil Team on 01305 206191.

South Petherton Hospital League of Friends Annual General Meeting 6.30pm - 8.30pm. Peter Lewis, Chief Executive of Somerset Partnership will talk about the future of health services in the area at South Petherton Hospital.

Broadwey, Upwey and District Horticultural Society 6.45pm Visit to Poundbury Garden Centre. See www.budhs. org.uk for more details.

Chard Ladies’ Evening Guild will meet in their new venue for a talk by Martin Newbery on the work of the RNLI. In the Crowshute Centre, with ample parking available in the adjacent public car park.

New members and visitors will be very welcome at 6.45pm.

Rupert Sheldrake Talk the internationally renowned environmental biologist explains in his book, ‘The Science Delusion’ how materialism has gradually hardened into a kind of anti Christian principle, claiming authority to dictate theories and to veto enquiries on topics that don’t suit it, such as unorthodox medicine, let alone religion. His insistence on the need to attend to possible wider ways of thinking is surely right. His engaging and provocative book and this talk will make you question basic assumptions of western Science. He will be speaking at the Literary and Scientific Institute in Bridport at 7.30pm. Tickets available from the LSi, Bridport TIC and Eventbrite.

Tickets are £12 each including a glass of wine. Concessions.

FRIDAY 26 APRIL East Devon Ramblers moderate 5 mile circular walk from Stonebarrow. 10am start.

Dogs on short leads. 01297 444301.

The Living Tree cancer self-help group.

1pm Mindfulness with Sue Howse. 2pm Tripudio. 2.15pm Activity – Art with Libby.

2.30pm - 4pm Therapy - Anne Escott

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 31

offering Foot Massage. Plus Peter Cove offering Swedish Massage for hands & feet (please check beforehand if you have Lymphoedema or lymph nodes removed).

Flook at 8pm. The flutes of Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen, the guitar of Ed Boyd and the bodhran of John Joe Kelly. Tickets: £17 Full. £16 Concessions.

The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www. thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240 340.

Charity Barn Dance in Thornford Ceilidh’s Comet barn dance band, plus special guest Bonny Sartin, lead singer from The Yetties, at Thornford Village Hall near Sherborne. Live entertainment to watch, listen and dance with hot food included in the ticket, hot drinks and a bar are available from 7pm. Tickets on sale now - online at www.BearCatCollective. co.uk and www.CeilidhsComet.co.uk or cheques payable to BearCat Collective at Silverthorne Farm, Milborne Wick DT9 4PW (please include names and dietary requirements) Adv. Tickets £7.50, U16s £2, Family £15 = 2 adults +up to 3 U16s. Entry on the door £9 / £3. No unaccompanied under 18s. Thornford Village Hall, Pound Road, DT9 6QB Free parking available at village hall .

The Magic of the Musical at the Brownsword Hall, Poundbury. Acclaimed tenor John Hudson will be singing a variety of songs from well-known musicals. 7pm for 7.30pm. Tickets £10 in advance from Poundbury Garden Centre or via our website brownswordevents.org. uk, or £12 on the night.

Budapest Café Orchestra Doors 7pm Evershot Village Hall. Virtuoso Jazz Musicians. Tickets £8 call 0193583784.

Somerset Wildlife Trust Ilminster/ Chard Moths in Somerset - John Bebbington FRPS, County Moth recorder until the end of 2018: Somerset Moths common and rarer, lost and newly arrived species, threats to our declining moth populations and what we can do to encourage moths. Short AGM will follow the break. At Parish Hall, North Street, Ilminster TA19 0DG. 7.30pm. No need to book. Entrance by donation £2.50 members, £3.50 non-members, no charge for children. Refreshments available.

Sales table. Parking at roadside, town or Tesco car-parks. Enquiries: Valerie 01460 234551.

Karen Sharpe & Stan Sulzmann with the Nikki Iles Trio Superlative contemporary jazz, with two top UK saxophonists and award-winning pianist and composer Nikki Iles. At 8pm. Tickets £17 (£32 with pre-show supper at 7pm – must be pre-booked). Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

SATURDAY 27 APRIL AONB Heritage Conference 2019 Artefacts, Museums and the Historic Environment. 9.30am - 4pm. Fee £20 Includes lunch and refreshments. www. eastdevonaonb.org.uk/news/681/68/ AONB-Heritage-Conference-2019.

Big Breakfast From 8.30am. Uplyme Village Hall. Proceeds for Hall funds.

Stockland Village Market 10am 12noon, at the Victory Hall, Local Food Producers, Artisan Crafts, Easter Egg Hunt, with Children’s Activities. Hot refreshments, free parking all welcome.

Info contact 01404 881535.

Woodbury Community Hall Open Day Woodbury Lane EX13 5TL 10am – 3pm. Come to the hall and meet the users and see how our hall is being used.

Refreshments – Bacon butties etc Contact Joy 07896 281373.

World Tai Chi and Chi Kung Day Stretford Cottage, Weycroft, EX13 7LN (the cottage by the river). A fundraising event and all proceeds will be going to a worthy cause. Start at 10 am. Everyone welcome. Please contact Allan Howlings for further information on 01297 32095.

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 8 mile walk from Buckham Down.

Weston Manor Farm, Winyards Gap, South Perrott. 10.30am start. Bring picnic.

No dogs. All welcome. Please call 01308 898002.

Friends of Weymouth Library Talk from Paul Atterbury on his Life in Canals and Railways. Weymouth Library Great George Street DT4 8NN. 10.30am, £3 non members of FOWL. All welcome Tickets from Library Desk more info from 01305 832613.

Axe Valley Centre National Trust Spring Fair Colyford Memorial Hall 10.30am - 12.30pm. Admission £1 including refreshments. Cakes & Produce, Books, Bric-a-brac, Craft & Plant Stalls, Competitions & Sidmouth National Trust Shop. Further Information 01297 598296.

The Friends of Beaminster Festival are promoting a concert of Organ & Trumpet to be given by Martin Schellenberg (Organist at St Mary’s Church Beaminster) and Winston Leese. The programme will include works by Albioni,Malcolm Archer,J S Bach,G F Handel. Tickets are £12 and available from The Yarn Barton, Fleet Street,Beaminster,Bridport Music and on the door at 3pm.

An evening of entertainment to raise funds for Arc. Kilmington Village Hall 7.30pm. Helpers, Performers and Audience please contact Emily on 0780 3042886 eseward.sewards@gmail.com.

Adults £8, Child £4 Bar and Food on sale during the evening.

Digital Photography with Dougal Syres, From taking the picture, through editing, processing the image to storage - a practical workshop with all your I.T

32 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

queries answered. An Axminster Heritage event 3pm - 5.30pm. £16. To book a place call 01404 831207 The Bradshaw Meeting Rm.Thomas Whitty House, Silver Street, Axminster.

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Dance cost £3. 7.30pm – 10.30pm. Please bring a plate of food to share. Chardstock Village Hall.

Yeovil Concert Band Martock Church. The Band has 16 brass and 19 woodwind instrumentalists plus a percussionist and plays a wide range of music, including songs from stage shows and films, marches, folk music, classical suites, tributes to classical and popular composers.7.30pm Admission: £9 or £ 8 at 01935 829576 www. martockonline.co.uk/events, http://www. yeovilconcertband.com/.

Bridport Folk Dance Club’s annual dance “Miss Mayne’s Party”, at 7.30pm - 11pm in St Mary’s Church House Hall, South Street, DT6 3NW. An evening’s fun dancing to the Weston Country Dance Band with caller Dick Williams, with a bring & share supper and raffle. No bar, but the Woodman Inn is just opposite. All welcome, no experience or partner needed.

On street parking or car park further up the street. £8 per ticket, from Bridport Music Shop or call 01308 423442 to book.

Hank Marvin by Justin Daish He not only sounds like Hank but could almost be him on stage. Supper before is Steak Pie followed by Fruit Sponge. Concert only £10 including supper £18. Supper must be booked, Tel: 01460 74340.

Three Cane Whale 8pm Highly acclaimed multi-instrumental acoustic trio - featuring members of Spiro, Get the Blessing and Scottish Dance Theatre Tickets: £15 or £33 with dinner before available from Café Sladers, Sladers Yard, West Bay t: 01308 459511. Please see sladersyard.co.uk for more information.

SUNDAY 28 APRIL South Somerset Ramblers 12 mile walk from Evershot. Meet 10am at triangle at bottom of village. Bring a picnic. Details from Tony 07749931443.

Garage and tabletop sale in and around Broadwindsor DT8 3QD. 10am - 1pm.

Villagers hold their annual walkabout sale.

Furniture, books, records, bric-a-brac, antiques and vintage. Maps on sale for £1 at Broadwindsor Community Stores.

East Devon Ramblers leisurely 8.5 circular walk from Aylesbeare. 10.30am start and bring picnic. Dogs on short leads.

01395 577651.

Lyme Regis Bowls Club announce special open day to encourage new members to join their well established Club which is now over 80 years old. 10am – 4pm. Visit them on Facebook. Further information please contact David Sarson Tel 01297 442544.

Walk and Lunch Comrades Hall, Broadwindsor - Walkers leave from 10.30am, lunches served from 12.30pm. Choice of long or short walk followed by a two course lunch. Dogs on leads welcome. For further details or to book, please contact Philip 01460 30661/30517, John 01308 868379 or Philip 01308 867646. In aid of the 3 churches of Blackdown, Broadwindsor & Burstock.

Angels of Sound Voice Playshop 10am - 12.30pm. £12, Booking in advance and further details www. centreforpuresound.org ahiahel@live. com 01935 389655. Oborne Village Hall, Oborne, nr. Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4LA. Crystal and Tibetan Singing Bowl Soundbath 2pm – 4pm £12, Booking in advance and further details www.centreforpuresound. org ahiahel@live.com 01935 389655.

Bring something comfortable to lie on and wrap around you. Oborne Village Hall, Oborne, nr. Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4LA. Traditional Choral Evensong with the Whitchurch Occasional Choir.

6pm, Whitchurch Canonicorum Church.

Acoustic Night 7.30pm – 10.30pm.

All styles and forms of performance welcome – not just music. If you wish to perform please drop an email at folk@chriswatts.org to secure a slot. The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www.thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240 340.

MONDAY 29 APRIL Botanical Stroll for spring flowers, with Mike Lock. Musbury Castle.

10am - 12.30pm. Meet Musbury Village Hall Car park. Donations.

AVDCS event.

Lipreading & Managing Hearing Loss Honiton Methodist Church 10am - 12noon. Learn how to manage your hearing loss by using lipreading and coping strategies, while building confidence in a supportive environment. First session free. Small, friendly group.

Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Contact Ruth for further details ruth@bizleyart.com 01297 442239 or just come along on the day.

Black Venn Poetry Editing Group 1pm Last Monday of the Month £6 per session. Editing seminars open to anyone looking to develop individual poems and participate in high level critiquing as a group. www. lsibridport.co.uk/black-ven-poetryediting-group/ LSi Bridport, 51 East Street, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3JX

www.lsibridport.co.uk.

Golden Cap Association Winter Talk Beyond Old Harry Talk by Rod Lawrence. Bridport United Church Hall, East St, Bridport. 7.30pm Presented by the Golden Cap Association (West Dorset). Nonmembers welcome. Admission £3.

Includes tea or coffee and biscuits.

For further information 01308 863577.

Axminster Carnival Bingo Axminster Guildhall, eyes down 8pm.

Bridport Folk Dance Club 7.30pm - 9.30pm in the WI Hall, North Street, Bridport DT6 3JQ. Admission £3 for members, £4 visitors (membership available).

Taster sessions available at no cost.

Contact Mecki on 01308 423 442.

TUESDAY 30 APRIL West Dorset Ramblers 7.5 miles/12.1 km. Heaths and Farms around Wool. East Knighton to Combe Keynes return via Winfrith.

Starts at 10am. Bring picnic, no dogs. All welcome. Please call 01305 854137.

Stepping into Nature – Discover the nature of West Bay 10.30am for 11am start at West Bay Discovery Centre. West Bay has a wealth of flora and fauna to be discovered, and this activity will include an opportunity to visit the Discovery Centre, followed by a walk around West Bay. Open to all ages, suitable for the over 55’s and dementia friendly, this is a free event. Donations welcome. Booking required. Further details manager@ westbaydiscoverycentre.org.uk.

The Lyme Regis Society AGM and Talk 2.30pm - 4pm at Woodmead Halls, Hill Road, Lyme Regis. DT7 3PG. All Welcome.

Members Free. Visitors £3.00.

Including Refreshments. www. lymeregissociety.org.uk.

National Trust South Dorset Association 2.30pm “Dorset from a Drone “ a talk by Paul Hoskins of Eagle Vistas. St Aldhelm’s Church Centre, Spa Road, Weymouth, DT3 5EW. Presented by National Trust South Dorset Association. Members NTSDA £3 Non-members NTSDA £4 inc. tea/biscuits. Contact: Geoffrey and Elizabeth Wrench 01300 321601 / www.southdorsetnt. org.uk.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 33

Holloways & Hideouts: Ines Cavill on another Search for Rogue Male

Peter O’Toole as Sir Robert Hunter and Michael Sheard as Adolf Hitler in Rogue Male. Photographs courtesy BBC

“I chose southern England, with a strong preference for Dorset. It is a remote county, lying as it does between Hampshire, which is becoming an outer suburb, and Devon which is a playground. I knew one part of the county very well indeed......” Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, 1939 “A track worn down by the traffic of ages and the fretting of water and in places reduced sixteen or eighteen feet beneath the level of the fields.”

Holloway by Robert Macfarlane, 2012

I

t is 80 years since the publication of Geoffrey Household’s enduring thriller Rogue Male. His cult novel perfectly distilled the suspense wrought from a hunter turned prey, inspiring 8 decades of storytellers including Fritz Lang’s 1941 film Man Hunt, David Morrell’s First Blood, Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal and the 1976 BBC screen adaptation. Peter O’Toole stars in this as Household’s would-be assassin who fails to shoot Hitler, escapes torture by the Gestapo and flees back to the UK pursued by the sinister Major Quive-Smith (played by John Standing). Peter O’Toole said in 2007 that it remained his favourite of all the films he had worked on, and Rogue Male continues to fascinate—Benedict Cumberbatch has most recently secured the rights to the book he describes as one of ‘the most treasured of English novels’ and will produce and star in a new film that’s in development.

Born in 1900, Geoffrey Household was educated in the West Country and Oxford. In his twenties, he worked throughout Europe from Bucharest to Bilbao (from banking to bananas!) and started an early period of literary work in New York including screenwriting for CBS. But by 1933 he was back and broke in England, spending time walking the countryside of Wiltshire and Dorset until international sales work for an ink manufacturer gave him the scope he wanted to travel and write. His first of 36 books, the novel The Third Hour, was published in 1938 but it is the following year’s Rogue Male that would prove to be an instant best seller—it was even issued as a moraleboosting Services and Forces special edition—and his genre-defining masterpiece.

Rogue Male is unforgettable for its pace and plotting but also the tangible descriptions of place that breathe authentic life into the story. As when the hunted hero seeks sanctuary in ‘the green depths of Dorset’ and arrives just after midnight ‘...on the ridge of a half-

34 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

moon of low rabbit-cropped hills, the horns of which rest upon the sea, enclosing between them a small, lush valley. The outer northern slopes look down upon the Marshwood Vale....’

From here he drops down into the network of holloways—‘these trade-worn cantons of red and green upon the flanks of the hills are very dear to me’ locating a thick hedge accessed from old lanes leading back to the ridge ‘in the heart of this hedge, which I had been seeking all the way from London, the lane reappears. It is not marked on the map. It has not been used, I imagine, for a hundred years’. Inside this ‘double hedge’, guarded by ‘sentinel thorns at the entrance’ he digs out a den and goes to ground until a shocking final confrontation with his hunter, Major Quive-Smith.

These vivid details and tantalising clues have periodically compelled a search for Household’s original hideout. Christoper Roper wrote about one—‘Geoffrey Household’s Lost Lane’—for this magazine in 2003. He was enthralled by Rogue Male’s stunning descriptions of the Marshwood Vale’s secret places when he moved to North Chideock and could recognise the ‘small lush valley’ on his doorstep and the contours of the hero’s hideaway in nearby holloways like Hell Lane, ‘I shared the book with lots of local friends, all were impressed

by Household’s meticulous knowledge of topography and one neighbour said the book was so realistic he could picture the Nazis coming over the hill and through his window!’

The nature writers Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deacon continued this quest in the summer of 2005 approaching the distinctive crescent of hills from the south with bill hooks and sleeping bags ready to take shelter for the night deep inside an ancient track like Rogue Male himself. Macfarlane went on to explore the origin and nature of these holloways in the 2012 prose-poem ‘Holloway’ and defined his topographical muse as “A sunken path, a deep and shady

lane. A route that centuries of foot-fall, hoof-hit, wheel-roll and rain-run have harrowed into the land”.

Both these explorations concluded that Household might well have disguised the exact location of the runaway’s lair as cunningly as his ingenious protagonist. But there is rumour of another theory that I set out to hear last month with the storyteller Martin Maudsley. We met with George Streatfeild at Denhay Farm to be taken to see the site his father John had believed to be the novel’s central location. George told us about the beginnings of the farm as we followed him out of the farmhouse towards the dairy. “Daddy bought Denhay after he retired from Navy—though he would forever be known locally as ‘the commander’—and back then in the fifties, it was 250acres of bogs, brambles and bunnies”. This was already sounding a lot more like Household’s literary landscape than 21st Century Dorset.

We were approaching the crucial ridge from the North as Rogue Male does when he is heading towards the sea after sleeping in fields around Powerstock via ‘a remnant of the old Roman road from Dorchester to Exeter’ with his rickety tandem bike ‘the beastly Combination’. The field rose steeply up Denhay Hill leaving the cows below, inky rooks wheeling high above, storm-proof primroses at our feet, the remains of an old farm road and derelict cottage to one side and the high line of the promised crescent ahead with sea sparkling beyond. George describes how a network of tracks crisscrossed farms from the coast to the depths of the vale, ‘We’re still finding the beach pebbles that were picked up and dumped by empty carts on the tracks when they were on a return run from the sea...”.

We turn to look back north over the sweep of the vale’s distinctive small fields edged by hearty hedges with occasional handsome oaks, left as George explained for each ‘chain’ of the hedges that were laid in winter when the cows were inside. Towards the top, the soil changes from heavy clay to Bridport Sand, the kind of ground that lends itself to high-sided holloways, and there running down a small valley on a par with Household’s description is the groove of a once substantial track. Had ‘the commander’ come closest to cracking the code of literature’s most tantalising lair? Its previously unkempt double line of overgrowing hedge trees have been cut right back, but it definitely has potential—and still enough cover to shelter us and George’s German wire-haired pointer Brychan from a heavy shower.

Martin collects folklore and says the uncanny qualities of holloways have always generated their own tales—the deep grooves in their sandstone sides were once attributed to scratches by Dorset’s ‘Colepixies’......

Geoffrey Household died in October 1988 aged 87.

His son wanted to scatter his ashes in the holloway that inspired his father’s classic novel, but he too could not be certain of its exact location in that maze of old tracks and chose instead a hill-top view of the Marshwood Vale.

On Wed April 24 Bridport’s Film Festival ‘From Page To Screen’ is showing The BFI’s reissue of the 1976 version of Rogue Male which has been re-mastered from the original 16mm film negatives.

There are just 28 places for this special event. Tickets are £10 from the Bridport Arts Centre Tel. 01308 424 204. Rendezvous 1 pm in car park behind Symondsbury’s Manor Yard to explore the nearby holloways with Martin Maudsley before a ‘secret’ screening.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 35

Courses&Workshops THURSDAY 28 MARCH Fabric Scraps Wreath A Claire Jeanes. 2-4pm. £12. For materials list and to book call 01460 54973. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

FRIDAY 29 MARCH Inspirational Landscapes With Paula Simpson. 10am - 4pm. £30 (+ small charge for materials). Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

SATURDAY 30 MARCH Amazing Easter Baking Day with Jane Smith. 10am - 2pm Frogmary Green Farm, South Petherton 01460 249758 www. frogmarygreenfarm.co.uk.

Jo Sadler Willow Workshop at Studi0ne, Broadwindsor Craft Centre. Deer £75pp 9.30am – 4.30pm jojo.sadler@hotmail.co.uk 07531417209 Booking essential.

SUNDAY 31 MARCH Art for Change Tutor Peter Coates Cost £98 Lunch and materials included. Art and Wellbeing 01404 45699 www.artandwellbeing. net Cuckoo Down Lane, Honiton, Devon.

EX14 9TT. MONDAY 1 APRIL Tai Chi with Kevin Hickson Monday mornings and evenings 9am - 9.45am & 7pm - 8.30pm. £3 per session. www.kevinmhickson. co.uk, khickson17@yahoo.com 07813 318375. Kennaway House, Sidmouth www. kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551. Also 8 April.

TUESDAY 2 APRIL Beach Hut Appliqué 9.30am – 12.30pm. £45. More info: Boarsbarrow.com, email info@boarsbarrow.com or call 07771 588 999.

Art Class with Hannah Twine The first Tuesday of each month. Two classes: 10.30am - 12.30pm & 1.30pm - 4pm. hannahtwine@ googlemail.com, 07912 627071. Kennaway House, Sidmouth www.kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551.

Organising, Presenting and Writing up your Family, Local or Historical research Two day session at Dillington House, Ilminster. Tutor Jane Ferentzi-Sheppard. £110.

For information contact Dillington House on 01460 258613 or look at the website: www. dillington.com. Also 30 April.

WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL Sew a Sewing Machine Mat 11am to 5pm £20 Leader: Gillian Beckman-Findlay. www. coastalcraftcollective.co.uk Coastal Craft Collective, 10 Marine Place, Seaton, Devon EX12 2QL 01297 691362.

Calligraphy in Italics Workshop 10.30am - 1pm Cost £16. At 12 The Shrubbery, Axminster EX13 5 NX (nr the large Co Op).

Beginners welcome. Contact Gina on: gina. youens@btinternet.com or 07703246481.

THURSDAY 4 APRIL Iyengar Yoga with Barbara Vidion Every Thursday, morning and evening classes: 9.30am - 11am & 7pm - 8.30pm. b_vidion@ yahoo.com, www.barbaravidionyoga.com 07538 130660. Kennaway House, Sidmouth www.kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551.

Also 11, 18 and 25 April.

From Wolf Hall to Poldark: Historical Dance Class meets 7.30pm – 9.30pm at St George’s Church Dorchester DT1 1LB. £6 per stand-alone session, just turn up (check before first time) info Ann Hinchliffe 01935 472771 thedancingmaster@outlook.com.

FRIDAY 5 APRIL Love to Dance Sidmouth with Katie Kelsey. Drop-in Dance Class for active older people. £7 per class. Half-price taster class available. ktsclass1@gmail.com 07824 906317. Kennaway House, Sidmouth www. kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551.

SATURDAY 6 APRIL Jewellery making workshop with Caroline Parrott 10am – 4pm. £65. Shire Hall, Dorchester www. shirehalldorset.org or call Abbie King on 01305 261849.

Charleston Beginners Workshop 10.30am – 12.30pm - The Chapel in the Garden, Bridport - No cost but you must register for a place www.dynamic-dance.uk/free-classes.

SAT 6 – SUNDAY 7 APRIL Life Drawing - Drawing Breath (inks/ wash, meditation) - Tutor Louise Banks.

Cost - £195. The School of Art and Wellbeing - www.artandwellbeing.net - 01404 45699 Cuckoo Down Lane, Honiton, Devon EX14 9TT. MON 8 – FRIDAY 12 APRIL Abstract Expressionist Landscape 5 Day Course - Tutor Gareth Edwards. Cost - £600.

Accommodation on site available. The School of Art and Wellbeing - www.artandwellbeing. net - 01404 45699 - Cuckoo Down Lane, Honiton, Devon EX14 9TT. WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL Paint a Mandala 10am – 1pm £12.50 Leader: Gillian Beckman-Findlay. www. coastalcraftcollective.co.uk Coastal Craft Collective, 10 Marine Place, Seaton, Devon EX12 2QL 01297 691362.

FRIDAY 12 APRIL By the Loom - A Fun Craft Day Axminster

36 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

Heritage hands-on spinning and weaving group, everyone welcome, beginners and the more experienced. 10.30am – 3pm £3 More info: 01404 831207 or to book. An Axminster Heritage Craft Day at Dalwood Pavilion EX13 7EU. Also 26 April.

Rag Rugs Learn this thrifty and eco-friendly craft in just two hours. 11am - 1pm. £10.

Advance booking required. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

FRIDAY 12 – SUNDAY 14 APRIL An Introduction to Beekeeping Led

by Caroline Dilke. Arrive 3pm for tea on Friday. The course will start at 3.30pm.

The course will end on Sunday approx.

4.30pm. Residential £305, Non-res £221.

The Kingcombe Centre, Lower Kingcombe, DT20EQ. T: 01300 320684. Visit www. kingcombe.org to book online.

SATURDAY 13 APRIL Land Ownership and Medieval Women in Somerset WEA Coker branch, half day course. Hardington village hall BA22 9PQ, 10am – 1pm. £14 To register wea.org.uk ref:C3530180 or tel:- 0300 303 3464 All welcome, Local contact 01935 862385.

Easter Treat 10am-1pm £25. Workshops taught by Jackie Nicholls from Ashville Design. Venue Combe St Nicholas Village Hall near Chard, TA20 3NY. For details of this and upcoming workshops visit www.ashvilledesign. co.uk or call Jackie on 01460 67795 or 07906 259 683.

Harmony Singing Workshop with Jackie Oates at 3.30pm – 4.30pm. Tickets: £7. No concessions. The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www.thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240 340.

Art Course at Dalwood Pavilion. Free Demonstration of different art mediums, watercolour acrylic and pastels. From 11am - 1pm. Fortnightly beginners course to follow starting on the 27th. Phone Martin on 01404881312 or 07788757611.

MONDAY 14 APRIL From Wolf Hall to Poldark: Historical Dance Class meets 1.30pm – 4pm at Royal British Legion Hall, Victoria Grove, Bridport DT6 3AD. £6 per stand-alone session. Info Ann Hinchliffe 01935 472771 thedancingmaster@outlook.com.

MON 15 – WED 17 APRIL Landscape Photography Workshop Taught by Mark Bauer. The course will start at 11am on Monday with morning tea and coffee. The course will finish at approx. 2pm on Wednesday after lunch. Residential £366, Non-res £282. The Kingcombe Centre, Lower

Kingcombe, DT20EQ. T: 01300 320684. Visit www.kingcombe.org to book online.

TUES 16 - WED 17 APRIL 3D Art Workshop at West Bay Discovery Centre. 11am-1pm and 2pm-4pm. Admission free, donations welcome. Further details http://www.westbaydiscoverycentre.org.uk/.

WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL Beaded Birds, Butterflies, Flowers & Hearts 2pm – 5pm £12.50 Leader: Gillian Beckman-Findlay. www.coastalcraftcollective. co.uk Coastal Craft Collective, 10 Marine Place, Seaton, Devon EX12 2QL 01297 691362.

Doterra Essential Oils Workshop with Cat Woolner. 7.30pm. £5 LSi Bridport, 51 East Street, Bridport Dorset DT6 3JX www.lsibridport.co.uk.

SATURDAY 20 APRIL Natural Beauty through the Seasons Make your own natural beauty products to take home, with Amanda Cook, 9.30am - 4.30pm, Trill Farm, Musbury EX13 8TU. £105 incl. lunch trillfarm.co.uk 01297 631113.

TUESDAY 23 APRIL Watercolours Tuesdays 10am-12pm or 1-3pm. £180 for 12 weeks. Book with tutor Nicky Clarke on 01460 281773. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk. Until 23 July, not on 29 May or 4 June.

WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL Lino Printing Cards & Pictures 9.30am 12.30pm £18 Leader: Alison Bowskill. www. coastalcraftcollective.co.uk Coastal Craft Collective, 10 Marine Place, Seaton, Devon EX12 2QL 01297 691362.

Mindfulness and Relaxation course with Heike Dennison and for 5 more weeks.

Wednesdays 2pm - 4pm. Free course. 01395 515551. Kennaway House, Sidmouth www. kennawayhouse.org.uk.

Botanical Stroll Discover the diversity of plant life on an organic farm, with Mike Lock, 10am - 12.30pm, Trill Farm, Musbury EX13 8TU. Free but booking essential trillfarm.co.uk 01297 631113.

Willow Plant Supports Weave your own bean and pea supports from foraged willow, with Richard Kerwood, 9.30am - 4.30pm, Trill Farm, Musbury EX13 8TU. £85 incl. lunch trillfarm.co.uk 01297 631113.

THURSDAY 25 APRIL From Wolf Hall to Poldark: Historical Dance Class meets 7.30pm – 9pm at Castle Cary, Market House BA7 7AH £6 per standalone session, just turn up (check before first time) info Ann Hinchliffe 01935 472771 thedancingmaster@outlook.com.

FRIDAY 26 APRIL Willow Wigwam Garden Supports Led

by Windrush Willow. Arrive at 9.45am for

morning tea. The course will start at 10am and finish at 4pm with afternoon tea. £89 pp.

The Kingcombe Centre, Lower Kingcombe, DT20EQ. T: 01300 320684. Visit www. kingcombe.org to book online.

Hand Embroidery workshop with Beppi Berlin. St Swithuns Church, Bridport, from 10am – 3.30pm. For further details, or to join/ book, phone 01308 456168 or email cherry. bonhamlovett@btinternet.com.

SATURDAY 27 APRIL Busy Bee Sewing Day: Create A Garment 10am - 3pm Tutor: Jan Dimond. £16 Advance booking only call 01404 831207 The Bradshaw Meeting Room, Thomas Whitty House, Silver Street, Axminster, EX13 5AH. Watercolour Walk with Sophie Berger, suitable for beginners, 9.30am - 5pm, Trill Farm, Musbury EX13 8TU. £105 incl. lunch trillfarm.co.uk 01297 631113.

Do It Yourself workshop Learn practical skills to become independent around your home, with Ruth Thomson, 9.30am - 4.30pm, Trill Farm, Musbury EX13 8TU. £85 incl. lunch trillfarm.co.uk 01297 631113.

Fun Willow Garden Decorations Led by Windrush Willow. Arrive at 9.45 am course at 10a m and finish at 4 pm with afternoon tea. £89 pp. The Kingcombe Centre, Lower Kingcombe, DT20EQ. T: 01300 320684. Visit www.kingcombe.org to book online.

Memoir Writing Workshop No writing experience needed. 10.30am – 4pm at the Bridport Quaker Meeting House. Cost £45. To book, contact Joanna Smith on 0782 4617453 or at joatlyme@gmail.com.

MONDAY 29 APRIL Tulip Mania 10am - 1pm £22. Workshops Jackie Nicholls. Combe St Nicholas Village Hall near Chard, TA20 3NY. Visit www. ashvilledesign.co.uk or call Jackie on 01460 67795 or 07906 259 683.

Pocket Notebooks using Medieval Bookbinding Techniques 10am – 4pm £35 Leader: Monica Weber-Butler. www. coastalcraftcollective.co.uk Coastal Craft Collective, 10 Marine Place, Seaton, Devon EX12 2QL 01297 691362.

Modern Jive 6 Week Beginners & Intermediates Course - to Monday 3 June 7.30pm – 10.30pm - Chideock Village Hall, DT6 6JW - £36 per course book in advance at www.dynamic-dance.uk/book-online - All welcome.

SAT 27 – SUNDAY 28 APRIL Family Constellation Workshop Tutor Charaka Danaher. Cost - £220.

The School of Art and Wellbeing - www.artandwellbeing.net - 01404 45699 - Cuckoo Down Lane, Honiton, Devon EX14 9TT. SUNDAY 28 APRIL Willow Frame Baskets in a Day Led by Windrush Willow. Arrive from 9.15am for morning tea. The course will start at 9.30am and finish at 4.30pm with afternoon tea. £89 pp. The Kingcombe Centre, Lower Kingcombe, DT20EQ. T: 01300 320684. Visit www.kingcombe.org to book online.

Dances With Shakespeare: Historical Dance Class meets 1.30pm – 4pm at Barrington Village Hall TA19 0JE. £6 per stand-alone session. Info Ann Hinchliffe 01935 472771 thedancingmaster@outlook. com.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 37

News &Views

AXMINSTER

CHARD

DORCHESTER

A late change in government funding has put at risk the masterplan for Axminster’s eastern urban extension comprising a £17m relief road and 850 new dwellings. Homes England say the £10 million it agreed to provide towards the town’s north-south bypass is no longer a grant but a loan. The grant was ‘critical’ to financing the relief road and the growth that went with it, say Ian Hall and Andrew Moulding, the two Conservative councillors representing Axminster on East Devon District Council. The masterplan could now go back to the drawing board. Developers would have to repay the money from profits from new housing schemes, which would make the whole thing unaffordable, the councillors warn.

The masterplan aimed to provide homes, improve infrastructure, reduce congestion and air pollution.

Britain’s Disabled Strongman Competition returns to Chard Guildhall on 27 April. It’s organised by the UK’s first disabled strongman, Gary Clarke, from Chard. The event is in its fifth year and comprises five events. Chief referees will be Arnar Mar Jonson, founder of Disabled Strongman, and four times World’s Strongest Man Magnus Ver Magnusson. Gary said: “Last year was a massive success and it would be great to fill the guildhall again. Without local businesses getting behind the event, I couldn’t do this. Also massive thanks to Simon Lunn and the loading crew at Pheonix Fitness, the town council and staff at the guildhall.” Tickets at £5 for adults and £3 for under-16s are available from Eleos Café and Hays Travel in Chard or via https://www. eventbrite.co.uk/e/britains-disabled-strongman

Work has finally begun on renovating the King’s Arms Hotel in Dorchester, four years after it closed. Stay Original, the Somersetbased boutique hotel and pub group which owns the historic building, has started a £5m refurbishment and say it could be open before Christmas if all goes according to plan. Phase one will see the ground floor with bar, reception, restaurant and 20 bedrooms open early in 2020.

Phase two, which includes another 14 bedrooms, will take place a few months later. The author Thomas Hardy featured the King’s Arms in both The Mayor of Casterbridge and Far From The Madding Crowd. Stay Original managing director Rob Greacen said: “Nothing gives us more pleasure than reviving beautiful old buildings and making them busy and exciting places to visit.”

Redevelopment put at risk

Guildhall hosts strongman contest

OTTERY ST MARY

Champion pasty makers Chunk of Devon has won a prize at the British Pie Awards for the best pasty in the country. The firm, which is based on the Finnimore Trading Estate in Ottery, previously won the award in 2009. This year, its steak pasty won the top prize at a contest in Melton Mowbray. The awards are a national celebration of British pies in all their varieties. Simon Bryon-Edmond, from Chunk of Devon, said it was an ‘exciting time’ with plenty of new pie and pasty recipes on the way. “Winning this and awards for our pies means a lot to us,” he said. “It’s fantastic to receive recognition for all the continued hard work we have put into developing delicious products that our customers enjoy time and time again.”

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Work starts on Historic pub

BRIDPORT

Drama at the tip

Young filmmaker Fred Warren, from Bridport, is making a short social drama filmed at the town’s recycling centre. The Exeter University student led a cast and crew of 15 to shoot ‘Refuse’ over two days at the end of February.

He said the film explores how a group of people who don’t know each other react when someone else flouts the code at the centre. He said it was partly inspired by the work of Mike Leigh and Ruben Ostlund and would be a mix of comedy and social drama.

He said he was very lucky to live in an area where so many people were happy to take part in creative projects. The film is in postproduction and will be released during the summer.

Devon & Dorset Detox Laterally Speaking by Humphrey Walwyn

Do you feel exhausted and burned out?

Do you fail to get a proper night’s sleep?

Perhaps you crawl through your day like an eyes wide-shut tortoise?

If so, you’re probably suffering from TATT! Yes, really…

TATT stands for ‘Tired All The Time’—a gloomy dormant condition that almost certainly applies to me and possibly many other people. It’s mostly to do with the end of Winter, particularly as we haul ourselves out of a miserable and wet February and March. Right now, I personally feel like a cold and damp hedgehog trying to slowly unwrap itself from a dank hibernation ball.

Perhaps you also feel like you’ve run out of batteries and you’re in need of a spring break? Well, wait no more. Spring is finally here carrying with it a strong smell of fresh mint, green apples and broccoli all whizzed up in a juicer and served with a crunch of crisp celery in a tall glass of frothy green goo.

Yes, it’s time for a good detox to clear out the system and rinse all those nasty impurities from our mouldy bodies. Just like flushing the pipes in your central heating, you need to wash it all out before you can fill up again. Get Clean! Be Refreshed!

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee! Only, no...

That’s one thing you can’t have—coffee.

Nor tea, nor chocolate, nor anything with caffeine, nor any sort of additive and don’t even think about alcohol. Processed meats and sugary foods are out, and so are foods high in salt, bad fats and artificial ingredients. Well, that’s me straight off the list… that’ll mean no more breakfasts at McDonalds (Sorry, I may be alone but I do so love a Sausage Egg McMuffin!). So, I’ll have to trash the junk stuff and pour myself a nice glass of beetroot, carrot and ginger instead. Or maybe a cup of lemon laced with turmeric? Yum! Twenty years ago, people used to pay vast sums to vanish off to the Swiss Alps or a 5-star spa hotel up the end of some Norwegian Fjord for a dramatic diet and a detox regime involving a celery stick for lunch and a mug of parsley and spinach juice for supper. The more expensive the retreat, the less you got to eat. And then they would return to their friends one week later positively glowing with joy and health: “…and what’s more we’ve lost weight too!” they would blush with well-polished smiles. Well, of course they

Avocado, Lemon and Broccoli Smushie - Good for cleaning the inner YOU!” lost weight! And so would anyone if all they’d eaten were a couple of blueberries and some kale soup while getting seriously fit cycling hundreds of static miles on a gymnasium bike while being earnestly pampered by people in white coats. But now, you can do all of that and more in the UK! I’ve just googled ‘Detox West Country’ and there are literally hundreds of places you can retreat to all over Devon and Dorset. And Somerset too, although there don’t appear to be many detox retreats near Bridgwater or Brean. Why is this?

Perhaps the further North you go in Somerset, the less the need for local detoxification. It may have something to do with one’s proximity to Bath? No doubt a commercial opportunity beckons!

They can be as small as a spare bedroom or a converted tool-shed or as large as a stately manor, but you’ll find loads of private detox friendly retreats. You can spend a couple of days or a whole fortnight of mild exercise and gentle rinsing out, plus pottery, art, books and talks on “Wellness” (a phrase much quoted on these websites, but nobody seems to know what it means beyond being sort of vaguely healthy).

Costs vary according to the facilities and the menu. You can have a few nice glasses of fresh juice and a walk down the garden or you can enter a full-sized gym with delicious meals of spinach and guava and nuts plus a slice of chicken or fish—all magnificently presented and cooked by top nutritional chefs. The choice is yours.

This whole “Wellness” thing (that word again) has become a huge leisure industry without me even realising it. It’s obviously time for me to wake up and smell the er… um… Mint?

I’m going to cash in. I’ll put my old exercise bike in our garage plus my dad’s narrow WW2 camp bed on the floor and install a cold-water spa (garden hose) for 100% all natural colonic (or other type of) irrigation. ‘Can’t be too luxurious or my clients will smell a rat. Actually, they may easily spot one as I think I saw a tail behind a pile of wood in the corner. And then I can bring them glasses of foaming green brown mush (rhubarb and loganberry juice with added cumin and lettuce) twice a day. Plus some YouTube clips of ‘Wellness’ advice on their TV. “Kwik Kleen Thru”—your Budget Dorset Detox.

A bit like a car wash, I reckon…

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 39

House&Garden

New production of an old favourite SWAN Lake is one of the most enduring and best loved of all classical ballets, a favourite both in its original Petipa choreography or reinvented and reimagined, as in Matthew Bourne’s famous all-male version.

Ballet Theatre UK brings a new production with new choreography by artistic director Christopher Moore to Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday 20th April at 7.30pm.

There are 120 new costumes and stunning sets for this production of the story of a princess held captive as a swan by the spell of an evil magician, that can only be broken if a prince swears true love to her.

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Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 41

The Canterbury Tales

By Cecil Amor

D

o you listen to The Archers on Radio 4? (“An everyday story of country folk”).

We used to listen regularly years ago but now only occasionally. One annual event portrayed by the Archers has been the Christmas pantomime or similar entertainment with its usual problems of non-attendance at rehearsals, scenery not available or falling down, etc. All of this would send the usual producer, Linda Snell, into a tantrum, to accompany her hay fever and sniff.

This year, for Christmas 2018, Linda proposed to portray The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, written from 1386 and not finished by his death in 1400. As might be expected, most of the prominent of the Archer players were included in this production. I thought the choice of Lillian Bellamy with her naughty laugh was ideal for “The Wife of Bath”, both having many men in their lives.

To refresh my memory of the story I have referred to The Canterbury Tales a Penguin Classic translated into modern English by Nevill Coghill. Chaucer apparently intended to write of some thirty pilgrims who would tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two more on the return journey. He was unable to complete his task.

Chaucer assumed that the pilgrimage would take five days (16 to 20th April) to Canterbury. The story of the pilgrimage commences in Southwark at The Tabard Inn, “a high class hostelry, close beside The Bell”. The Tales begin with The Prologue, an introductory list of the pilgrims going to celebrate the martyr, St Thomas a Becket.

We must remember that in 1400 the country was Catholic, before the Reformation, so that we find many more religious titles than are now current.

Chaucer started with a gentle Knight who had fought all over Europe and the Mediterranean. Although he had fine horses he was not gaily dressed, his tunic was stained by marks of his armour. His son was with him, a fine young Squire of about 20 years old who had served abroad with the cavalry and now served his father at table. There was also a Yeoman, dressed in green, carrying his bow and arrows, shield, sword and dirk, he wore a silver St Christopher and a hunting horn hung from his baldrick.

Next was a Prioress known as Madam Eglantyne with a simple, coy smile whose greatest oath was “By St Loy” and sang through her nose as well as speaking daintily in French, “in the English manner”. When eating, her manners were well taught and she was entertaining, pleasant and friendly, but with a stately bearing. She would weep if she saw a mouse caught in a trap. I think the Archers’ Linda Snell would have been well suited to play her character. The Prioress wore her veil and cloak with charm and a rosary, a coral bracelet and a gold brooch engraved Amor vincit omnia. Another Nun, secretary at her cell, was riding with her and also three priests.

I have taken a liberty with Chaucer’s listing in order to have all the priests together, for he makes a “pretty picture” of his priests.

Chaucer described a Monk, a manly man able to be an Abbot. His sport was hunting and he owned a number of good horses and his bridle jingled loudly. He also owned greyhounds and his fun was hunting a hare or jumping a fence. His sleeves were trimmed with fine grey fur and his hood was fastened at the chin with a wrought gold pin. His head was bald and shone as did his face as if it had been greased. He liked to eat a fat swan, roasted whole. His boots

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were supple and his palfrey was brown like a berry.

Then a Friar, a Limiter, was described, that is a begging friar granted a district to beg in so his activity was limited. He was wanton, merry and a very festive fellow, glib with gallant phrase and speech. He fixed up many marriages and was beloved with his County folk and city dames of honour and possession. He claimed that he was well qualified to hear confessions with a special licence from the Pope and provided penances for a gift and said that instead of weeping and prayer, one should give silver for a poor Friar.

The Friar had pins for curls and pocket knives to give to pretty girls.

He sang well and played the hurdy-gurdy and knew every tavern, and innkeepers and barmaid, better than lepers, beggars, for they did not fit his dignity. Even if a widow was penniless he still got a farthing from her and he would arbitrate disputes for a fee. His dress was not threadbare, more like a Doctor or a Pope with his cope of double-worsted and he lisped a little to make his English sweeter when he played his harp.

A Summoner, paid to summon sinners to trial before an ecclesiastical court, looked as if his face was on fire with carbuncles, which nothing could cure. His eyes were narrow and he was as hot and lecherous as a sparrow, with black scabby brows and a thin beard. Children were frightened when they saw him. His diet was garlic, onions and leeks and strong red wine. After the latter, he would shout as if crazy, all in Latin but only a few tags which he had mugged up. For a quart of wine he would allow a lad to keep a concubine for a year. If he found some rascal with a maid he would say “do not be afraid of the Archdeacon’s curse, just put some money in my purse”. He knew what all the local lads were doing!

On his head, he wore a garland and outside an ale-house he would have a round cake and wield it like a shield, as a joke.

A gentle Pardoner rode with him, who had authority from the Pope to sell pardons and indulgences, he was just back from visiting Rome. His yellow hair was long, spreading over his shoulders. He rode with only a small cap on his head, with a holy relic sewed on it and his wallet on his lap bulged with pardons from Rome. The Pardoner had bulging eyes and a small voice like a goat but no beard or facial hair. Perhaps he was a gelding or a mare. In his trunk he had a pillowcase which he claimed was Our Lady’s veil and a piece of sailcloth alleged to have been St Peter’s, with a metal cross set with stones. With these relics, he would induce a poor country parson to invest more than his monthly stipend. He read a lesson in Church, or told a story and sang with his honey-tongue so well that he could win silver from the congregation.

I think perhaps we may think better of Henry VIII for ridding the country of so many of the priesthood after reading Chaucer’s description of them. In contrast to the others a Parson to a town was rich in holy thought and work, knowing the Gospel well but poor in his pocket. His parish was wide with houses far apart but he would visit whatever the weather, on foot with just his staff.

He would give to the poor, from church offerings or from his own pocket. He was a learned man and taught about Christ and His Twelve Apostles and followed their example.

Chaucer intended to complete his stories in the month of April, but bearing in mind space limitations, I must leave his Prologue at this point, “To be continued in our next” as used to be said!

Bridport History Society meets as usual on Tuesday April 9th at 2.30 pm in the United Church Main Hall, East Street, Bridport, when Dr Diana Trenchard will tell us about a “Convict Museum Ship visits Dorset”. All welcome, visitors entrance fee £3.

Cecil Amor, Hon President, Bridport History Society.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 43

Vegetables in April

By Fergus Dowding

At last it is time to sow most crops.

April weather is highly changeable in spite of good light levels, and the soil is still cool. All seeds germinate better, stronger and faster when the soil is warm.

Try and spot a warm spell coming up on the BBC forecast—it’s so accurate!

Most seed come up better if not sown too deep, lettuce for instance only need a smattering of soil cover, ¼” at most. They appear above ground level in 3-4 days if warm, their first little roots go down quickly too, and so even if the surface looks dry, the soil below should be moist.

This brings us to soil tilth and compost richness in the surface layers of your soil. Germination is definitely quicker if you haven’t dug your compost down out of reach. If you have a layer of really fine rotted compost, like the recycled green waste we use, you can sow into this, rather like sowing in a seed tray, so long as you have worked a fine tilth in the soil layer beneath. The idea of a fine and firm tilth is that seeds won’t drop down through cracks, rather the crumby soil will surround the seed and keep it moist and fed.

We find it easier to sow indoors in modules. Just as with outdoor sowings, make sure the compost is well wet when you sow the seeds and cover lightly.

They should not need watering every day, as the first roots go down into the moist compost beneath. Too much water prevents seeds and roots getting air.

Composts now on the market without peat are more likely to waterlog.

Tiny seeds like celery and celeriac should be sprinkled on the compost surface. As they take 2-3 weeks to germinate, we put cling film over the top and leave in the airing cupboard for 10 days to get the seed thinking of coming up, and then move to the warm greenhouse.

Mid-month we sow courgettes, squash, basil and sweetcorn in the warmth of the greenhouse, and from the beginning of May our French and runner beans. None of these like being overwatered, especially basil.

And how do you know if the soil is warm enough? Take your trousers down and park yourself on the soil. This is revealing for you, the soil and those around you.

Carrots: Amsterdam Forcing carrots coming up and needing thinning. It looks like rough soil, but the seed were sown on a finely crumbed and wet tilth, and craggy stuff pulled over them.

LG, Freckles: Does this look familiar to you? Little Gem, Freckles and Redfire lettuce seedlings in identical and ideal conditions. Little Gem always comes up strongly, but the Redfire must be poor and old seed which we often get sold.

44 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

Aussie rules fencing in West Dorset

John Bright hopes to help livestock owners avoid bad backs

A revolutionary livestock fencing called Clipex is set to save West Dorset farmers and smallholders time, money and backbreaking work and it is now being stocked by John Bright Fencing at Salway Ash. Using high tensile steel in a simple clip and connect system, installation is around ten times faster than traditional fencing methods. The product is guaranteed for 30 years and easily copes with the tough terrain of the Jurassic coast: the posts’ special back plate provides extra strength for driving into the hardest ground.

Clipex’s Australian inventor, Ashley Olsson was inspired after seeing an elderly farmer struggle to tear down a rusty old fence. He went straight home and designed the super simple system.

John Bright, who started his family fencing firm over 35 years ago says: ‘Clipex is a revolution we very much wanted to be part of. Anything that benefits farmers and keeps livestock secure is a good idea. We’re delighted to be chosen as Clipex stockists and hope to see this simple clip and connect system across Dorset. It saves time, money and bad backs. That has to be good news.’

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 45

April in the Garden

By Russell Jordan

W

hen writing about roses last month I forgot to mention that, even though I tend to leave the final pruning until relatively late, it is good practice to shorten the overall growth before winter. I was reminded of this during all the recent high winds and blustery downpours, during which any non-shortened specimens ran the risk of ‘wind rock’.

This phenomenon was more of a problem when serried ranks of hybrid tea roses were grown, in massed displays, with bare soil all around. If they weren’t cut back, at least partially, before winter then high winds, combined with sodden soils, could lead to the bushes being blown backwards and forwards in the ground. In the worst cases this led to root damage and the resulting risk of plant death or, at least, poor performance.

For the same reason, fast growing, often ‘top heavy’, plants, such as buddleia, should be cut down by two thirds in the autumn and then reduced to practically a stool (the posh term for a stump) at the beginning of the growing season—right about now. Their spring extension growth is so fast and sappy that, if chopped down too early in the season, there is a chance that late frosts wipe out all the newly sprouted shoots. They are so vigorous that it’s better to lose a proportion of new growth, visible now, than to chop them back during the depths of winter. As with so many gardening tasks it’s a question of balance, no two years are the same, and it’s foolish to be a slave to ‘hard and fast’ rules.

We are at the tipping point of the gardening year when it really does feel that winter is being left behind and the re-greening of the countryside gathers momentum. Buds burst from bare stems and spring bulbs double in size and abundance overnight. The first battalion of spring bulbs are going over, to be replaced by blousier, bolder, beauties, such as the taller daffodils and the first of the showier tulips.

Whilst in leaf, before they start to die down, it’s worth feeding the spring bulbs in order to give them a chance to replenish their expended energy and to encourage them to flower again next year.

In beds and borders I rely on the trusty application of fish, blood and bone, my ‘go to’ general purpose fertiliser, but in containers, where floral displays have to work really hard, April is the 46 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

first month in which it’s worth applying a chemical ‘slow release’ fertiliser.

These granular feeds rely on clever science, regulated by soil temperature and moisture, to release a balanced supply of plant food over the growing season. Their expense is best justified in situations where plant growth might otherwise be limited by finite soil volume or an otherwise artificial planting situation.

With rising average temperatures and a diminishing risk of hard frost there’s more opportunity to sow hardy annuals this month than there was last. Also sowing lawns from scratch can take place now, following rigorous seedbed preparation, as long as you can provide some sort of protection from heavy downpours which would otherwise wash the seed and fine tilth away.

Plants which have been wrapped up in fleece, to fend off the worst of the winter cold, can be unwrapped during mild spells.

Keep the fleece close at hand for rapid deployment when frost threatens. Open up cold-frames, greenhouses and conservatories, whenever it is sunny, to encourage ventilation and begin the hardening off process. If you took tender perennial cuttings in the autumn, and they are still in pots or seed-trays, then these should be separated out and potted up as soon as growth resumes.

It’s a good time to plant out containerised trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials as growth is well underway, which makes establishment easier, and water should be in good supply. You’ll still need to thoroughly water them in, as always, and to keep them wellwatered during warm, dry, weather.

This is the optimum time for planting evergreens. Unlike deciduous plants, which shed their leaves and require very little water while denuded, evergreens are always ‘in leaf ’ and losing water by transpiration. The danger of planting them in the coldest months of the year is that, if the surface soil becomes frozen, then the water cannot be absorbed because the roots will not have had a chance to extend to a depth below the frozen soil.

Planting at the beginning of the new growing season allows for rapid root growth, assuming you remember to loosen the root-ball when you plant it, which will stand the evergreen in good stead by the time it faces the danger of frozen ground next winter. As usual,

it is imperative that it is kept well-watered, after its initial watering in, for at least the whole of its first growing season. Evergreens are very prone to becoming stressed, eventually dying, if at any point they are droughted. They are most at risk during the first summer after planting—hence the need to water them whether you think they need it or not!

Again, with recent high winds in mind, it’s worth remembering that it’s not only blazing sun that dries out the soil and plants. Air flow over leaves massively increases the transpiration rate, the method by which water is lost, and strong winds will dessicate foliage if the plant cannot absorb water from the soil as quickly as it is being lost from the leaves. In serious cases this leads to the effect known as ‘wind burn’ where the foliage becomes shrivelled and blackened, looking like it’s been burned by fire.

A final thought, as I’ve not mentioned them recently, is that increasing average temperatures will lead to an exponential increase in the prevalence of pests, diseases and weed growth.

All of these gardening bugbears require ongoing vigilance if they are to be kept in check and not allowed to get out of hand. Whatever method you choose to control them, be it organic or chemical, then the key is to nip any problem in the bud. Gone are the days when gardeners expected to completely eradicate all the gardening ‘nasties’ because that really did require an awful lot of chemical intervention.

Today’s more balanced approach, allowing a degree of ‘live and let live’, leads to a more harmonious, more sympathetic, gardening culture which makes growing plants less of a battlefield, I hope.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 47

PROPERTY ROUND-UP

Homes for Greenfingers

By Helen Fisher

TYTHERLEIGH £580,000

A substantial 6 bedroom detached 1930’s family home set on a half acre plot with far-reaching views. Completely private garden with large lawns, many and varied trees and shrubs and a good fruit and veg growing area. Ample parking and large garage.

Gordon and Rumsby Tel: 01297 553768

AXEHILL £750,000

A substantial, detached 1930’s family home with beautifully laid out gardens. Expert planting to provide all year round interest, colour and perfume. Featuring a fern walk, woodland glade, pond with water lilies. Produce garden and underground rain water irrigation system. Ample parking and double garage.

Jackson-Stops Tel: 01308 423133

HARCOMBE £675,000

A charming, detached, 4 bedroom period cottage with studio annexe, farreaching country views and no onward chain. Well designed, formal gardens with sunken garden and ornamental pond, greenhouse, veg plot plus 2 sheds.

Large paddock, small orchard and log store. All set in 1.6 acres Stags Tel: 01308 428000 48 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

SANDFORD ORCAS £1,295,000

Owned by the same family for over 50 years, this detached, former corn mill dates in parts to the 14th Century. Delightfully planted with specimen shrubs and trees, inc: magnolia, walnut, palm, copper beech, apple, oak, ash and acer. Ornamental pond with water lilies. Garage and ample parking.

Knight Frank Tel: 01935 804305

EAST CHINNOCK £360,000

A versatile 2/3 bedroom, Grade II listed barn conversion, tucked away but in a village location. Impressive living room with vaulted ceiling. Conservatory overlooking the mature, south-facing walled garden. Plus additional large garden space and garage.

Laceys Tel: 01935 425115

LITTON CHENEY £800,000

A substantial, 6 year old detached village house with an immaculate and flexible interior and 5 bedrooms. Large lawns with stylish, well stocked borders, timber shed and greenhouse plus productive fruit and veg garden.

Paddock with native and box hedging. Ample parking and garage.

Symonds and Sampson Tel: 01308 422092

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 49

Catfish Florida

By Nick Fisher

T

hey say that grey squirrels are really only rats, with fluffy tails and good PR. They act cute in parks. Scamper up to baby buggies, perform a few nutcracking tricks for urban infants, but are mostly rodent-like in their personal habits.

The aquatic equivalent of the grey squirrel is the grey catfish. Also-known-as the Channel catfish.

In most warm seas there are layers and layers of fish. A kind of marine strata. An order of things. A hierarchy. At the top of the ladder, flashing around like Formula One racing cars, pumped on adrenaline, red muscle-flesh and the best food money can buy, are the smart fish. Stuff like tuna, marlin, kingfish and sailfish. Gorgeous sleek, shining streamlined inventions, that glisten with vibrant pearlescent colours, beneath hopelessly blue seas.

These are the aristocrats. The playboys.

The refined breeds. Millions of generations of the best food, the best seas and the best schools, have honed and focussed this gene pool, to create an elite. These guys grow sword-like spikes on the front of their heads to make themselves go faster, and beat-up more bait fish.

If you’re a little fish, these are the guys you grow up wanting to be, but quietly hating them too, for having it all, and for being so unattainably beautiful. And, so snobby.

These aqua-dynamically perfect creations are

up there, teetering at the very summit of the food chain. These guys rule.

Most fish flap around the middle of the warm water pecking order. They are smart.

But no geniuses. They are fast. But nothing compared to the spikey-nose crew. And, in the Great Order of Things, they spend some of their time eating. And some being eaten.

Where I once stayed on a small island on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in southern Florida, life in the middle order of the fish hierarchy isn’t too bad. Apart from the odd hurricane, which plays havoc with the tides and shifts around the sandbanks in the mangrove flats, growing up is fairly easy.

Shrimps and crabs are plentiful among the fertile sand-flats and tufts of turtle grass. So, growing up is fun. The water’s warm. Grub is plentiful and although there’s a fair few fish lurking around the deeper channels; things like barracuda, jacks and black tip sharks on a night prowl into shallow waters, generally life is pretty safe.

There’s a safety in numbers anyway. Snappers grow up in huge snapper communities, where there are lots of brothers, sisters, uncles and cousins, who should, with a bit of luck, get eaten before you do.

The middle orders of fish life, are really the ones that keep the whole big wheel of fish and fishing turning. They are good to catch. They are good to eat. They breed well. Fight well. Look great in photographs, and even better on a blistering-hot barbecue.

Then there is the scum. The Lower Orders. The bottom feeders. The rodent-like whitetrash of the seas, the catfish.

Catfish suck. Oh, how they suck. They suck badder than a Dyson on max.

The reasons why they suck so are many and various. They suck because they are rat-like in their habits. They’ll eat anything, no matter how rotten and stinky.

And from a fishermen’s point of view, they’ll eat any bait, no matter how badly it’s presented.

So long as it gets down low, on or near the bottom.

They are grey. They have noxious phlegmy slime covering their bodies, which loves to adhere itself to hands and clothing for decades at a

50 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

stretch, creating a personal odour repellent to all human life forms.

They have three spikes that stick out of their bodies. One dorsal and two pectorals. These are razor-pointed. Sharp as a stepmother’s tongue and twice as toxic. The end of each spike is serrated like some sort of fiendish Nazi dagger, designed to rip open any exposed angler’s flesh, penetrate as deeply as possible, deliver as much toxin as is available, and then grip into the flesh, with horrific barbs, that will detach and rot and putrefy if forced in the wrong direction.

Catfish also taste like grey carpet soaked in soap and sump oil, served on a bed of maggot laden seaweed. Catfish suck sooo bad. I hate them. Everybody hates them. In West Africa, I’ve come across tribes who smoke them. They do provide basic protein, and when smoked and dried, the catfish can be transported long distances. Or better still, be worn as shoes or used to knock-in nails.

So, when a lovely family from Canada, with their lovely four and a half-year-old son Jessie, happened to meet up with me and my two eldest boys on the beach, of course, I offered to take their previously fish-less son fishing.

Of course, we motored out to a nearby bridge where, as I enthusiastically told them, my boys had managed to catch snappers and sheepshead, ladyfish and lunch.

So we anchored and lobbed out fresh shrimp on his two-foot long toy Taz fishing rod. The tide looked very slack. Too slack.

Slack in a way that decent fish don’t like.

Slack in a way that makes self-respecting fish turn off the feed.

So, when his little rod bent double and his face split into a cheese-eating grin, I had my doubts. The battle was long. Too long. A small snapper wouldn’t put up such a fuss.

And finally, when it came to the boat, it grunted, the grey snot-covered carpet-slipper grunt of a shiny grey catfish. I apologised. Keenly-aware of the bottom-feeding, bottom-ranking nature of this rodent-esque fish, dangling from this tousle-haired innocent’s rod.

‘Cool’ said his mum. ‘Way cool’ said he.

‘What a super fish’ said his one-time English gran. So, they all stood having their picture taken, beside a two-pound spikey sea-rat, pleased as pudding.

Which, just goes to show, one man’s rat is another man’s squirrel... or something like that.

Rare archive film at Corn Exchange WINDROSE Rural Media Trust will be at Dorchester Corn Exchange on Saturday 6th April, at 7.30pm, with a programme of rare and previously unseen archive film, including interviews with Gertrude Bugler and Norrie Woodhall, and film of the Melplash Show in 1957 and a 1950s Bridport pram race.

Gertrude Bugler, Thomas Hardy’s original Tess on stage in Dorchester in the 1920s, who lived in Beaminster, is seen talking in later life. Her sister Norrie Woodhall, also a member of the Hardy Players, died in 2011, at the age of 105, having helped to revive the group as the New Hardy Players to celebrate her 100th birthday.

Among its many media projects over the past 35 years, Windrose has been saving old cine films of local life to enable them to be seen again by the community.

This is now a major historic archive of moving images, the nearest thing to truly living history that exists.

As Windrose approaches its 250th show, in partnership with Dorset History Centre, the media charity has secured Heritage Lottery funding to digitise and organise much of its archive, enabling it to dig more deeply into the archive and bring out films that have not been seen before.

The Dorchester evening will include previously unseen films of Dorchester in the 1950s, moving Wimborne Model Town in the 1960s, the Queen’s 1952 visit to Sherborne, the 1957 Melplash Show, 1953 coronation celebrations in Wareham and Dorchester, farming near Weymouth in the 1960s and an entertaining Bridport pram race in the 1950s.

A short travel film from the 1940s visits Corfe Castle, Wareham, Lulworth, Dorchester and Swanage. The Bridport railway and paddle steamers are also featured.

Favourite films from previous Windrose shows will include Corfe Castle in the 1930s, filmed by two local singers, accompanied by the memories of Dorset sculptor Mary Spencer-Watson, and Dorchester streets in the early 1960s, showing how different it was only 55 years ago.

Windrose Rural Media Trust is celebrating its 35th year and the show is being presented in conjunction with Dorset History Centre, highlighting the centre’s involvement in the preservation of the important Windrose archive.

Pictured: Gertrude Bugler in later life, and as Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a Bridport pram race and a scene from the 1957 Melplash Show

Twenty-two films over five days at Bridport’s ‘From Page to Screen’

Christine Langan, festival curator for 2019

BRIDPORT’S Film festival ‘From Page to Screen’ has an illustrious past and no doubt also a bright future. Since it’s inception, more than ten years ago, it has played host to an impressive list of guest curators that have included Jonathan Coe, Francine Stock, Joe Dunthorne, Jon Ronson, Charles Sturridge, Garth Jennings and Nick Marston. This year, the Festival’s guest curator is Christine Langan, Executive Producer on films as diverse as I, Daniel Blake, The Queen, Brooklyn, Lady in the Van and most recently Stan and Ollie.

‘Cinema allows us to reflect on life in unique and diverse ways’ says Christine.

‘I’m so honoured to have helped assemble this year’s eclectic programme of films and I hope that, in these politically charged times, audiences find it entertaining, stimulating and illuminating.’

A diverse range of films and a fascinating selection of speakers including Paul Conroy, Jon Lee Anderson, Daisy Allsop, Fiona Shaw and Clive Stafford Smith is likely to ensure yet another memorable event for film fans from Bridport and the wider community.

Christine urges visitors to immerse themselves in what promises to be both an enjoyable but also an exciting week.

‘Sit back and meet courageous journalists, Oscar-winning monarchs and misunderstood loners’ she says. ‘Allow masterful, influential filmmakers Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock and Barry Jenkins to take you on a journey and experience the adapted works of a diverse range of writers from James Baldwin to Daphne du Maurier.’

Bridport’s ‘From Page to Screen’ Festival opens on Wednesday, April 24 and there are films every day until and including Sunday, April 28.

To book tickets visit bridport-arts.com or telephone 01308 424204.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 51

The Sound Of

distant drums Margery Hookings has a go at drumming and meets the founder of Organic Rhythm to find out her story

52 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

I

’m in the parish hall at Ilminster where there’s a drumming session organised

by Organic Rhythm. The sound of friendly chatter is soon replaced by the booming sound of about thirty djembe drums all being played in a circle. It’s a very primal noise and deeply satisfying.

For someone who finds it difficult to pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time, I’m finding it quite a challenge. The thing, Organic Rhythm founder Sharon Stone says, is not to think about it too much. So I don’t. And then the magic begins.

According to Wikipedia, the djembe is a rope-tuned, skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. And according to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying ‘Anke djé, anke bé’ which translates to ‘everyone gather together in peace’ and defines the drum’s purpose.

Sharon first came across drumming in a Cornish summer camp marquee many years ago. ‘I was immediately drawn to it,’ she tells me after my first hour-long session. ‘I was offered a drum, but declined, feeling a tad apprehensive, and that I wouldn’t know what to do.

‘Instead, I listened and enjoyed the sound of the drums way into the night, coming across the fields to soothe us to sleep in our tents.

‘A few weeks later I spotted an advert for a one-day African drumming course at a local college. I was hooked. The rest is history.’

I booked Organic Rhythm for my village fun day last year, thinking it was time for a change from the standard entertainment.

The sound of the drums reverberated through the village street as people of all ages joined in and became one tribe.

Sharon has 150 drums and describes herself as lucky to be making a living the way she does, driving around in her distinctive van with all her drums inside and doing what she loves. ‘More than 20 years ago I realised that when participating in a drumming class I felt relaxed and came away energised and feeling good,’ Sharon says.

‘I started to explore why this could be and came across all sorts of exciting evidence and studies around this.

‘I followed courses with the Therapeutic Drumming Foundation, Health Rhythms, Drum Beat, Drum Circle facilitation training and my thirst for understanding around this took me on travels around the UK, USA, and to West Africa.’

Ten years ago she decided to take the plunge and gave up a steady job to run her fledgeling drumming business. ‘From a stable job in housing and homelessness to being self-employed was a leap of faith. The job became more stressful

with increased caseloads and a decrease in resources and cuts in services. I’d started the business two years before on a very part-time basis, but I decided on my 40th birthday to take that leap.’

She says nothing pleases her more than sharing the joy of drumming, whether it be at a village fete like mine or as a corporate team building exercise.

“Gigs” have included drumming with Rick Stein’s management staff team meeting early one morning in Cornwall and the Cheshire International Jamboree last year, where they drummed with up to 600 young people per day during the week.

One of the participants was adventurer Bear Grylls.

‘From small groups to over 100 people at a time, everyone gets a drum for a fully interactive participatory experience’ she explains. ‘Our workshops are accessible, inclusive and suitable for all, regardless of age, ability or experience.’

Several years ago, she discovered that a woman who came to her regular drumming class was her first teacher at Hindayes Infant School in Street. ‘So, then I was the teacher, and she was my student,’ Sharon says. ‘We went back to the school together and drummed with all the children there.’

One of her favourite quotes is by psychotherapist R.Freidman in The Healing Power of the Drum: “Drumming in a group has been shown to enhance the alpha brain waves- those associated with euphoria and feeling good.”

Sharon says: ‘We see this in many settings including, rehab facilities, day centres, schools, corporate events, prison, team-building, private parties and many summer events.

‘People report feeling better after drumming, more connected, included, happier, calmer, energised and relaxed. Teams tell us of increased morale, team-bonding, connection and increased productivity.

‘Schools tell us of improved behaviour, particularly when children have participated in several weeks of our drumming intervention, Drumbeat.

‘Teachers have also been surprised when children they’d expect to misbehave, leave the room or become disruptive, have participated and enjoyed the group drumming experience.

‘Drummers in our regular classes tell us that drumming turns a bad day into a good one, they leave the everyday stresses once they start drumming.

‘I love drumming because of all these results. It’s not really about the drumming; it’s about the outcomes. Drumming makes you feel good!’

For more information visit the website organicrhythm.co.uk

Guest Recipe

JOUDIE KALLA JOUDIE KALLA has been working as a chef for over 16 years. Having trained at the prestigious Leith’s School of Food and Wine, Joudie has worked at restaurants such as Pengelley’s (a Gordon Ramsey restaurant) under Ian Pengelley, Daphne’s, and Papillon with Michelin-starred chef David Duverger.

Joudie’s food is mainly inspired by her Palestinian descent - vibrant, moreish dishes that are easy to make and full of goodness.

Joudie’s first book PALESTINE ON A PLATE became an instant hit with critics, charting high on The New York Times bestseller list, and wowing food enthusiasts everywhere. Joudie’s career as an authored chef has been a long time in the making. It is through years of sitting with her mother, aunties and grandmothers listening to their conversations and being included in their daily cooking routines that Joudie became engaged in the beauty of traditional Palestinian and Middle Eastern dishes. For Joudie, her mission is for Palestinian food to be embraced as a go-to cuisine; to be seen in the same league as Italian and French cuisines.

GREEN SHAKSHOUKEH Shakshoukeh khadra Shakshoukeh is one of the most recognizable dishes in the Levant, possibly originating in North Africa. The word itself means ‘a mixture’, or to mix and combine, which exactly describes how all the ingredients work so well together to form a beautiful dish, that is so much more than eggs and sauce. My Teta Najla was famous for hers, using green tomatoes in place of the more traditional red tomatoes, and this recipe is quite simply divine. The smoky cumin and paprika really bring out the flavours. My Teta lived by the sea and used lots of green leaves, herbs and vegetables in her version, reflecting the freshness of the produce in her local area.

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

• • • • • • • • •

1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC Fan (210ºC/415ºF/Gas 6–7).

• • • • • • •

Baladi: Palestine a celebration of food from land and sea by Joudie Kalla, Jacqui Small £26.00 Pics © Jamie Orlando Smith

3 tbsp olive oil 1 large leek, sliced into rings 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 green pepper, diced 1 green chilli, chopped 1 red chilli, chopped 6 large green tomatoes, cut into rings 500ml water A bunch of Swiss chard, stalks removed, cut into bite-sized pieces 20g fresh oregano leaves 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp paprika 4 large eggs Salt and freshly ground black pepper Khubez Taboon (bread), to serve Serves 4

2. Place the olive oil into an ovenproof pan over a medium–low heat and add the leeks. Slowly cook them down for 3–4 minutes until soft and tender. Add the garlic and green peppers and continue to cook for 5–6 minutes until softened.

3. Add the chillies and tomatoes and let them cook down for 6–7 minutes to create a thick sauce. Add the water and cook for 7–8 minutes, then add the chard and allow it to wilt into the mix.

4. Once the flavours are all combined, add the fresh oregano leaves and season with salt and pepper. Add the spices, check again for seasoning, and once you are happy with the consistency and flavour, make four tiny wells in the thick sauce. Crack the eggs into them and place into the oven to bake for about 7 minutes, depending on how well you like your eggs cooked.

5. Serve with some khubez taboon and eat immediately.

Food&Dining More locations for plastic free shopping MOBILE zero waste shop The Green Weigh has added two new locations to its weekly schedule, now taking plastic-free shopping to nine locations across the area.

Since launching last year, their packaging- free shop on wheels has become a weekly presence in Bridport, Axminster, Lyme Regis, Charmouth, Dorchester and Burton Bradstock.

Customers are encouraged to bring along anything that

they can reuse- including containers, cloth bags or plastic bottles to refill with over 200 different products, supplied loose out of their converted van. Popular products include pasta, rice, cereals, shampoo, washing up liquid, laundry liquid and fabric softener. All of their products are eco-friendly and are priced to be affordable.

For details about trading locations see www. thegreenweigh.co.uk

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 55

PECAN CHOCOLATE BROWNIES Seeing that Easter is just around the corner there’s no better excuse for us all to indulge in a choc fest after the main course which will of course, knowing my family, be a roast of some description!

LESLEY WATERS

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

• • • • • • • •

Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / gas mark 4

115g / 4oz unsalted butter 170g / 6oz caster sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 55g / 2oz plain flour 55g / 2oz cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking powder 55g / 2oz pecan nuts, roughly chopped • 40g / 1 ½ oz plain chocolate (minimum 70 % cocoa solids) • 2 teaspoons coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water Makes 9

56 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

1.

Grease an 18cm / 7 inch square cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Lightly grease with butter.

2.

Using an electric whisk cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs and vanilla.

3.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder onto the butter mixture and gently fold with the pecans, chocolate and coffee.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level out the top.

4.

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool. Cut into squares.

April 2019 Food Markets Please check dates and times with venues or organisers

Sat 6th Thu 11th Fri 12th Sat 13th

Thur 18th Fri 19th Sat 20th Thur 25th Sat 27th

Poundbury, Queen Mother Square - 9am - 1pm Shaftesbury, Town Hall - 9am - 1pm Wareham, Town Hall, East Street - 9am - 1pm Blandford, Blandford Forum - 9am - 1pm Bridport, Arts Centre, South St - 9am - 1pm Martock, Moorlands Shopping - 10am - 1pm Yarcombe, Village Hall - 10am - 12noon Purbeck, Commercial Road, Swanage - 9am - 1pm Honiton, St Paul’s Church, High St - 8.30am - 1pm Sherborne, Cheap St - 9am - 1pm Wimborne, Market Square - 9am - 1pm Crewkerne, The Henhayes Centre - 9am - 1pm Wareham, Town Hall, East Street - 9am - 1pm Dorchester South, High Street - 9am - 4pm Barrington, Village Hall, 10am - 12noon Yeovil, Middle Street - 9am - 2pm Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 57

BOILED DUCK EGGS WITH ASPARAGUS SOLDIERS We are just getting our first flush of asparagus from the chin familly in the Wye valley which is always an exiting time of year. This is simple, fun dish for dinner parties, with not much preparation required. If you can’t get hold of duck’s eggs, large free-range chicken eggs will do. It’s also a great fun way to get kids into asparagus.

INGREDIENTS

1.

• 1kg medium thickness asparagus, woody stems removed • 4 duck’s eggs • Maldon sea salt • Celery salt Serves 4

2.

MARK HIX 3.

Have two pots of water boiling, one salted for the asparagus and one for the eggs. Carefully place the eggs into the pan of unsalted water with the help of a slotted spoon. Set a timer for 6 minutes for duck eggs, a minute or so less for hen’s. Remove the eggs from the water on to a plate and at the same time put the asparagus into the boiling salted pan. This will take about 5 minutes to cook while you remove the tops from the eggs.

With a small knife (you can use a special egg top remover) carefully remove the tops from the eggs, then replace them to keep them hot, and put them into egg cups on pre- warmed plates.

Check the asparagus by cutting a little off a thick end to see if they are tender. Drain in a colander, then arrange in bundles next to the eggs. Spoon a little pile of Maldon sea salt and celery salt on to each plate and serve.

HIX Oyster and Fish House is Mark’s local restaurant that overlooks the harbour in Lyme Regis and boasts the most stunning panoramic views across the Jurassic coast—this is easily one of the most picturesque spots to enjoy British fish seafood.

To book please call 01297 446 910.

58 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

PEOPLE IN FOOD

Rich Wright - photograph and words by Catherine Taylor

RICH WRIGHT Stumbling out of bed at 3.30 am every morning isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but as Rich Wright from The Wobbly Cottage points out, “you don’t become a baker if you don’t like early starts”. Mind you, he hasn’t far to go as his artisan micro bakery is in Broadwindsor Craft Centre, only a short distance from the house he shares with his wife Dani and their children. Baking by 4 am, Rich specialises in Sourdough bread, preferring ancient traditions and using local flour to create his crusty masterpieces.

He bakes up to 450 loaves a week of the award-winning bread and also makes pastries, sausage rolls, chutneys and jams as well as his much sought-after scotch eggs. Dani is in charge of logistics and deliveries, supplying some of the most renowned pubs and restaurants in the area.

The Wobbly Cottage is named after the cottage the couple first lived in when they moved to Stoke Abbott. It was snugly nestled in the middle of the village, with not a straight wall in sight. It is from here that Rich and Dani started their business, attending food and farmers markets at weekends with their jams, chutneys and freshly baked goods. As the sourdough proved to be the main breadwinner in their business, they realised they needed to expand from their domestic oven set-up. Happily the unit at Broadwindsor Craft Centre became available at the same time, so the move took place. Now, thanks to crowdfunding, they have a commercial stone-shelf oven which bakes all their beautifully gnarly sourdough loaves and other bakeware.

Having worked before in a windowless basement kitchen during his career as a chef, Rich is unperturbed by the long days. As he says, “now if I want some fresh air all I have to do is walk out the front door for a few minutes. If it’s a long day, then it means we’re busy, which means we’re doing something right.” Rising at such an early hour doesn’t translate into early nights for Rich. He specialises in power naps and can survive on four to five hours sleep a night. Sundays though are reserved for the kids. Then, Rich will cook and concentrate on his family, spending time at the beach together and generally relaxing…ready to start kneading and baking once more. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Arts &Entertainment

A Private War in Bridport

by Fergus Byrne

I

n February 2019, the family of the much celebrated foreign correspondent and war reporter, Marie Colvin, remembered the seventh anniversary of her death in the knowledge that a US court had just found the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad guilty of her murder. Killed in an artillery strike while reporting on what she claimed to be intentional attacks on civilians, Marie Colvin paid the ultimate sacrifice for her belief in the need to tell the world what she claimed the Syrian regime didn’t want the world to know. She died in the same attack as French photographer Rémi Ochlik, in a makeshift ‘media centre’ in the Syrian city of Homs. She had been working with English photographer Paul Conroy who survived the same explosion.

In the days that followed, Paul Conroy suffered excruciating pain from a hole in his leg that he remembered as being big enough to get his hand through. Lacking food, water and medical supplies, he endured another five days of bombardment before escaping the decimated district of Baba Amr on a motorbike through a three-kilometre long tunnel.

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Talking later, Paul described how the missiles first took out the room they had been sleeping in, then the front room and then the middle room. He remembered the explosion, the smoke and the deafness from the blast, and later explained that the pattern of the bursts proved there was ‘bracketing’, a military tactic used by artillery units to ensure they hit their target.

He recognised the pattern and timing from his own experience in the British Army.

There had been three strikes, and he hoped that might be it. But a fourth rocket impacted right in front of the house. In Under the Wire, he described it as ‘like being hit by a tube train in a dark tunnel’. He lay on the ground next to the bodies of Marie and Rémi for fifteen minutes, while what he believed to be a drone, relayed pictures back to the artillery.

Five days later he was put in a truck along with other injured, and a convoy of about four trucks drove through the front line to reach the tunnel, where the motorbike took him to the end.

He had initially refused to get on the bike as there were other

injured women and children that he thought should have been brought first, but his rescuers told him he had to go so he could tell the story.

The following year he published his book Under the Wire detailing what became known as ‘Marie Colvin’s last assignment’.

Last year it was released as a documentary and this year the story of Marie and Paul’s reporting from Homs has been made into a full-length movie, A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan and Tom Hollander. Based on an article in Vanity Fair by the journalist, Marie Brenner, the film will be screened at this year’s Bridport Film Festival ‘From Page to Screen’ where Paul and journalist and war correspondent, Jon Lee Anderson, will be in conversation afterwards.

The reason that Marie Colvin came to be in the middle of an artillery bombardment in Syria in 2012 is simple—she wanted other people to care about atrocity as much as she did.

Brenner’s Vanity Fair article cuts to the bones of what became clear in evidence delivered to the US court that found Assad’s regime guilty: ‘A murderous dictator was bombarding a city that had no food, power or medical supplies. NATO and the United Nations stood by doing nothing.’

Marie was known for her determination to report the real stories of the people caught up in conflicts such as the Syrian civil war. She had reported, with her own brand of outrage,

from locations such as East Timor, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Chechnya and Sri Lanka, where she lost the sight of an eye when attacked with a grenade. After that particular attack, she became known for wearing a black patch over the blind eye—a badge of both defiance and honour that no doubt made her a more easily recognisable target. However, and despite suffering enormous emotional trauma after Sri Lanka, she carried on reporting atrocities with the oft-repeated question to anyone who would listen: ‘Why is the world not here?’ For the last seven years, Paul Conroy has made it his business to tell Marie’s story, consistently echoing that question.

Talking to Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy earlier this year, Paul made clear his belief that, despite being targeted as journalists by the Assad regime, western governments’ inaction in Syria was also a disgrace. ‘The West behaved abysmally’ he said, claiming that a lot of politicians have blood on their hands. He believed that inaction on the part of western governments to stop Assad’s annihilation of his own people was a grave mistake. ‘Doing nothing,’ he said, ‘cannot be dressed up as political strategy, it is still ‘doing nothing’.

Paul Conroy will be in conversation with Jon Lee Anderson after the screening of ‘A Private War’ at Bridport Arts Centre on Friday April 24 at 8 pm. For tickets telephone 01308 424 204

Rosamund Pike and Jamie Dornan in ‘A Private War’

Museums&Galleries 1 – 29 APRIL 20Ft Under; An Exhibition of Underwater Fashion Photography

by Russ Snedker Free/Donation. LSi Bridport, 51 East Street, Bridport Dorset DT6 3JX www.lsibridport.co.uk.

UNTIL 6 APRIL Wicked Wessex - Strange Superstitions in Wessex As part of the Wicked Wessex exhibition at Shire Hall, Dorchester learn about the Bellarmine Jug. Free to visit with museum ticket. For more information visit shirehalldorset.org or call 01305 261849.

George Young: Women + Men www. theartstable.co.uk. The Art Stable Kelly Ross Fine Art, Child Okeford Blandford Dorset DT11 8HB. Reflections Painting, sculpture and photography that dazzles with reflected light – from water, materials, the land and sky. Group exhibition. Free. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

Terry Ward Oil paintings of the British coast and countryside by well-known West Country artist Terry Ward. In the Cafe Gallery. Free. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

6 – 18 APRIL The New Axminster Heritage Centre Free Entry April 6 until April 18 only.

Take an interesting trip through time to learn what has made Axminster and the surrounding area what it is today.

Children can enjoy their own trail with dressing up points and hands on activities.

Open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.

See https://axminsterheritage.org/ for info. Thomas Whitty House, Silver Street, Axminster, EX13 5AH. 8 – 27 APRIL

Wild Landscapes Atmospheric ink and oil paintings of wild places and wild weather by Margaret Micklewright. In the Cafe Gallery. Free. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

Telling Tales Fabric, stitch, colour and texture –new and original textile art with stories to tell, from the Stitch Textiles group. Free. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

when you will able to discuss their work, techniques and inspiration with them.

Free Entry. 10.30am - 4.30pm daily.

UNTIL 10 APRIL A Royal Affair The work on display is a selection of the garments from Buckingham Palace’s formal presentation of prizes and reception of the The Queen’s Anniversary Prize 2017. AUB Bournemouth www.aub.ac.uk/gallery.

19 – 22 APRIL Richard Gould Art Sale Kennaway House, Sidmouth www.kennawayhouse. org.uk 01395 515551. Free entry.

12 – 13 APRIL In the Picture Annual Exhibition.

Kennaway House, Sidmouth www. kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551.

Free entry.

13 - 28 APRIL 6 Bridport Artists Eype Centre for the Arts, Mount Lane, Eype, Bridport, Dorset DT6 6AR. ‘6 Bridport Artists’ presents the work of award winning and respected painters who honed their skills whilst at St Michael’s Studios in Bridport, which sadly suffered a fire in the summer of 2018. Now all working in different venues, they have come together again in the magnificent setting of Eype Church to show recent and new work and continue their fruitful collaboration to promote high quality, individual and original artwork. The six are: David Brooke, Marion Taylor, Charlotte Miller, Caroline Ireland, Kit Glaisyer and John Boyd. Meet all the Artists day on Saturday 13th April from 10.30am - 4.30pm

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13 APRIL - 1 MAY Kate Lynch, James Meiklejohn The Jerram Gallery, Half Moon St., Sherborne. www.jerramgallery.com.

18 – 24 APRIL Inspirations-Art of the South West Exhibition. Kennaway House, Sidmouth ww.kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551. Free entry.

19 APRIL – JUNE 2019 Warm Beer and Cabbages at West Bay Discovery Centre. The men from the US 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One), 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, F Company, were stationed in West Bay from November 1943 – June 1944 prior to D Day. Landing on Omaha beach, many never made it home. This exhibition will retell their stories on this 75th Anniversary year. Open daily 11am – 4pm excluding Mondays. Admission free, donations welcome. Further details http://www.westbaydiscoverycentre.org. uk/.

20 APRIL – 6 JULY Wicked Wessex - Witches in Wessex Discover how those suspected of witchcraft were treated in Wessex, and see a scold’s bridle (on loan from Salisbury Museum.) It was used to punish people who were suspected of witchcraft. It was placed over the victim’s head, so they couldn’t speak, or more importantly, curse anyone! This is one of the horrible punishments used during the 17th century witch trials that took place not

just in Wessex, but across the whole of Europe. Some witches faced the stocks or ducking stool, others were hanged. Free to visit with museum ticket. All day at Shire Hall, Dorchester www.shirehalldorset.org or call 01305 261849.

26 APRIL – 5 MAY Affordable Art Sale by Bryan Dawkins.

Kennaway House, Sidmouth www. kennawayhouse.org.uk 01395 515551. Free entry.

29 APRIL – 11 MAY Greenfylde School Work by pupils in a variety of mediums. Free. Ilminster Arts Centre, The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN. 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.

UNTIL 6 MAY The Great Heath: recent paintings by Brian Graham opens at Sladers Yard, Contemporary Art, Furniture and Craft Gallery, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4EL A magnificent new collection of work by this eminent artist exploring the great heath of imagination, literature and music, where personalities are stripped down and passions played out. 01308 459511 sladersyard.co.uk.

UNTIL 18 MAY On Paper: An Arts Council Collection Touring Exhibition This exhibition showcases the work of acclaimed 20th-century and contemporary artists who work with paper. The exhibition explores how artists have used paper as the focus of their work in creative and unusual ways, showcasing the work of over 40 artists including Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Eduardo Paolozzi, Cornelia Parker, Wolfgang Tillmans and Bridget Riley, among many others. Thelma Hulbert Gallery (THG), Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LX www.thelmahulbert.com 01404 45006.

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PREVIEW On Stage - In and Around the Vale Julie Felix LYME REGIS

THE original beatnik folk singer of the 1960s, a friend of Leonard Cohen who hung out with The Beatles, Julie Felix is coming to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis, for a concert on Friday 5th April at 8pm.

Signed to Decca, she was known for Californian hippy folk and South American songs such as El Cóndor Pasa. In 1964, after leaving California and hitchhiking through Europe with her guitar, Julie arrived in the UK to play at clubs such as The Troubadour.

It didn’t take long before she was resident singer on The Frost Report, and quickly became a household name in the UK. Four years later, Julie was given her own BBC colour television series, which was sold to countries around the world. Guests included The Kinks, Dusty Springfield, and Jimmy Page.

Decades later, Julie was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Her music has always reflected her heartfelt beliefs in human rights, concern for the environment, and her love affair with the natural world.

Sweet dreams BRIDPORT

WHERE do we really go when we fall asleep? Moon On A Stick theatre company comes to Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday 6th April at 11am, with an enchanting new show that takes the audience on a journey into the Land Of Nod. Moon On A Stick blend intricate puppetry, captivating storytelling and an enchanting musical score in this adventure for young children.

The Land of Nod is a dream world, where you will meet The Sandman, keeper of dreams, as he spins his umbrella of beautiful pictures. See where it lands and discover the wonders in store when sleep takes hold.

House Theatre director Shane Morgan.

This visit marks a welcome return for Live Wire Theatre after previous visits with sports-themed plays When The Eye Has Gone and Hands Up for Jonny Wilkinson’s Right Boot.

The Nash Ensemble DORCHESTER

Mela Guitar Quartet TOURING

A STARRY trio, including cellist Adrian Brendel, comes to Dorchester Arts at the Corn Exchange on Wednesday 17th April at 8pm.

Brendel, artistic director of the Plush Festival, and the son of the great pianist Alfred Brendel, who lives at Plush Manor, will be joined by clarinettist Richard Hosford and Ian Brown (piano), playing together as the Nash Ensemble.

Their programme includes Beethoven’s Trio No 4 in B flat for clarinet, cello and piano, Debussy’s Sonata for cello and piano in D minor, Finzi’s Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano and Brahms’ Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in A minor.

Cricket star’s long walk back DORCHESTER

THE Long Walk Back, a new play from Live Wire Theatre, at Dorchester Corn Exchange on Sunday 14th April at 7pm, is based on the true story of England cricketer Chris Lewis’s catastrophic fall from grace.

In 1994 Lewis seemed to be on the verge of greatness when he was named England’s International Cricketer of the Year. But his life and his career were left in ruins in 2008 when he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for smuggling cocaine into the UK. The Long Walk Back charts the journey that took him from disaster and despair to a profound moral awakening. After the performance there will be a question and answer session with Chris Lewis and Rough-

CONCERTS in the West brings the acclaimed Mela Guitar Quartet, including the Dorset-born Daniel Bovey, to Bridport, Ilminster, Taunton and Crewkerne from Thursday 4th to Saturday 6th April.

Matthew Robinson, George Tarlton, Daniel Bovey and Jiva Housden have performed all over the UK in venues including St James’ Church, Piccadilly and the Barbican.

The quartet, who play guitars made by master luthier Michael Gee, are Park Lane Group young artists for the 2018/2019 series of concerts in the Purcell Room, London. They released a CD of the guitar chamber works of Stephen Dodgson in 2017 and have also recorded the works of Anthony Burgess.

The concerts are at Jordans Courtyard, Horton Cross, Ilminster, on Thursday 4th April at 7.30pm, a coffee concert at Bridport Arts Centre at 11am on Friday 5th, the CICCIC Creative Innovation Centre, Taunton, on Friday at 7.30pm and the Dance House, Crewkerne, on Saturday 6th at 7.30pm.

Founder and director of Concerts in the West, Catherine Hodgson, is looking forward to welcoming the Mela Guitar Quartet to the quirky West Country venues that are synonymous with this music charities concert tours. She says: “Each season I always like to introduce our audiences to something a little bit different and I am hoping that they will love these four guitarists who are quite exceptional and who will be playing a

SOPHIA’S IMAGINARY FRIEND PADDLEBOAT Theatre, one of the most inventive and popular children’s theatre companies, comes to The Beehive Centre at Honiton on Thursday 11th April with a charming show for four to 12 year olds, Margo and Mr Whatsit.

Do you have an imaginary friend? A little piece of mischief only you can see?

Sophia’s imaginary friend is called Mr Whatsit. No matter where Sophia finds herself living, he’s always there with a new joke to tell and a new game to play.

But when Sophia moves into her new foster home, Mr Whatsit finds himself unimagined! Now Sophia has a new imaginary friend—the glamourous, grown-up Margo.

Can Mr. Whatsit’s childish playfulness keep him from being unimagined for good?

And with her imaginary friends competing against each other, will Sophia manage to find her forever home?

Margo and Mr Whatsit is a 45 minute show, starting at 3.30pm.

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PREVIEW Unthanks, collaborated with Alasdair Roberts and Belinda O’Hooley and released six acclaimed solo albums.

The month’s music ends on Friday 26th with Flook, featuring the flutes of Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen, the guitar of Ed Boyd and the bodhran of John Joe Kelly, who together weave and spin traditionallyrooted tunes into a contemporary folk sound.

those subjects link together in unexpected ways. The show is based on the duo’s podcast and book of the same name, and has been adapted for a live audience by playwright Daniel Jamieson.

Described as “a freefall through historic themes”, its subjects range from Pompeii to the Titanic, from Neolithic cave painting to Victorian perfumes and electrical experiments on the human face.

Shipwrecked at the circus HONITON

Award-winning poet LYME REGIS

SPANISH circus company D’Click comes to The Beehive at Honiton on Friday 5th April at 7.30pm. with its new show, Isla.

The talented trio of performers use acrobatics, Chinese pole and other circus skills to bring to life the story of three shipwrecked characters who need each other to survive.

Daoiri Farrell comes to South Petherton in April

marvellous varied programme from Bach to Phillip Houghton.”

The repertoire for the tour includes JS Bach’s Organ Fugue, Saint-Saëns’ Bacchanale, Philip Houghton’s Opals, Bryan Johanson’s Pluck, Strum and Hammer, Dave Brubeck Medley, Timothy Bowers’ Fantasy on an Old English Melody, and Milhaud’s Brazileira from Scaramouche.

Farrell, Oates and Flook SOUTH PETHERTON

THREE concerts featuring some of the best of contemporary and traditional folk provide the backbone of the April programme at the David Hall, South Petherton, one of the region’s best venues for traditional and contemporary folk music.

First up, on Saturday 6th, is the Irish singer and bouzouki player Daoiri (pronounced Derry) Farrell, a former electrician, who decided to change profession after seeing Christy Moore perform on Irish TV. Daoirí is described as one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years. Six months after releasing his album, True Born Irishman, he won BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017 for Best Newcomer and Best Traditional Track.

On Saturday 13th, Jackie Oates will lead a harmony singing workshop at 3.30pm, offering participants a chance to learn some beautiful and lesser-known English folk songs from the South West, together with harmonies and arrangement ideas. In the evening, from 7.30pm, she will give a solo concert, The Joy of Living. A singer and musician who has been closely associated with the reinvigoration of English folk, her mellifluous voice, plaintive fiddle and tantalizing approach to traditional songs gained her several BBC Folk Awards. She has performed as a member of the nascent

Mayhem at the barricade VILLAGES

SPITZ & Co returns to Dorset with the third in the trilogy of comic plays that began with Glorilla, followed by Gloriator. The finale, Les Gloriables is on an Artsreach tour from 29th to 31st March.

Described as “a master class in mutiny with berets and baguettes,” Les Gloriables has been inspired by Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Legendary French actress Gloria Delaneuf is determined to create a piece of theatre with the power to reunite Europe.

She has dreamed a dream, and her hapless UK tour manager Josephine Cunningham has promised to build a barricade.

Spitz & Co is an award-winning, internationally touring female comedy duo, Sue Donkin and French-born Pauline Morel, based in South Gloucestershire.

On the surface the show is about socialism and the power of the people but at its heart is the comic relationship between a selfish diva and her long-suffering assistant.

Performed in French and English, with music and visual effects, expect a master class in mutiny (French style) with berets, baguettes, and gratuitous nudity.

Les Gloriables is at Broadwindsor’s Comrades Hall, on Friday 29th March, Sandford Orcas village hall, on Saturday 30th and West Stafford village hall, on Sunday 31st.

All performances start at 7.30pm.

Histories of the unexpected LYME REGIS

HISTORY gets an exciting shake-up by television presenter Sam Willis, of BBC’s The Silk Road and Invasion!, and professor of history James Daybell, who bring their new show to the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis on Saturday 6th April.

Histories of the Unexpected Live demonstrates how everything has a history, even the most unexpected of subjects, and how

HOLLIE McNish, the winner of the Ted Hughes Poetry Award is coming to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis on Thursday 16th May at 7.30pm.

Hollie, who will be joined by Vanessa Kisuule, the Bristol City Poet 2018-2020, will perform poem from her recent poetry collections.

She was the recipient of The Jerwood Micro Arts Bursary and The Leverhulme Arts Scholarship in 2017 and her one woman show SEXY toured with the support of Arts Council England.

Benjamin Zephaniah says: “I can’t take my ears off her,” and performance poet Kate Tempest describes Hollie’s poetry as “welcoming, galvanising and beautiful.”

Hollie is an Arts Foundation Fellow in Spoken Word, and has had more than 10 million YouTube views for her online poetry performances. She was the first poet to record at Abbey Road.

Kate Tempest says: “She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love. She points out the absurdities we’ve grown too used to and lets us see the world with fresh eyes. Her rhymes have a driving quality, urgent words pinning down fleeting feelings.”

Jo Harrop sings Peggy Lee DORCHESTER

DUKE Ellington called Peggy Lee “the queen” and Frank Sinatra described her as regal. Jazz vocalist Jo Harrop and her quartet recreate the music of this legendary star in Fever, at Dorchester Corn Exchange on Saturday 13th April at 8pm.

Peggy Lee was one of the great figures of jazz and American popular song, with a career spanning six decades. She wrote and sang for Disney’s Lady And The Tramp and had a string of hits stretching from her early days with Benny Goodman until the 1990s.

Jo Harrop pays tribute to her with moving renditions of classics such as Fever, Why Don’t You Do Right and The Folks Who Live On The Hill. She is accompanied by Alex Webb on piano, Henry Gilbert on bass, Joel Prime on drums and special guest Tony Kofi on alto sax.

GP-W

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PERFORMANCE TUESDAY 26 MARCH DORCHESTER, St Peter’s Church, Northern Harmony, workshop 6.30, concert 8pm.

SHAFTESBURY, Trinity Centre, Palida in Dissent - the Long March, British songs for Justice, with Paul Hutchinson, 6.30 and 8.30 SIDMOUTH, Manor Pavilion, East Devon Dance Academy, triple fantasy, showcase with more than 500 students, to 6 April.

WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, An Ideal Husband, recorded from the Vaudeville Theatre, 11am.

BRISTOL, St George’s, Ali Bain and Phil Cunningham, folk, 8pm.

DORCHESTER, Shire Hall, Time & Tide in To Win the Day, 7.30.

EXETER, Cygnet Theatre, Cygnet Co in The Merry Wives of Windsor, to Sat, and 3-6 April, 7.30, Sat mats 2.30.

EXMOUTH, Pavilion, ‘Allo ‘Allo Dinner Experience.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, An Ideal Husband, recorded from the Vaudeville Theatre, 7pm.

POOLE, Lighthouse, East Meets West, BSO cond Karabits, Harutyun Chkolyan and Arshaluys Tadevosyan, duduk and zurna, Saints Saens, Terterian, 7.30.

YEOVIL, Octagon, YAOS in 42nd Street, to 6 April, 7.30, Sat/Sun mats 2.30.

THURSDAY 28 MARCH BATH, Theatre Royal, Ustinov Studio, The Omission of the Family Coleman,

by Claudio Tolcachir, UK premiere, to 27 April.

BRISTOL, St George’s, Rizwan-Muazzam, qawwali, 8.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Dorchester Film Society, The Wound.

EXETER, Northcott, The Turn of the Screw, play, adapted by Tim Luscombe, to Sat, 7.30, Sat mat 2.30.

Corn Exchange, A Feast of Fiddles, 7.30.

WEYMOUTH, College Bay Theatre, music and technology students Easter show, 7.30.

YEOVIL, Westlands, Laughing Boy Comedy Club.

FRIDAY 29 MARCH BRIDPORT, Electric Palace, Ratrace, Dorset ska band, 8.

BROADWINDSOR, Comrade’s Hall, Spitz and Co in Les Gloriables, 7.30. AR CREDITON, Arts Centre, Scratchworks in Womans, (like Romans with a W), 7.30pm.

ViA DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Pop Club birthday bash, 8.

HONITON, Beehive, High Noon, 1952 film, 2pm: Mamma Mia - Here We Go Again, singalong, 7.30.

ILMINSTER, Arts Centre, Pete Oxley and

Nick Meier, world music soundscape from Turkey through Europe, 8.

NORTON SUB HAMDON, Village Hall, D’Click in Isla, circus and dance, 7.30. TA SHERBORNE, Cheap Street Church, Sherborne School soloists, music from 18th century to present day, 1.45.

WIMBORNE, Tivoli, Feast of Fiddles.

SATURDAY 30 MARCH DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Tim FitzHigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins in Flanders and Swann at the Drop Of …

Another Hippopotamus, 8.

EXMOUTH, Pavilion, The Fureys.

KILVE, Village Hall, Shoebox Theatre, Library of Lost Memories, 7.45. TA LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Lyme Folk Festival fundraising concert, lineup TBA, 8pm.

MILVERTON, Victoria Rooms, Somerset Opera in The Mikado, 7.30.

WEST BAY, Sladers Yard, Sladers Jazz Club with Alan Barnes Quartet, Classics from the History of Jazz, 8.

WEST LULWORTH, Village Hall, D’Click Circo in Isla, Spanish circus trio, 7.30. AR YEOVIL, College, main hall, Casson and Friends, Choreocracy, dance, 7.30.

SUNDAY 31 MARCH BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Die Walkure from the Metropolitan Opera, 6pm.

EXETER, Northcott, The Magic of Motown, 7.30.

WEST STAFFORD, Village Hall, Spitz and Co in Les Gloriables, 7.30. AR WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, The Searchers Farewell Tour.

YEOVIL, Westlands, Nish Kumar, It’s Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves, comedy.

MONDAY 1 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, The Fureys, Celtic folk, 7.30.

EXETER, Northcott Theatre, BalletBoyz in Them/Us, and Tues, 7.30, Tues mat 2.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Die Walkure from the Metropolitan Opera, supper in interval, 4pm.

TUESDAY 2 APRIL BATH, Theatre Royal, English Touring Theatre in Equus, to Sat, 7.30, Wed/Sat mats: the egg, Box Clever in Romeo and Juliet, to Thurs, and Sun, various times.

BRISTOL, Old Vic, Richard III with Tom Mothersdale, to 13 April.

WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL BRISTOL, St George’s, Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening, 8.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Rhodri Miles in Shylock, solo show, 8.

EXETER, University, Great Hall, Crediton Music Cluster students showcase, 7.

EXMOUTH, Pavilion, Band of the Royal

Marines, 7.30.

PLYMOUTH, Theatre Royal, Welsh National Opera, Un Ballo in Maschera, 7.30.

WEST BAY, Sladers Yard, Geoffrey Chaucer - Life and Work, talk and readings

by Graham Fawcett, 7.30.

THURSDAY 4 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Ladybird, film, 11am: Burning, film, 7.30.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, The Noise Next Door- Remix, comedy, 8.

ILMINSTER, Jordan’s Coutyard, Horton Cross, Concerts in the West, Mela Guitar Quartet, inc Bach, Saint Saens, Brubeck, Milhaud, 7.30.

FRIDAY 5 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Concerts in the West, Mela Guitar Quartet, inc Bach, Saint Saens, Brubeck, Milhaud, 11am: Charlie Sings Jazz, jazz cafe, 8.

BUCKLAND IN THE MOOR, Community Hall, Ryan Cook, country music and satire, 7.30. ViA HONITON, Beehive, D’Click, circus, in Isla, 7.30. ViA ILMINSTER, Warehouse Theatre, Now Here’s a Funny Story, music hall and cabaret, 8.

Arts Centre, The Ronnie Jones Quartet with Simon Spillett, tenor sax, jazz, 8.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Julie Felix, folk, 8.

SOUTH PETHERTON, David Hall, Jacqui Gavin and Isobel Shelton talk about their lives, 7.30.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, English Youth Ballet in Coppelia, and Sat, 7.30, Sat mat 2.30.

SATURDAY 6 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Moon on a Stick in Land of Nod, 11am.

Electric Palace, BMTC Showstoppers, 7.30.

CLAYHIDON, Village Hall, Ryan Cook, country music and satire, 7.30. ViA CREWKERNE, Dance House, Concerts in the West, Mela Guitar Quartet, inc Bach, Saint Saens, Brubeck, Milhaud, 7.30.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Dorset Life on Film, old Dorset films from Windrose archive, 7.30.

EXETER, Northcott Theatre, Lee Nelson, Serious Joker, comedy, 8.

Barnfield Theatre, Anthos Young Company, Frankenstein, 7.

HONITON, Beehive, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, film, 3.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Histories of the Unexpected with Sam Willis and James Daybell, 7.30.

SIDMOUTH, Parish Church, Sidmouth Choral Society, Haydn Creation, 7.30.

SOUTH PETHERTON, David Hall, Daoiri Farrell, Irish singer, 8.

Rural touring organisations AR = Artsreach, TA = Take Art, Via = Villages in Action 66 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

PERFORMANCE TAUNTON, Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre, Ballet Theatre UK in Swan Lake, 2.30 and 7.30.

YEOVIL, Westlands, Wrong Jovi and The Freddie and Queen Experience, Best of UK vs USA.

Eve, satellite screening from West End, original music by PJ Harvey, 7.

SEATON, Gateway, Seaton Music, The A 4 Brass Quartet, 7.30.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Mark Steele, Every Little Thing’s Gonna be Alright, comedy, 8.

SUNDAY 7 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, La Forza del Destino, from Royal Opera, 6pm.

Electric Palace, The Golden Age, from the Bolshoi, cabaret ballet with music by Shostakovich, 4pm.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Tumlyn Brass Quintet, with readings by Jan Wyld, folk, Thomas Hardy and Malcolm Arnold, 3pm.

PLYMOUTH, Theatre Royal, An Evening of Eric and Ern. SEATON, Gateway, The Golden Age, from the Bolshoi, cabaret ballet with music by Shostakovich, 3pm.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Yeovilton Military Wives Choir, with Matthew Rock.

FRIDAY 12 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Misha Glenny, MacMafia, 7.30.

BRISTOL, Hippodrome, Welsh National Opera in Roberto Devereux, 7.30.

CLYST HYDON, Village Hall, Mervyn Stutter, Another Helping Of … , comedy, songs, 7.30. ViA DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Hazel O’Connor, SOLD OUT EXETER, Corn Exchange, The Beach Boys Tribute Show.

HONITON, Beehive, The Jonah Hitchens Band and Psychadelephant, 8.15.

ILMINSTER, Arts Centre, Grass Roots Opera in Gluck’s Orfeo and Euridice, 8.

SIDMOUTH, Manor Pavilion, Ballet Theatre UK in Swan Lake, and Sat, 7.30.

YEOVIL, Octagon, The Unravelling Wilburys, 8.

MONDAY 8 APRIL BATH, Theatre Royal, The Girl on the Train with Samantha Womack and Oliver Farnworth, to Sat, 7.30, Wed/Sat mats.

Forum, Collabro.

EXMOUTH, 10 Bicton Street, 40th Exmouth Amateur Festival of One-Act plays, to Sat, 7.30.

TUESDAY 9 APRIL EXMOUTH, Pavilion, Centre Stage in Oliver, to Sat. PLYMOUTH, Theatre Royal, The Worst Witch, to Sat. WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Shakespeare workshops, under 18s 11am, 18-plus 6pm.

BRISTOL, Hippodrome, Welsh National Opera in Un Ballo in Maschera, 7.30.

DORCHESTER, St Mary’s Church, Dorset County Museum Music Society, Alexander Soares, piano, Bach, Albeniz, Ravel, Beethoven.

EXETER, Northcott Theatre, Paul Martin from Flogit, 7.30.

Corn Exchange, Charlie Lansborough, farewell tour, 7.30.

PLYMOUTH, Theatre Royal, The Lab, She’s A Good Boy, Elise Heaven solo show, and Thurs.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, WOW in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, to Sat, 6.30, Thurs/Sat mats 2.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Simon Yates, My Mountain Life.

THURSDAY 11 APRIL HONITON, Beehive, Paddleboat Theatre in Margo and Mr Whatsit, 3.30: All About Eve, by satellite from the West End, 7.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, All About

SATURDAY 13 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, BeeGees Fever, 20th anniversary tour, 7.30.

BRISTOL, St George’s, Terry Riley, minimalist composer, 7.30.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Jo Harrop sings Peggy Lee, 8.

DUNKERSWELL, Village Hall, Mervyn Stutter, Another Helping Of … , comedy, songs, 7.30. ViA HONITON, Beehive, Martin Turner celebrating golden anniversary of Wishbone Ash, 8.

PLYMOUTH, Pavilions, Ant Middleton, mountaineer and explorer.

SOUTH PETHERTON, David Hall, Jackie Oates, The Joy of Living, harmony workshop 3.30, concert 8.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Black Dyke Band, 7.30.

SUNDAY 14 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Love, Simon, film, 2pm: My Generation, film, 7.30.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Live Wire in the Long Walk Back, 7.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, The Sunday Sessions with Matt Benjamin, cello, and Jack Harrison, guitar, 3. FREE PLYMOUTH, Theatre Royal, Simon and Garfunkel Story.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, Suzi Ruffell, comedy, 7.30 MONDAY 15 APRIL EXETER, Northcott Theatre, Exeter Musical Society in Grease, to Sat, 7.30, Fri/ Sat mats 2.30.

PLYMOUTH, Theatre Royal, Drum Studio, Pickled Image in Woodland Tales

with Granddad, to Thurs: The Lab, Hugh McCann’s Noise, to Thurs.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Project Play in ‘Allo ‘Allo, to Thurs.

TUESDAY 16 APRIL WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, Black Magic, The Little Mix Show, 7.

WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Last Baguette in The Bird Show, 11am.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Nash Ensemble, Adrian Brendel cello, Richard Hosford clarinet, Ian Brown piano, Beethoven, Debussy, Finzi, Brahms, 8pm.

EXETER, Barnfield Theatre, Enchanted Princess party, 11am and 2pm.

EXMOUTH, Pavilion, Immersion Theatre in The Adventures of Pinocchio, 2pm.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, As You Like It, live by satellite from RSC, 7.

SEATON, Gateway, As You Like It, live by satellite from RSC, 7.

THURSDAY 18 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Book Club, film, 11am: Green Book, film, 7.30.

Electric Palace, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, 1979 film, 7.30.

HONITON, Beehive, Dan Evans, comedy, 8.

FRIDAY 19 APRIL EXETER, Phoenix, Ferocious Dog. HONITON, Beehive, Schlomo’s Beatbox Adventure for Kids, 2pm.

ILMINSTER, Arts Centre, New Orleans Heat, jazz, 8.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, The Stones, tribute, 8.

SIDMOUTH, Parish Church, Sidmouth Occasional Choir and Orchestra, Bach, St John Passion, 7.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, That’ll Be the Day, 7.30.

SATURDAY 20 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Ballet Theatre UK in Swan Lake, 7.30.

Electric Palace, The Wurzels, and The Skimmity Hitchers, 8pm.

EXETER, University Great Hall, The Specials.

Barnfield Theatre, Arrival, the hits of ABBA, and Sun, 8.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Lyme Comedy Club with Chris McCausland, Suzy Bennett and Andrew White, 8.

SIDMOUTH, Manor Pavilion, Sidmouth Musical Theatre in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, to 27 March, 7.45.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, Lance Cpl Richard Jones, Escape, 7.30.

MONDAY 22 APRIL PLYMOUTH, Theatre Royal, Hair, to Sat.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 67

On Screen - In and Around the Vale THURSDAY 28 MARCH Stan and Ollie (PG) 97 mins Wootton Film Club Doors open 7pm, 7.30pm Tickets £5, available on the door.

Stan and Ollie 11am & 7.30pm Bridport Arts Centre 01308 427183 www.bridportarts.com.

FRIDAY 29 MARCH Bohemian Rhapsody 8pm presented

by Petherton Picture Show. Tickets: £5.

No concessions. The David Hall, South Petherton www.thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240340.

Nostalgic Cinema: High Noon (U) 2pm £3.80 dementia-friendly screening The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Mamma Mia! Here we go again singa-long (PG) 7.30pm £6.80/£5.80 Family of four £22. The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton. co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Bumblebee (PG) 7.30pm The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www. beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Bohemian Rhapsody (12A) 7.30pm Bridport Arts Centre 01308 427183 www. bridport-arts.com.

SUNDAY 31 MARCH Gnomeo and Juliet (U) 11am All tickets £2.50. This is part of the Philip Sutton My Shakespeare season Bridport Arts Centre 01308 427183 www.bridport-arts.com.

WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL King of Thieves (15) Moviola screening at Kilmington Village Hall, doors and bar 6.45pm show 7.15 pm. Tickets £5 in advance: 01297 639758 leave contact info to receive acknowledgement. £5.50 at the door. See www.kilmingtonvillage.com/ other-organisations.html.

THURSDAY 4 APRIL The Olive Tree (2016, Spain, 15, 98 mins, Subtitles, showing at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall, doors 7pm for 7.30pm start.

For information email mickpwilson53@ btinternet.com or ring Mick Wilson on 01460 74849 or Di Crawley on 01460 30508.

The Favourite 7.30pm £6 advance / £7.50 on the door. Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www.marinetheatre.com.

FRIDAY 5 APRIL On Chesil Beach (2017) (15) FilmCrew – Crewkerne Community Cinema at Wadham School and starts at 7.30pm. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are £6 for visitors.

Membership is £25 a year for 9 films.

SATURDAY 6 APRIL How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (PG) 3pm £6.80/£5.80 Family of four £22. The Beehive,

Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www. beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

MONDAY 8 APRIL Bohemian Rhapsody Presented by Moviola at Beaminster Public Hall. 7.30pm (doors open 7pm) Tickets at Yarn Barton 01308 862715 Or ring Elaine on 01308 861746 £5 (in advance) £5.50 (on door).

Leave No Trace (PG), Hawkchurch village hall. Doors at 7pm Programme 7.30pm Tickets cost £6 on the door, or £5 in advance from the village shop.

The Old Man & the Gun (12A) Odcombe Movie Night with FREE chocices. 8pm Village Hall doors 7.30pm.

Tickets: £5 in advance, £6 on door Phone: 07934 737104 for tickets.

TUESDAY 9 APRIL Some Like It Hot (PG) £6 advance / £7.50 on the door Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www.marinetheatre.com.

WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL Dorset’s Living Memories The Evergreens Cinema will be playing host to an afternoon of memories and nostalgia.

Starts at 1.45pm, at Age UK Dorchester’s centre at 4 Prince of Wales Road, Dorchester DT1 1PW. Admission £2 to include tea and biscuits. Phone Lucy on 01305 269444.

The Greatest Showman Singalong (PG) 2pm £4.50 advance and on the door Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www.marinetheatre. com.

FRIDAY 12 APRIL Stan and Ollie Petherton Picture Show at 8pm. Tickets: £5. No concessions.

The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www. thedavidhall.org.uk 01460 240 340.

Stan and Ollie CineChard at Chard Guildhall at 7.30pm (doors at 7pm). Tickets from Eleos, the PO and Barron’s in advance are £5 and £2.50 or on the door £6 and £3.

Refreshments available.

Bohemian Rhapsody £6 advance / £7.50 on the door Bar opens 6.30pm. Starts 7.30pm. Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www. marinetheatre.com.

Bohemian Rhapsody shown by Milborne Movies in Milborne St Andrew Village Hall DT11 0JX. Doors and Bar open 7pm; film starts 7.30pm.

TUESDAY 13 APRIL The Wife (15) presented by Hinton St. George ‘Flix in the Stix’in the Hinton Village Hall at 7.30pm. Tickets £5 in advance from the Village Shop and Dorothy’s Tea Room, or £5.50p on the door. Doors 7pm. Phone 01460 72563.

MONDAY 15 APRIL Cold War shown by Beer Film Society.

Doors open at Steamers Restaurant, Beer at

68 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

7pm for a 7.30pm screening. Members £4 and guests £5. All welcome.

TUESDAY 16 APRIL Mary Poppins Returns (PG) £4.50 advance and on the door Bar opens 1pm Starts 2pm. Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www.marinetheatre.com.

THURSDAY 18 APRIL Stan & Ollie (PG) £6 advance / £7.50 on the door Starts 7.30pm Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www.marinetheatre.com.

FRIDAY 19 APRIL Fighting With My Family (12A) 7.30pm The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

SATURDAY 20 APRIL The Kid Who Would Be King (PG) 3pm The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Cold War (15) 7.30pm The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www. beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Stan & Ollie (PG) Halstock Village Cinema in Halstock Village Hall. All tickets £6 from Halstock Shop or on the door. Licenced Bar opens at 7pm for 7.30pm start.

TUESDAY 23 APRIL A Man for All Seasons (U) £6 advance / £7.50 on the door Starts 7.30pm Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. www.marinetheatre. com.

FRIDAY 26 APRIL Nostalgic Cinema: Easter Parade (U) dementia-friendly 2pm £3.80 - includes tea and biscuits. The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton. co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Green Book (12A) 7.30pm The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www. beehivehoniton.co.uk Tel. 01404 384050.

SATURDAY 27 APRIL Capernaum (15) 7.30pm £6.80/£5.80 The Beehive, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LZ www.beehivehoniton.co.uk Box office 01404 384050.

Stan & Ollie (PG) Halstock Village Cinema in Halstock Village Hall all tickets £6 from Halstock Shop or on the door. Licensed Bar opens at 7pm for 7.30pm start.

Film with Food Evening featuring Mamma Mia – Here We Go Again (PG) presented by Petherton Picture Show at 7.30pm. Fancy dress optional but positively encouraged. Finger buffet supper. Tickets: £10. No concessions. Advance booking by Wednesday 24 April. Advise re any dietary requirements on booking. The David Hall, Roundwell Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AA www.thedavidhall.org. uk 01460 240 340.

PERFORMANCE TUESDAY 23 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, Rembrandt, exhibition on screen, 7.30.

BRISTOL, Old Vic, Ballet Black, double bill, and Wed. WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, Charlie Lansborough, farewell tour, 7.30.

WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, From Page to Screen, Closely Observed Trains, 1966 film, 11am: It Happened One Night, 1934 film, 2pm: State of the Union, 1948 film, 5pm: A Private War, film, 8pm.

DORCHESTER, Corn Exchange, Wyvern in Words Take Wings, folk drama drawn from Hardy’s notebooks, 8.

EXETER, Northcott Theatre, The Jasmin Vardimon Company in JV2 2019, 7.30.

ILMINSTER, Warehouse Theatre, IES in Dangerous Corner, to Sat, 7.30.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Theatr Iolo and The Riverfront in Transporter, 11-plus, 8.

THURSDAY 25 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, From Page to Screen, Diva, 1981 film, 11am: Mr Smith Goes to Washington, 1939 film 2pm: All the President’s Men, 1976 film, 5pm: Vice, film, 8pm.

Museums ALLHALLOWS MUSEUM

High Street, Honiton.

01404 44966. www.honitonmuseum.co.uk

AXMINSTER HERITAGE

EXETER, Corn Exchange, Vienna Festival Ballet in Copelia, 7.30.

SEATON, Gateway, All About Eve, encore by satellite from West End, 7.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Back to Bacharach.

Westlands, Laughing Boy Comedy Club.

FRIDAY 26 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, From Page to Screen, Live Flesh, 1998 film, 11am: Rebecca, 1940 film, 2pm: Can You Ever Forgive Me, film, 5.30: Tell It to the Bees, film, 8pm.

EXMOUTH, Pavilion, The Story of Guitar Heroes.

ILMINSTER, Arts Centre, Nikki Iles and her trio, with Karen Sharp, and Stan Sulzmann, tenor saxes, 8.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Posting Letters to the Moon, Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams reading lessons of Celia Johnson and Peter Fleming, 8.

SOUTH PETHERTON, David Hall, Flook, 8.

WEST BAY, Sladers Yard, artist Brian Graham in conversation with Prof Simon Olding, 6.30.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, Girl Power, The Spice Girls Experience, 7.30.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Showaddywaddy.

SUNDAY 28 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, From Page to Screen, The Leopard, 1963 film, 10am: The Queen, 2006 film, 2pm: Being There, 1979 film, 5pm: The Favourite, film, 7.30.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Jazz in the Bar, celebrating Miles Davis, 8.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, Paul Merton’s Impro Chums, comedy, 7.30.

YEOVIL, Octagon, Sinfonia Classica, Tamsin Little, violin, Warlock, Mozart, Shostakovich The Gadfly, Haydn, 7.30.

Please telephone for opening hours www.chardmuseum.co.uk.

CHIDEOCK MUSEUM

Church of Our Lady, North Road, Chideock. 01308 488348. www.chideockmartyrschurch.org.uk

Silver Street, Axminster.

01297 639884.

COLYTON HERITAGE CENTRE

www.axminsterheritage.org

Market Place, Colyton

BEAMINSTER MUSEUM

SATURDAY 27 APRIL BRIDPORT, Arts Centre, From Page to Screen, Il Postino, 1994 film, 11am: Dumbo, 2019 film, 2pm: Black Panther, film, 5pm: If Beale Street Could Talk, film, 7.30.

EXMOUTH, Pavilion, A Foreigner’s Journey, tribute.

LYME REGIS, Marine Theatre, Alabama 3 Acoustic, 8.

SEATON, Gateway, The Simmertones, ska and reggae, 7.30.

WEST BAY, Sladers Yard, Three Cane Whale, multi-instrumental acoustic trio, 8.

WEYMOUTH, Pavilion, The Sensational 60s Experience, 7.30.

www.colytonheritagecentre.org

MUSEUM High Street, Ilchester

(at the side of the Town Hall).

01935 841247.

LYME REGIS MUSEUM

Bridge Street, Lyme Regis.

01297 443370.

NOTHE FORT

The Keep, Bridport Road, Dorchester. 01305 264066.

www.fortressweymouth.co.uk.

www.beaminstermuseum.

The Heritage Centre, Market Square, Crewkerne. 01460 77079.

217 Wakeham Portland.

01305 821804.

www.crewkernemuseum.co.uk

ROYAL ALBERT MEMORIAL MUSEUM & ART GALLERY

Bere’s Yard, Blandford Forum.

01258 450388. www.blandfordtownmuseum.org

BRIDPORT MUSEUM

South Street, Bridport.

01308 422116.

DORSET COUNTY

High West Street, Dorchester.

01305 262735. (Closed) www.dorsetcountymuseum.org.

EXMOUTH MUSEUM

www.bridportmuseum.co.uk.

Sheppards Row, off Exeter Road, Exmouth. 07768 184127.

CASTLETON WATERWHEEL MUSEUM

FAIRLYNCH ARTS CENTRE AND MUSEUM

Oborne Road, Sherborne.

27 Fore Street, Budleigh Salterton.

01395 442666.

www.castletonwaterwheelmuseum. org.uk

CHARD MUSEUM

Godworthy House, High Street, Chard. 01460 65091.

GROVE PRISON MUSEUM

Governors Gardens, The Grove, Portland. 01305 715726.

ILCHESTER COMMUNITY

Dowell Street, Honiton.

01404 45006.

THE MILITARY MUSEUM OF DEVON AND DORSET

CREWKERNE & DISTRICT MUSEUM

BLANDFORD MUSEUM

THELMA HULBERT GALLERY, ELMFIELD HOUSE

Barrack Road, Weymouth.

01305 766626.

Whitcombe Road, Beaminster.

01308 863623. wordpress.com

SIDMOUTH MUSEUM

Hope Cottage, Church Street, Sidmouth. 01395 516139.

PORTLAND MUSEUM

Queen St, Exeter, EX4 3RX. 01392 665858.

SEATON MUSEUM

www.keepmilitarymuseum.org.

TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS MUSEUM

Tolpuddle, nr Dorchester.

01305 848237.

TUDOR HOUSE

3 Trinity Street, Weymouth.

01305 779711 or 812341.

Top Floor, Seaton Town Hall, Fore Street, Seaton. 01297 21660.

www.weymouthcivicsociety.org.

SHERBORNE MUSEUM

Abbey gatehouse, Church Lane, Sherborne. 01935 812252.

Sutton Poyntz Pumping Station, Sutton Poyntz, Weymouth.

01305 832634

www.sherbornemuseum.co.uk.

www.wessexwessex.co.uk.

SHIRE HALL MUSEUM

WATER SUPPLY MUSEUM

WEYMOUTH MUSEUM

High West Street, Dorchester.

01305 261849

Brewers Quay Hope Square, Weymouth. 01305 457982

www.shirehalldorset.org

www.weymouthmuseum.org.uk

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 69

Health&Beauty

Walking for enjoyment, health and education

Neil Lucas with Stipa gigantea in the Gravel Garden at Knoll Gardens Photograph by Amanda Walker WHAT better way to get healthy than a walk in good company. A new series of horticultural walks, talks and masterclasses takes place at Knoll Gardens this year personally-led by Neil Lucas, the UK’s leading authority on ornamental grasses, the new event programme marks his 25th anniversary at Knoll.

Neil’s continuously developing style has seen east Dorset-based Knoll Gardens become internationally acknowledged for its naturalistic planting. The extended 2019 event programme now includes masterclasses in ‘Designing in the Naturalistic Style’ alongside classes in his specialist subject, ornamental grasses.

Other new additions this year include an autumn celebration walk looking at planting for maximum effect throughout the year, and a series of shorter walks celebrating each season as Neil traces the garden’s annual journey and points out individual plants and mass plantings at their seasonal best.

“In the last 25 years gardeners have come to know more about the beauty that grasses can bring to any garden,” said Neil. “But they can add so much more.

Used well they also offer a new route to affordable, low maintenance, wildlifefriendly and truly sustainable gardening. The new masterclasses will look at the concepts and techniques we use at Knoll and also offer practical advice to help recreate our wildlife-friendly style”.

The first in a series of four bimonthly garden walks is on April 25 from 2 - 3 pm. Each individual walk will focus on the garden’s changing seasonal highlights; from spectacular individual plants to mass plantings of Knoll’s acclaimed grasses, and the rare and unusual trees and shrubs that form the backbone of the garden.

On route you’ll also find out a little more about Neil’s 25 years at Knoll, his aim to have a flower in bloom on every day of the season, and how he is looking after the garden’s wildlife.

Book on to all four walks to have the further opportunity of experiencing at first hand the spectacular seasonal changes that take place every year at Knoll, watching grasses come from ground level to five or six feet high in a matter of weeks and enjoying the garden’s annual journey from the first spring shoots of bright greens to the stunning glow of autumn colour.

Alongside the increased number of horticultural events Knoll is also hosting a year-round programme of lifestyle and wildlife walks, talks and workshops. For more information on all events go to knollgardens.co.uk/events Knoll Gardens is in Wimborne, east Dorset, BH24 7ND. The nursery and garden open from 10 – 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Call the nursery on 01202 873931.

70 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 71

Services&Classified 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

RESTORATION Furniture restoration.

Antiques large and small carefully restored. City and Guilds qualified, ten years experience in local family firm. Phil Meadley 01297 560335

Apr 19

STUDIO WANTED Female artist requires dry studio space within the Bridport area. Contact 07443516141

May 19

CURTAINS

PICTURE FRAMING

Little Curtains.

Handmade Curtains, Blinds and Cushions.

Contact 07443 516141 or 01308485325

Mar 20

MUSIC

Professional Picture Framing Small jewellery repairs Firebird Studio 19C South Street Bridport Contact 01308 422758 SAXOPHONE TUITION

RGT/LCM Examiner offers Electric and Acoustic Guitar Tuition.

Beginners to Advanced.

All Grades. charliemason3@btinternet. com Tel:07759 603912 01297 678691 Apr 19

Piano, violin, theory tuition at your home.

Highly qualified teacher.

20 years experience.

Adults and children welcome. Beginners to advanced. Dr Thomas Gold 07917 835781 Aug 19

Play saxophone just like you learned to talk.

Sound first, reading later.

It works! Call Rob 01297 21181.

ART CLASSES Painting & Drawing.

Tuesdays 10-1. Peaceful Bride Valley studio.

15mins Bridport. All abilities. Experienced teacher. Small class. 01308 897725 07787 724 772

To advertise on these pages telephone 01308 423031

Monthly Quiz –

SITUATIONS VACANT Part & full time kitchen help required. Ideally you will have a passion for the kitchen, be organised and flexible. Great rates of pay & tips. Interested?

Contact Claire - 01308 422845 or email claire@ sausageandpear.co.uk

DECORATING Painting/Decorating Team & Landscaping/ clearance/gardening/odd jobs. Two post university Students. Experienced decorators. Fast, efficient.

Cheap rates. References avlb. Pedro Warner 07557 Jun 19 965887

Cleaner. A reliable cleaner would improve the quality of my life - and my house - no end. Could you be that person? 4-5 hours a week, preferably Thursdays, Broadoak. 07977 907533

65 year-old gentleman with severe learning disability needs carer to join his current team, providing him with personal care and support accessing the community.

Flexible hours to include some Saturday working.

Near Charmouth. Phone 01297 489361

FOR SALE

STUDIO TO RENT Light, well insulated Recent conversion 4.5 x 5.7m. 15mins Bridport Peaceful Bride Valley Share kitchenette. 01308 897725 07787 724 772

Pioneer Amplifier / Receiver. Still under guarantee. Superb condition.

Still in original box with remotes £125 (ono) 07950481421.

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 Winterborne Whitechurch. The winner was Mrs Rose from Honiton.

72 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

FOR SALE

WANTED Dave buys all types of tools 01935 428975 Jul 19 Secondhand tools wanted. All trades. Users & Antiques. G & E C Dawson. 01297 23826. www.secondhandtools. co.uk.

Feb 19

Postage stamps. Private collector requires 19th and early 20th century British. Payment to you or donation to your nominated charity. 01460 240630.

Vintage & antique textiles, linens, costume buttons etc. always sought

by Caroline Bushell. Tel. 01404 45901.

Jun 19

Secondhand books wanted - Hardback, non fiction. All subjects considered. Must be in good condition. Tel. Jane 07885 625373. janethubron@gmail.com Wanted old large hallstand with mirror 01308 862692

Llamas for sale including rare imported SURI male & offspring. 01404 892981 & 07811 415259

Nordic Track crosscountry ski machine orig. £399. Good working order as seen £99 o.n.o. 01460 78759 Ercol Drop leaf coffee table light golden walnut colour 42” x 27” £400 01460 66475.

Bathroom mixer tap for counter top – waterfall style. New and to include all fittings £100 01297 647185.

Contemporary wallpaper

by Nina Campbell and Osbourne and little Four rolls green ivy and four animal printed £20 per roll enquiries 01308 423143.

Collection of assorted dolls. Can sell separately or all together. Prices ranging between £5 to £15 buyer collects 01305 781657.

Parker Knoll recliner

2016 Sterling Eccles 480 2-berth caravan.

Everything to start you caravanning. As new, no pets, non smokers, Aldi heating solar panel ATC £15,500 07885 762143 Wooden Garden Table four chairs umbrella £80 01308 425992 (1102) £50. The Folio edition of the History of the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire £10 01935 873943.

Lonsdale exercise bike unused £25 digital display / padded saddle / rubber covers on handlebars 07565526524.

Marquee 3m x 9m used once for wedding £100 ‘hardshell’ wheeled suitcases various sizes £10 each more details phone 01297 443930.

Generator 1.1 kVA 240/12v Pro power, little use £30. Stihl MS170 chainsaw £30. Master 15 kW propane space heater 230 v, new £30 01308 488053

ELECTRICAL

Cash paid for old coins.

Email prodatsev@yahoo. co.uk Model railway equipment especially Hornby, Dublo, Wrenn, Trix. Best prices from genuine collector 01308 459080

FOR SALE Black leather manual recliner chair, new condition 1 year old space needed £125 01308 862025.

Set of 4 Eclipse Jaques London Bowls plus Slazenger Bowls bag. Good condition £45 01404 45643 (Honiton).

Table lamp beautiful red and yellow ochre, William Morris design. Approx 34cm high, 22cm wide was £100 new, £50 ono photo available 01308 456940.

‘Brother’ knitting machines one automatic one manual £200 01297 489498.

PEOPLE AT WORK

BUILD

Jason Hill, photograph and words by Catherine Taylor

JASON HILL As Watch Manager of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Jason Hill gives an insight to his job by describing himself with a smile as, “the one with the white helmet, think of Fireman Sam, I get to sit in the front seat!” For nearly a year now, Jason has been running Red Watch at Exeter City Centre Fire Station, a great accolade. Working shifts of two days and two nights before four days off, there is no standard work day for this full-time firefighter.

Jason is always busy. There is kit to clean and examine, and then check again. Every bit of equipment gets inspected twice a day, every day. Fire Safety Inspections need to be carried out at local businesses, as well as Operational Risk Visits at public sites. No matter where they are though, if the alert sounds, the team have to be back in the fire engine and moving down the road within 60 seconds. Some of the most common calls they deal with are supporting other services, such as the Ambulance service or Police. Jason admits ‘the job can be harrowing at times, but saving someone’s life is the most satisfying thing you can do’. And of course, for anyone in charge, there is desk work too. Jason writes the incident report for the call outs and carries the responsibility of ensuring all is in order at the station.

Jason is the son of a fireman, his dad has inspirationally been in the service for 40 years. Jason grew up on a dairy farm in Colyton, but always knew he also wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, so joined as a retained fireman at Axminster. He has now served 16 years as a fireman, with over 14 years full time. Living in Chardstock with his wife Emily and dog Rudi, the couple are busy renovating a bungalow they bought, which takes up Jason’s time when he’s not on shift. He also finds running therapeutic, something that clears his head, paired with fitness being a part of the job. He still loves the rural countryside and gets involved in the local community as a bell ringer at Chardstock Church. A fan of the Exeter Chiefs, who he tries to see as much as possible, you may also catch Jason on his downtime, with a welldeserved beer in hand, watching Formula One. Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 73

FOR SALE Rocking horse made by Ian Armstrong excellent condition chestnut horse £225 ono 01308 488239.

Mirror bevel edge antique finish 28”w x 40”h. Good condition £20 01297 33082.

Bumper Spitfire mk4 front poor condition £20. Haynes manuals: Citroen 2CV Ami and Dyane, also Triumph Spitfire GT6 + Vitesse £15 each including postage 01297 22622.

Old Dowsing Books Long out of print. If you are interested in this subject they will be very good instruction manuals £50 ono 07594687485.

Collect it magazines all in vgc approx 60 copies. Offers around £20 01297 32625.

Free printer/scanner Epson stylus DX4000 with instructions, not wi/fi 01460 53635.

Wood burning stove £275.

Stovax Stockton 5. Good condition buyer collects 01305 269315.

Singer sewing machine model 185K 1960 with instruction book and accessories 01308 421940.

Guitar amplifier Blackstar series one 45w 2 x 12” combo footswitch castors little VSE VGC £395 01300 320059.

Electric guitar blade Levinson Texas Pro hard case VSC system single coil pickups black ex cond £375 01300 320059.

Gardens of Beauty Plates.

8 x new By Recco (boxed)

STORAGE

74 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2019 Tel. 01308 423031

£35. Fabric storage wardrobe new 70 x 46 x 150 cms £5 01297 34547.

Parker Knoll winged recliner (model number 1102) £50. The Folio edition of ‘The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ £10. Other substantial books £3 01935 873943.

Wrought iron garden gate 42” x 42” black some scroll work panels complete with hinges and catch, good condition £40 ono 01460 66820.

Round pine table metre diameter on four pedestal legs antique pine finish top bolts on base £40 ono 01460 66820.

Electric sewing machine £25 01308 867535.

Oak chest H22” L42” W20” good condition (Whitehead Leics) £50 ono.

2pc Victorian style ball gown unworn suit theatre work 36/38” bust £60 ono 01404 823699.

Home helper 4 wheeled trolley 2 shelves £12.50.

Winter duvet 13.5tog double bed size occasional use in spare bedroom £10 phone 01297 443930.

G Plan teak cabinet 40”h x 30”w 2 doors 2 large 2 small drawers jewellery compartment £45. Sewing machine table with machine £40 01297 443930.

Lawn Scarifier (Titan) Excellent condition, ready for the new garden year. £20 Sidmouth 01395 516435.

Hinged Shower Screen for bath.Plain smoked glass.

68.5cm wide x 131cm tall. £10 o.n.o. Tel. 01308 867104 Electric long reach hedge cutter/trimmer, gwo. £25.00 collect. Ilminster: 01460 52302 mob 07486866998 Two decorative urn style Egyptian Vases - with handles either side -1 approx 10 1/4” tall and 1 approx 10” tall - 3 1/4” at the base.

Can email photos. Very good condition no chips. £25 the pair. Tel 01404 41245 Free Cabin Bed for child/ young teenager. Solid wood, white. Needs assembly, all bits included. To collect.

Mattress to go with it, if wanted, nearly excellent condition £20. 01308 485741 Single white wooden bed, perfect condition £25 and three years of Military History Magazines 2014-17 £20 07542 757054 69 piece silver plated cutlery set in oak box. King design 8 table setting. Walker and Hall.£550. Freestanding light/med pine mirror £48.00 as new Tel 07768901443 Wheelie bin - large capacity green bin, excellent condition. £10.00 Tel: 01404 549503 Roger Black gold treadmill with original instructions.

Many features including electronic incline and 7 different programs including calories used, distance, etc.

We can deliver up to 25 miles radius for a fee or

FOR SALE you an collect but it is very heavy and would need a van. £160 ovno. 01935 823177 Near Martock.

9 Iain Banks and 7 Iain M Banks novels - 16 in total.

Three of them are hardback and they are all good condition. Titles include Crow Road, Complicity, the Bridge and Walking on Glass. £10 for the set. No offers. 01935 823177 Near Martock.

Adler Wheeled Suitcase “Momentum” Navy Blue, 49Wx32Dx72H, Spotless, Never Used. £35. Tel: 01297 32237 Black A2 size zip-up ring binder portfolio case with carrying handles and internal pocket £5.00. Chrome finish metal fire side cleaning set £5.00. Brass antique coal scuttle with top and rear carrying handles. £ 25.00.

Pre-insulated 25 mm twin underground pipe for hot and cold water with fittings, approximately thirteen metres, brand new due to change in boiler location. £400.00 01297 489741 Single bed, pine with 2 deep drawers, 3ft wide, no

mattress, £60, buyer collects.

Exercise tool,’Body-Blade’, as new, with DVD Manuel, £20. Tel 01308 485669, near Bridport.

Cabin / high sleeper wooden single bed. V good condition. £25.00 buyer collects Tel: 07755 737360 Good Health. Exercise with light weights. 6x2kg 4x1.5kg 8x1kg 2x0.5kg 2dumbells with 4xcollars. £25 Tel Weymouth 01305 787272 Good health monitor with Boots blood pressure monitor with instructions £25. Tel Weymouth 01305 787272 Speakers and Monitor Laney C15 pair speakers and stands and Peavey PRO15PM monitor with cables £325 Tel: 01297 34958.

Qualcast Suffolk Punch Cylinder Electric 12 Lawn Mower Used very little + original instruction leaflet.

Can email photos. Ex. Cond. £180.00 Tel: 07773675792 (Charmouth) Royal Doulton Wedding Day Figurine No.Hn2748, 13 inches Beautiful piece, excellent condition, no chips, cracks or restoration. Ideal

wedding gift or elegant table/ cake decoration £55 ono.

Can email photos. 01308 421720 (Bridport ) Airplane Aviation Encyclopedia. 18 Folders £30. Pine Bookcase 4 shelves H 5ft W 3ft £20 Phone 01460 73154 Wrought-iron gate, old, H 110 x W 108 cms. Lower hanging missing. Can email photo. £25. 01297 639283 Laptop Acer Aspire ES15, 15” screen, 4 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD (wiped), excellent condition. £60. 01297 639283 Suitcases, various sizes, and flight bag, all with rigid sides and zipped fabric tops, plus two large zipped holdalls, all with wheels and all good condition including the zips.

Ring for sizes. £4 each or less if several bought. 01297 639283 Visqueen polytunnel covering 7.3m x 5.7m, unused, ideal for small tunnel £35. Tel: 01404 881635.

Visqueen polytunnel covering 15m x 3.4m, unused, ideal for sides/ repairs/cold frames, £30. Tel: 01404 881635

Green woven shading for garden/greenhouse use, 40m x 1.5m, unused, £40. Tel: 01404 881635.

Round fibreglass pond, 5 ft. diameter, 2 ft. deep with plant ledges. Dark green.

130 gallon capacity. £165 ONO new price £340.

Collect from near Crewkerne. Farris 01460 242254.

Red Three seater Chesterfield style sofa, very good condition. Pet free and non smoking home. Fire cert. 228 x 100 x 73cm. £200.00. Tell 01460 279646 Crewkerne.

Winged armchair upholstered in Laura Ashley raspberry/beige material.

Immaculate condition. £250.

Tel 07871 109872.

Dog Cages Black. Little used,30”long x19”wide x19”high £20 also another, well used, 28”long x18”wide x 18” high £10. 01308 485687.

Free set of 35 encyclopaedias, micro, macro, perfect condition.

Published 1987 Tel no 01297 631363.

2 bags misc golf clubs c/w trolleys. £10 each. 1.

Paddy Hopkirk cycle carrier.

Will take 2 cycles. £10.

1 Golds gym equipment Ab Max swinger. £10. 2 large “Tripp” suitcases 30” x 19”, both 4 wheels, only used once. £10 each. Phone 01297 444475 Mahogany Demi Lune Table with Green Leather inlay and front draw. £75.

Antique Gramophone cabinet. Can also be used as a drinks cabinet Superb piece of Furniture £145.

Bosch Microwave White As New £70. Franke Fragranite Polar White Sink Basis BFG 651 50 x 97 cm. Still boxed never opened. Cost £400 will Accept £250 Tel: 07484 689302

CHIMNEY SWEEP

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