Issue 10 - Volume 18 - Mendip Times

Welcome

WE have positive environmental news from across the area this month, including projects in North Somerset and Westhay being undertaken by Somerset and Avon Wildlife Trusts.

Elsewhere, the Mendip AONB service has secured funding for a range of projects and The Levels have a new attraction, a range of buildings depicting the area’s history, including a Roman villa and Saxon longhall. It’s taken volunteers years to build them.

Volunteers also feature heavily, as usual, in our community and charity pages. We meet the Bleadon Belles and hear how a night of feasting helped good causes in Axbridge.

A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a mother who arrived here tells us of her hopes for the future.

Sue Gearing explores the fascinating industrial heritage alongside the Mells stream, including the Hucky Duck! Les Davies laments the fact that so many historic buildings are in danger of being lost.

We preview the Mendip Farmers’ Point to Point, a sign that spring can’t be far away. With all of our regular contributors and features, welcome to another slice of Mendip life.

April 2023 deadline: Friday 17th March

Published: Tuesday 28th March

Editorial: Steve Egginton steve@mendiptimes.co.uk

Mark Adler mark@mendiptimes.co.uk

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Water Box appeal

A £150,000 APPEAL has been launched by the Mendip-based Water Survival Box charity to send 1,000 lifesaving kits to the earthquake-devaasted areas of Turkey and Syria.

An initial 200 boxes were being flown from Heathrow Airport as Mendip Times went to press. They will provide for at least 1,000 people to begin to rebuild their lives.

The charity, run by the Rotary Club of Chelwood Bridge, has been in touch with the Turkish and Syrian in-country teams of three of its regular international NGO partners. Each box is designed to provide essential survival items for a family of five and, most importantly, the means of converting contaminated water into safe drinking water. The cost of each box is £150. Donations, which can be gift-aided, should be made online through www.watersurvivalbox.org or by cheque made out to Water Survival Box Limited and sent to the charity’s registered address: Broadway House, Third Avenue, Westfield Industrial Estate, Midsomer Norton BA3 4XD.

Planning ahead

Young artists showcased

PAINTINGS and drawings by young people in Shepton Mallet, which feature in a community-inspired book about the town’s successful battle to save its library from closure, have been displayed for the last time together in a special exhibition in SS Peter and Paul Church.

The artwork featured in a book – The Town that saved its Library – written and compiled by Helen and Rob Heaton – which charts the campaign. The library is owned by Somerset County Council but is now operated by Seven Starlings CIC which has seen the building opened up for more community use.

The 17 main pictures are now on show in the library whilst families were invited to take home the remainder after the exhibition, organised with the help of the Rev. Gill Sakakini, the pioneer priest in the arts for the Bath and Well Diocese, ended.

ARTSCouncil England have paid the final instalment of the £19,572 grant they gave to the Axbridge Pageant last August.

Phil Saunders, chairman of the pageant, said: “In making a successful funding application, the Axbridge Pageant has shown how it is created by and enacted for our whole, diverse community.”

Artistic director, John Bailey, said: “A large group of people helped with fundraising and grant applications. For the future, in the run up to 2030, we are planning events such as the progressive supper, rock concerts and sponsored walks.”

The pageant was first staged in 1967. Since 1970, it has been held every decade, with the 2020 event delayed for two years due to Covid. The next Axbridge Pageant will be performed on Saturday-Monday, August 24th-26th 2030.

Campaigners fight plan

A NEWenvironmental group, the Churchill and Langford Jubilee Woodland Association, has been formed following the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

It aims to promote the creation of community woodland and meadowland in and around the two villages, with the aim of protecting and enhancing biodiversity and habitat, while allowing public access.

Its first campaign is to join Churchill parish council in trying to persuade North Somerset Council to change its plans for a new special school in Churchill.

The site at the corner of Ladymead and Pudding Pie Lanes is one of the last remaining fields in the area visible from the road.

Campaigners say it has huge ecological, recreational and social value and has only been selected by the council because it already owns the land. Before that it had belonged to the Churchill Estate for about 1,000 years.

Instead they suggest the “monstrous tin shed” could be built on unused land at Monaghan Mushrooms about a quarter of a mile away instead of on an area that is an important wildlife corridor between Wrington Hill and the Mendips.

The school would replace a school in Nailsea which teaches children with social, emotional and mental health issues.

The parish council says it is not against the school, just the location.

Book compilers Rob and Helen Heaton (with Rusty the cockerpoo), with artist Heidi, aged nine, a pupil at St Paul’s

The first consignment is packed up at Westfield

Rewilding project is reaping benefits

A SURVEY into a £100,000 project to rewild parts of North Somerset has shown it is making a big impact on improving diversity and creating new wildlife habitats.

North Somerset Council, which declared a Climate and Nature Emergency in 2019 is celebrating the results of its work thanks to information gathered by “rewilding champions”, a project delivered by Avon Wildlife Trust and funded by £100,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The council, who introduced a rewilding programme soon after declaring the emergency, worked with volunteers and its contractors Glendale. A total of 30,000 young trees were planted and an area of around 400,000m2 of tall grass created.

The rewilding champions project – delivered between July 2021 and November 2022 – saw residents volunteering to measure biodiversity to determine the success of the council’s rewilding efforts. Ten of these people became rewilding champions.

Avon Wildlife Trust used the funding to recruit four local people – a project manager, a project assistant and two placements. The team organised and led 100 engagement and survey sessions.

The project found a much greater variety and abundance of wildlife within the rewilded areas, including:

• increased flower diversity within tall grass areas compared to those areas which are regularly mown,

• more varied plant species within the rewilded areas,

• an increase in the number of insects recorded, and

• an increase of the number of species of insects, known as “species richness”, within the tall grass areas. This was found to be nearly three times higher than within the mown areas.

Councillor Mike Solomon, North Somerset Council's Executive Member for Neighbourhoods and Community services, said: "We have declared a nature emergency and we’re carrying out a range of projects to address this. The rewilding champions project, which was made possible thanks to National Lottery players and our partnership with Avon Wildlife Trust, has helped us to deliver an ambitious rewilding programme to significantly transform how we manage our open spaces.”

Rewilding champions will continue working with council officers to help train future volunteers, monitor sites and look for ways to make further improvements across the area.

l A short video has been created by Avon Wildlife Trust to celebrate the end of the project: https://youtu.be/1wqn3HMx7jQ Details: www.n-somerset.gov.uk/rewilding

Children join in royal tree planting

THE Platinum Jubilee and the life of the late Queen Elizabeth were commemorated in the planting of a traditional English oak tree in the cemetery in High Littleton. Organised by Holy Trinity Church

parochial church council, pupils from the neighbouring primary school –accompanied by headteacher, Gareth Griffith, and head of KS1 Emma Payne –helped with the event. The tree has been added to the Queen’s Green Canopy.

The children planted snowdrops around the base of the tree and read a poem entitled “Trees”, whilst the Rev. Adam Pitt lead a reflection and prayers for the late Queen and the Royal Family.

Rewilding champions undertaking survey work

The gathering in High Littleton cemetery

Members of the school council with the oak

More funding for Mendip AONB

THE Mendip AONB service says people and wildlife across the Mendip Hills will benefit from two parts of Defra's Environmental Improvement Plan announced on January 31st.

Firstly, the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme has been extended for another year until March 2025.

The AONB service has already redistributed £300,000 of public money through the programme to over 40 projects across the Mendip Hills to plant new hedges, rebuild drystone walls, restore ponds and community engagement with farming through training and events.

The second part, Access for All, is a three-year funding programme which will improve access across the country.

In Mendip, the AONB says it will pay for infrastructure improvements to two popular visitor car parks, clearing a busy entrance to Black Down, replacing stiles with gates, seating at the National Trust's Black Rock entrance to Cheddar Gorge, a more accessible visitor guide to the AONB and a new guide for the Mendip Way.

Andy Wear, chair of the Mendip Hills AONB Partnership, said: “This is an important step for Defra in recognising the value of AONBs to society and how farmers can be part of the solution to

some of our current climate and ecological problems, if we work with them and use their expertise.

“I'm lucky that I get to spend a lot of my time outside on the Mendip Hills and understand the benefits of doing this; this access shouldn't be a privilege.

“The new access money will be used to create improvements for as many people as possible and I'm confident the AONB Service can do this without impacting on the natural beauty of the area.”

Rock column tribute to geologist

MEMBERS of the Wells U3A geology group have helped to build a geological timeline showing the various rock strata which make up the Stoke St Michael area of Mendip.

The column – or gabion – has been built near the entrance to the Somerset Earth Science Centre next door to Wainwright’s Moonshill Quarry. It was filled with rocks starting with Silurian stone, from Moonshill, followed by Devonian, from Beacon Hill, Carboniferous, from Halecombe Quarry, Triassic, from Nettlebridge, and ending with Jurassic stone from Doulting Quarry before being topped with a layer of turf.

Funding for the pilot project came from the Mendip Hills Fund and Somerset Community Foundation with support from the Mendip quarrying industry and the team at the SESC hope to build further columns in other key places on Mendip with a geological trail around the lake at the centre.

The column is also a tribute to the late Professor Chris King, a key support of SESC; his sons, Tom and Dave, joined in with building the column.

Many hands make light work

Dave (left) and Tom King help to lay the Devonian strata

The column nears completion

Lottie Sweeney, panel member and farmer

Reserves go hi-tech

SOMERSET Wildlife Trust has announced two special new developments at its flagship reserves on the Avalon Marshes – Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve and Catcott Nature Reserve. New digital visitor interpretation technology will enable visitors to learn more about the sites from their smartphones without the need for 4G coverage.

And a new wheelchair-friendly boardwalk has been constructed at Westhay Moor, leading to an amazing new “island” viewing hide.

These projects have been funded by the Government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, which has also been helping the RSPB make improvements to its Ham Wall Nature Reserve.

The developments tie in with the trust’s ambition to enable more people to access nature easily and to break down perceived barriers to visiting nature reserves that might otherwise deter those new to nature from visiting.

New interpretation signs at Westhay and Catcott nature reserves will feature QR codes, which will allow visitors to access interactive, digital content on their smartphones.

The trust have addressed power, internet and 4G connectivity issues on the reserves through the use of InfoPoint, a platform that uses solar-powered hardware to share digital content.

After connecting a mobile device to an InfoPoint, visitors will be able to freely browse videos, maps, audio, text, images, and interactive content without any downloads, logins, or mobile data.

The new Island Hide is suitable for both wheelchairs and pushchairs, allowing access to the heart of the reed beds – and the chance to spot bittern or other rare birds and animals.

Jane Brookhouse, Avalon Marshes project manager, said: “Accessing information via mobile devices is something culturally very familiar to us, as is orienting through digital maps, so we hope that with more information, people will feel more confident about what to expect from the experience, taking away some of the ‘unknowns’.

“The Island Hide’s open-style construction also will ensure people feel comfortable in trying something that is perhaps an entirely new experience.”

New approaches to food production

A NEWinitiative is being launched in Glastonbury that brings together farmers, growers, conservationists and local councils to establish an “Avalon Agroecological Area” within a five-mile radius of the town.

Called 5FF, it will support local farmers and food growers to embrace more nature and climate-friendly approaches to food production.

A launch event will be held on March 19th, at Glastonbury Town Hall from 10.30 to 4pm, open to anyone who is interested in learning more about agroecology.

The event will also feature feedback from farmers and growers who have been taking part in a 5FF pilot.

Melissa Taylor, Glastonbury Town Council’s Climate Emergency and Resilience Officer, part of the working group for 5FF, said: “5FF is partly about mitigating climate change, but it’s also about anticipating and adapting to changes in our weather and everything that comes with it.

“We’re right on the edge of the Somerset Levels here, so have a strong awareness of what sea level rises could do. What is perhaps less widely understood is the potential impact of biodiversity decline on our food supply, especially when combined with future weather extremes.”

5FF has also been welcomed by Sustainable Food Somerset, organisers of the Somerset Food Trail, a local advocacy group working towards a more nature-friendly food system.

The initiative involves five councils: Glastonbury, Meare & Westhay, Baltonsborough, Street and St Cuthbert Out; five conservation organisations, National Trust, Somerset Wildlife Trust, Mendip AONB, Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (via SWT).

Five farmers and growers also supporting it are Plotgate CSA, Bridie’s Yard, Growing Happiness, Tor Farm and Brook Farm.

Details: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/519647809587

The new hide

Plotgate Community Farm

Hedging bets on milk prices

IN the winter of 1984/1985 I spent two days planting a hedge at Stepstones Farm, Wrington. Alvis Brothers had recently purchased the farm and were in the process of “gapping up” boundary hedges, planting new in-field hedges, filling in the old railway line, planting a wood on the refill and digging a wildlife pond. All these things have matured over the last 35 years and are now fixtures in our landscape.

With NICK GREEN

Dozens of expert hedge layers along with the class of 2023 should leave the hedge in a “North Somerset style” stockproof barrier and help it last for decades to come. The match starts at 10am on March 11th and visitors are very welcome. Plenty of tea, coffee and cake will be available and it’s easy access from Wrington and Langford.

Understanding the economics is the easy bit. Those selling cheese also need to take into account when it was made.

The hedge I refer to is the site for this year’s Wrington and Burrington Hedging Society’s annual hedge laying competition. It is the first time the majority of the hedge has been laid and should be a great sight.

I am often asked why milk, cheese, yoghurt and butter prices have increased recently. Escalating farm input costs and a milk shortage last summer saw milk prices rocket from 30 pence per litre up to 50 pence. Understanding the price of milk is straightforward.

However, not everything is so straightforward. For a cheese maker, as a rule of thumb it takes about 10,000 litres of milk to make one tonne of cheese.

A mild cheese will have been made three months before it arrives on the shop shelf whereas a mature cheese could be up to 15 months old. This means the older cheese will have been made with “cheap milk” and the young cheese with more expensive milk.

Currently, exactly the opposite is happening. Milk prices have gone down from 50 pence per litre at Christmas and are likely to be 40 pence by the end of the month. Let’s hope the retailers are as quick to pass on the decreases as they were the increases.

Nick Green is Farms Director for Alvis Bros Ltd based at Lye Cross Farm. As well as the business, he is involved with a number of local and national farming charities.

Big bat box build

OUR busy volunteers have been building bat boxes to be put up across the AONB ready for when the bats emerge from hibernation in Spring. Some of the volunteers taking part are from our recent recruitment drive at the end of last year –it's always great to see new faces joining us. Please get in touch with us if you would be interested in volunteering, more information can be found on our website.

Defra announce new funds to help the Mendip Hills

A RECENTannouncement from Defra means two new funds for the Mendip Hills AONB. The successful Farming in Protected Landscapes programme has been extended for a year, until 2025, and there is also a new fund called Access for All to improve access to green spaces. The access money is being used to improve Ellick Entrance on to Black Down, improve two car parks and convert stiles to gates.

The Mendip Hills AONB Service is offering funding towards accessing specialist support and advice for Farm Carbon Auditing –ask us today for a prefilled application pack. Or speak to us about applying for funding for other projects on your land.

Animal

Advances in cameras

WEhave mentioned previously that cameras incorporated in electronic devices, especially phones, have developed at an amazing pace since their appearance in the first mobile phones at the turn of the century, and how they can produce quite astonishingly high-quality pictures nowadays.

This has led to the sales of pocket point and shoot cameras diminishing drastically. Although there has been an upsurge in interest for second-hand ones recently.

Advances in technology have, however, found their way into higher end and professional cameras. The mainstay of these the SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras are gradually being replaced by more compact and lighter Mirrorless versions.

WIFI is often incorporated to send images straight to your computer or the internet and allow control of the camera from another device. Of course, most will take video as well as still images.

Post processing software on the computer with AI (artificial intelligence) can be used to correct or improve the image to the extent they can become more of a work of art. It is possible for multiple images of the same subject to be merged to bring all areas of the image into focus at the same time (focus stacking). Similarly, where a subject has very dark or very light area it may be adjusted to produce a more pleasing picture (exposure blending). Objects or people can be removed from the background.

In the past you could select a film according to its sensitivity. High sensitivity film for a night-time shoot for example. The sensitivity of the sensor in the modern digital camera has settings allowing it to be changed for individual images and the range of sensitivity is much greater than film. And the list goes on.

All this might seem very daunting. However, a quick search of YouTube, say for “landscape photography”, will reveal a plethora of helpful videos; check out Henry Turner or Mark Denny for example and hopefully be inspired . . .

The Mendip Mindbender

ACROSS

1 A reverse ballet step reduces vigour (3)

8 Butcombe brewery operates from here (8)

9 An Indian sailor swaps ends becoming a scamp (6)

10 A light to undress by, probably neon (5,5)

11 The highest adult male singing voice (4)

12 In a state of enjoying great pleasure (6)

14 A holder of a streetlight (4-4)

15 Swift running, flightless, African bird with long neck, legs and two toes on each foot (7)

17 Football team originally from Woolwich (7)

21 Major Chinese Seaport or force to join a ship's crew (8)

23 Devon, Jersey or Hereford (6)

25 The official language of Pakistan (4)

26 This Somerset producer of conservatories and windows is closing after 37 years because they cannot find staff to recruit (10)

28 Flunky, hanger-on or poodle (6)

29 Chap on the other side of the counter (8)

30 Talk informally or chatter (3)

DOWN

1 ‘Heal’, a Somerset rewilding charity has just bought 460 acres of land here (6)

2 Against (4)

3 Physically strong, fit and sports capable (8)

4 Curl up and cuddle (7)

5 “For the time being,” in Latin (3,3)

6 Steep slope separating land at different heights (10)

7 A musical composition with a free form (8)

12 Self-importance, self-worth or self-image (3)

13 Of the practice of travel through air (10)

16 Shaped like a ball but not perfectly (8)

18 Landslide (8)

19 Fabricate while in a horizontal position (3)

20 Lady who plays international football for England (7)

22 Making a long trek on foot (6)

24 Room to manoeuvre when given this (6)

27 Long strip of cloth worn over one shoulder or around the waist (4)

By greendandelion

Clues in italics are cryptic

This month’s solution can be found on page 72

With

Clever ways with those tasty titbits

KATY BEAUCHAMP

BAKED POTATO PIE

BOTH A SAUCE –AND A SOUP?

CRAFTY FRESH CREAM GATEAU

These are great for after-school tea

I had some bolognaise left over in the fridge, but didn’t want pasta, so I baked some potatoes and made some individual portion-sized “pies”.

METHOD

Bake the potatoes. (I microwave for seven minutes and then crisp them off in the oven for half an hour).

Scoop out the soft potato and mash with cheese and butter.

Load the bolognaise/chilli into the potato skins, top with mash and bake at 160°C for half an hour until the top is golden and crispy. If the bolognaise/chilli is already hot, you could crisp them off under the grill.

INGREDIENTS

Bolognaise or chilli sauce

Baking Potatoes

Butter Cheese

Serve with any veg your child will eat!

Pasta sauce served as a soup!

A great way of using up those bits and pieces of vegetables you can’t quite decide what to do with, this makes a great pasta sauce or a warming, creamy soup! Either way, serve with some grated parmesan if desired. Or add croutons, if turning it into soup.

METHOD

Mix everything together, apart from the milk, in an ovenproof dish and bake in an oven at 160°C for 45-60 minutes until the edges are soft. Blitz to a smooth consistency to make a delicious vegetable pasta sauce. Heat equal quantities of milk with this sauce to make a lovely tomato soup.

INGREDIENTS

(Makes approx. eight portions of pasta sauce)

1 chopped pepper

½ chopped courgette

1 chopped aubergine

3 chopped tomatoes (squishy is fine)

550g passata

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp mixed herbs

Salt and pepper

Milk (if you are making soup)

A no-bake cake with interesting stripes!

When I told dinner guests what they were having for dessert – and that it was a recipe for the magazine – they declared it was cheating! Maybe, but for those who can’t bake or have little time, you can create a gorgeous cake in under ten minutes!

METHOD

Cut the Swiss Rolls in half and stand them on their ends on a serving plate. Squish them together to form a “cake” shape. Whip the cream, vanilla and sugar together until stiff, cover the whole cake and decorate with soft fruit. The picture shows the beautiful vertical stripes of jam when you cut into it!

INGREDIENTS

(Makes eight to ten portions)

3 vanilla and jam Swiss Rolls

1 pint cream

1tsp vanilla extract

1tbs caster sugar

Soft fruit of your choice

Some ideas for using up leftovers to create tasty savoury offerings –and a delicious fresh cream strawberry sponge cake that doesn’t need baking!

With

Trail plans a feast of local food

SOMERSETFood Trail has announced plans for this year’s event, with an emphasis on showcasing food gathered within a 30-mile radius of venues.

Last year’s trail was an incredible success, with 8,500 people visiting over 190 sustainable food producers and retailers. The 2023 trail will run from July 14th-30th with a new over-arching theme of The 30-mile Feast, including tips on foraging.

Somerset Food Trail is managed and run by Sustainable Food Somerset (formerly Wells Food Network), a local advocacy group working towards a more nature-friendly food system.

They are putting out a countywide call to encourage feasts and tastings that can showcase food gleaned and grown within a 30-mile radius and say that with such

an abundance of growers on our doorstep, that shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.

New board member, Graham Harvey, an environmental campaigner and former Radio 4 Archers adviser and script writer, said: “Ultimately, we are trying to create a movement that gets consumers to wield the power they have to impact food production, supporting the shift to naturefriendly farming that is vital for our planet.”

Stewart Crocker, chair of Sustainable Food Somerset said: “It’s time to recognise the value of restoring and creating habitat for nature within a productive landscape.

“It is telling that one of the key topics under discussion at Davos this January was food systems and how they can be

revolutionised through regenerative agriculture. Our chemical-dependent food system is simply unsustainable in every sense.”

If you would like to set up a feast in your area, the deadline for applications is March 15th.

Details: https://www.somersetfoodtrail.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somersetfoodtrail Instagram: @somersetfoodtrail22

with Mary Berry!)

Sunday 2 April: Spring Flowers & Leafy Greens Foray

Sunday 9 April: Spring Flowers & Leafy Greens Foray

Sunday 1 October: Autumn Fungi, Fruit & Nuts Foray

Sunday 15 October: Autumn Fungi, Fruit & Nuts Foray

Tea/coffee & biscuits on arrival, seasonal wild food foray, a cook up and tasting of our finds, followed by a light foragers lunch. Adults £65 per person, under 16’s £25 per person (all under 16’s must be accompanied by a full paying adult).

“On the Spoon”supper at Shatwell Farm, Castle Cary, last year, using food from over 20 local producers

WILD FOOD

Springtime kisses

THEREis something magical about the springtime, a total joy for the senses. The wildflowers are out in vibrant abundance, the songbirds are singing sweet songs and the warming breezes whisper springtime kisses after the harshness of cold winter’s breath. All very poetic. But there are two senses we often forget about, technically known as the gustatory and olfactory systems respectively. Taste and smell to you and I.

There is a springtime plant that is one of the super wild foods, a tasty treat that is fabulously versatile. But its flavour is strong. I mean very strong. And it smells. A lot.

It was known from the Old English name “bramsa”, which developed into “hramsam”, eventually becoming “Ramsons”. But there have been many other historical names: Stinking Jenny, Stinking Lilies and the wonderfully accurate Onion Stinkers!

Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) is a member of the onion family, growing up to 50cm. The leaves are broad and spear-like, a rich dark green in colour from early March to July. The small, white flowers atop a green stem are star-like, arranged in rounded umbels and appear April to June.

Every part of the plant is edible from the seed pods, flowers, stems and leaves to the bulbs. However, it is illegal to dig up any wild plant unless you have landowner permission. In any case why would you when all the other parts are so easily accessible?

Wild Garlic makes a fantastic addition to salads, gives an extra punch of flavour in soups and stews, real colour and zeal to the flavour of cheese sauces and egg dishes such as my Wild Eggs Garlictine.

The only issue is, after consumption don’t expect to be receiving too many springtime kisses . . .

Want to learn more about Wild Food? Why not join me on my Spring and Autumn Wild Food and Mushroom Forays!

Adrian Boots is a Landscape Ecologist and expert forager running wild food forays, events and activities. Please visit: www.hedgerowcottage.co.uk for more information or email him at: hello@hedgerowcottage.co.uk

GARDEN FOOD

Puntarelle

I MUSTadmit I didn’t grow this but was so intrigued by it at the fruit and veg market at Rocky Mountain Nursery that I had to buy one and try it. Puntarelle is a variety of chicory, with dandelion-like leaves and very unusual thick, crisp, pale green flowering shoots in the middle. Its season runs from October through February in its native Roman region and it seems that it can be grown here too, and harvested in a similar window.

With JAKE WHITSON

The classic dish that comes up again and again when you search for puntarelle online is Puntarelle Alla Romana, which is thin strips of puntarelle, plunged into iced water for a few hours so that they curl up, dressed with a pungent dressing of anchovy, olive oil, red wine vinegar and garlic.

It is absolutely outstanding. In Italy they apparently have a dedicated little gadget for slicing the puntarelle that consists of a small piece of wood with a hole in the middle, across which are stretched fine metal wires in a grid that the puntarelle pieces can be pushed through, making light work of it. A knife works fine.

The dressing is endlessly adaptable and can have other piquant, salty treats like capers or olives added, but here is the basic recipe – for every head of puntarelle chop and crush eight fillets of anchovies along with two garlic cloves to a smooth puree.

Beat into this three tablespoons of good red wine vinegar and then gradually whisk in five tablespoons of the best olive oil you can lay your hands on. Season to taste with salt and pepper – and a fistful of finely sliced parsley if you have it.

Toss in your finely sliced puntarelle (which has been ice water bathed for a few hours and spun dry in a salad spinner) and enjoy with some crusty bread.

Jacob Whitson is a chef, food writer and smallholder –he divides his time between the Mendips and Pembrokeshire.

With ADRIAN BOOTS

The “Waggon” is well worth a visit

THE Waggon and Horses at Doulting Beacon, high on Mendip, is everything a traditional country pub should be.

Owned by Dawn and Mike Corp, the Waggon is a proud freehouse which specialises in home cooked food at sensible prices, served every lunchtime and Wednesday-Saturday evenings.

Dawn and Mike buy their meat from Mitchards, in Westfield, and milk comes from Midway Dairy, just a short distance away. Specials might include a beef curry, a chicken, bacon and leek pie or comforting liver and bacon. The Waggon and Horses also offers a £6.50 Monday Madness

lunchtime special, although not on bank holidays.

As well as the main bar – with roaring fire in winter – and dining area, the pub boasts a cosy snug bar, the perfect place to enjoy a pint of the Waggon’s latest lager, Brue River (4%).

Dawn said: “We’re quite unusual in opening on Monday and Tuesday lunchtimes when some other pubs are closed.

“Our feeling is that we stick to what we know, serving quality food and offering a friendly welcome.”

Millie-May’s a winner

Dawn, Mike and the team welcome you to their friendly freehouse on the Mendips

Serving food every lunchtime 12-2pm and evenings Weds-Sat 6-8pm (closing times may vary)

Enjoy a traditional Sunday roast (standard £12, small £11, kids £9) with all the trimmings or a Monday Madness Special(£6 50!)(exc Bank holidays)

FROME College student Millie-May will represent the town in the district finals of this year’s Rotary Young Chef competition.

Millie-May saw off fierce competition from Maisie, Roman, Beatrix, Cory, Caitlyn and Ashley to win top marks from the judges. All seven candidates were from Years 10 and 11 and were required to prepare a healthy three-course meal for two, costing no more than £22, in two hours.

The Rotary Young Chef competition is a national competition and Millie-May will take part in the district final being held in Highbridge on Saturday, February 25th.

The Waggon and Horses at Doulting Beacon

Millie-May with (l to r): judge Ben Leveque, Mike Darville, copresident, Frome Rotary, judge Carl Chappell and judge Gemma Owen

A warm, cosy atmosphere

Spring in the air at Root Connections

THERE’s more than just the fruit, vegetables and flowers which are poking through the wintry surface or in the polytunnels at Root Connections at Stratton-on-the-Fosse.

The first phase of a new community hub – a handsome timberframed building – is nearing completion and the community interest company is seeking funds to start work on phase two.

Whilst the building won’t be ready in time when the pop-up farm shop reopens for spring on Friday, March 3rd, the hub will eventually become a focal point for future Root Connections activities.

Thanks to funding from the The Somerset Community Foundation, Root Connections has a new events co-ordinator, Jess Makins, who’s already underway with organising events, starting on Thursday, March 9th with a sweet pea willow obelisk workshop. Living Spring Wreaths will follow with a lesson on how to make a spring kokedama using hemp, which is a much more sustainable product compared to living moss, and spring bulbs sourced from Organic Bulbs in Bruton.

They will be followed by an Easter Fair on Saturday, April 1st. Root Connections seasonal vegetable boxes are available throughout the year with free delivery within a 12-mile radius of

BA3 4QF – you can also find Root Connections at the monthly Midsomer Norton Farmers’ Market – and seasonal cut flowers return the week after Easter.

Kid’s activities are open for bookings with After School Clubs starting on March 13th as well as at Easter, summer and October.

For details, visit: www.rootconnections.co.uk

Volunteers, staff and residents of the Dairy House next door preparing for the new season

Coleford’s royal tributes

VILLAGERS in Coleford have planted two oak trees to commemorate the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and the forthcoming coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

The simple ceremony was held just a few yards from where a gathering took place in November 1911 to plant an oak to mark the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, which had taken place that June.

The tree – on what was once a planned branch from Nettlebridge to Frome of the illfated Dorset and Somerset Coal Canal – still stands.

Philip Ham, chair of Coleford Parish Council, said: “This is a very proud moment for the parish.”

l See Walking, page 42.

Yeo Valley’s charity winners

YEO Valley have announced the six charities chosen to have free fundraising nights at their Canteen in Blagdon.

They are: Julian House, Bath; Square Food Foundation, Bristol; Teenage Cancer Trust, South West and Wales; Valley Arts, Chew Valley; Vine Counselling Services, North Somerset; and YMCA Dulverton Group – Somerset, North Somerset and Devon.

Yeo Valley Organic give the charities free use of the award-

winning Yeo Valley Canteen, a three-course menu and the team to prep and serve it to 100 of the charity’s guests.

This leaves the charity or organisation free to focus on the allimportant fundraising activity for their event. The evenings will take place between June this year and May 2024.

This series of events were last held in 2019 and helped a variety of charities and CIC’s raise over £100,000 including Avon Wildlife Trust, Farmlink and Young Bristol!

Landowners David and Tracey Button (far left) with Coleford parish councillors and villagers next to a red oak in honour of the late queen

Parish council vice-chair Chris Pearce plants an English oak in honour of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

The gathering in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary

Our reception was so cold, the beer nearly froze

ANN and Tony Emery can vividly remember their wedding in Peasedown St John 60 years ago – it coincided with the start of the Big Freeze.

Not only was it so cold that the celebration beer for the reception nearly froze but the wedding photographer’s lens broke and the wedding photos had to be retaken.

The couple, who live in Radstock, were

married at the end of December 1962 as the first of the heavy snowfalls arrived.

Tony was originally from Stoke St Michael and remembers how his family and friends struggled to get to Peasedown St John in a coach from the village for the church service and then the reception at the football club.

There was no honeymoon; the couple had just saved up to buy a house in

Clandown. Tony, a former bricklayer, said: “We had a job to do in Evercreech at the milk factory and it was snowing so badly that the train back to Radstock couldn’t get there.

“Instead, I walked into Shepton Mallet and eventually got a train, but it needed two attempts to break through a snow drift as we came over Mendip to Radstock.”

From honeymoon to frozen pipes at home

PAM and Ken Horsham returned from their honeymoon in Bournemouth and the New Forest in the Big Freeze of early 1963 to find the pipes in their newly-bought home in Bristol were completely frozen.

The couple, who now live in Wrington, travelled in a borrowed Ford Anglia – with a shuttlecock stuck to the roof to resemble a car from the police series Z Cars – along main roads packed with snow and hedges completely covered.

One of Pam’s bridesmaids and several guests were unable to get to their wedding at All Saints Church in Wrington – where Pam had grown up – because of the bad weather.

The couple were photographed in the snow outside the church in 1963 – and it snowed 50 years later when they recreated the scene for their golden wedding anniversary!

Ken, originally from Shipham, first met Pam when they were at Churchill Primary School but it was many years later that they got together at a dance at the Birds Assembly Rooms in Winscombe.

After living in Bishopston, the couple moved to Claverham and then Congresbury where Ken was chairman of the Congresbury Gymkhana for 20 years; Pam, a former hairdresser, was once ladies captain at Mendip Springs Golf Club.

Pam said: “I remember the church was cold – I think there was just one, small heater – and the pipes in the Memorial Hall where we had the reception had to be thawed with a blow torch.”

Ken added: “That winter wasn’t especially cold, but it was the sheer amount of snow which kept falling.”

Ann and Tony at their home in Radstock with a diamond wedding celebration montage of photos down the years

Snow on the ground on their wedding day

Pam and Ken with a framed card from King Charles III and Queen Camilla congratulating them on their 60th wedding anniversary

From Ukraine to Frome

ANexhibition at the Silk Mill in Frome will show the results of a collaboration between seven local artists and seven artists living in Ukraine or in exile. Connection will run from Saturday, March 18th to Saturday, March 25th.

The group, Artists in Dialogue, held scheduled discussions through a video conferencing platform, where they shared work on virtual boards, based on specific agreed themes relating to the war in Ukraine.

Lorna Thomas, from the group, said: “In addition further dialogue develops purely through image-based conversations on virtual boards. These conversations are moving and, at times, immensely challenging.”

It’s not possible to hang the original works from Ukraine, so all artwork will be in limited edition, high quality Giclee prints (available to purchase by order). Nor will title labels include the names of the artists.

Lorna said: “Through these actions we hope to underline the ethos of global community; an exhibition of a group in conversation, not for promotion of individual artists. We hope as many people as possible will come to view our silent words.”

The Frome artists

100,000 potential customers within a short distance of your business

A stitch in time –supporting orphans

his extraordinary work amongst the orphaned children of the city.

With CHRIS YEO

GEORGEMüller was born in 1805 in Prussia (now Germany) but his life’s work was in Bristol. Müller was a godly man who worked tirelessly to save, educate, and provide purpose for Bristol’s unwanted orphaned children. His life, however, did not start out in such a pious way. By his own admission he was a liar, drunkard and thief who stole from his family and friends. His wayward ways eventually caught up with him and he spent time in prison. Then, at the age of 20 he was converted to the Christian faith and his life took a completely new course.

In 1829 he arrived in Bristol and started

In 1836 Müller and Mary opened their home on Wilson Street to 30 orphan girls. A decade later, with more children arriving and the neighbours complaining about the noise, the Müllers looked for an alternative location and in 1849 opened the first orphan house on Ashley Down.

By the time the fifth house had been completed in 1870, thousands of children had been taken off the streets.

Skill with a needle was a key part of the syllabus, with the boys being taught the same subjects as the girls, including learning how to knit their own socks. When they left the orphanage, all children were found employment, and given clothing and a Bible.

As part of her education, every Müller

girl would stitch a fabric sampler to demonstrate her needlework skills. These followed a set pattern, with alphabets and motifs, and were worked in red thread on cream linen, making them instantly recognisable.

Kept as keepsakes, they were also useful when showing potential employers their abilities. Today Müller samplers have a worldwide following and regularly sell for over £1,000.

Duncan Campbell at the helm of fine silver auctions

AUCTIONS of fine silver are an important category in the auctioneering world with intrinsic value of material and skilled craftsmanship coming together to form highly soughtafter pieces.

Dore & Rees is delighted that Duncan Campbell, a well known face from the BBC Antiques Roadshow, will be leading the Fine Silver auctions which will be held twice a year, starting in June.

Having been fascinated by hallmarks as a child, Duncan got his first proper introduction to antique silver working for a wellknown silver dealer on Portobello Road in London while still at university in 1987. After graduating, Duncan worked for a merchant bank in the City for a few years before the attractions of his Saturday job, inevitably, were too compelling. Duncan has spent the last 30 years immersed in antique silver.

As a valuer he has catalogued collections for, among others, The Middle Temple, Lloyds of London, The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, The City of Nottingham Museum and The Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

He has appeared regularly as a specialist silver valuer on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, having started on the same show, Hertford College Oxford, as Fiona Bruce, in 2008.

As a dealer, after running his own stand on Portobello Road, Duncan moved to the West Country in 2001 and has had a specialist antique silver shop in Bath since 2010. After 12 years of retail, it was time for a change:

Duncan said: “I have always had a hankering to put on a really good silver sale and so the opportunity to host a specialist silver collectors’ auction at Dore & Rees, alongside all my Antiques Roadshow friends, is too good a prospect to pass up.” Contact Duncan to discuss selling your silver items at auction on 07775 686894.

MARCH AUCTIONS

CLASSIC CARS – THE SPRING AUCTION

Saturday 11 March at 2pm

Viewing: Friday 10 March 10am to 6pm, Saturday 11 March 9am to 1pm

FINE JEWELLERY AND WATCHES

Wednesday 22 March at 10:30am

Viewing: Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 March 11am to 3pm; Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 March 10am to 4pm Keep an eye on www.doreandrees.com or follow us on Instagram (doreandrees_auctions) and Facebook (Dore & Rees) to keep in touch with events and auctions.

Duncan Campbell – a familiar face on television

Trains, specialist valuation days and more . . .

AT the Mendip Auction Rooms, there is plenty going on with a stream of sales attracting many viewers and generating strong support. In March, there will be three lives sales, a timed auction and three specialist valuation days.

On March 7th, there will be an Interiors & Collectables sale with a Fine Art, Antiques and Militaria sale with a further Modern Design, Interiors & Collectables sale on March 21st. With an excellent entry of model trains having been received, a timed auction will start on March 16th and end on March 26th.

The team at Killens includes an excellent array of consultants who are expert in their fields and specialist valuation days are being held at the auction rooms. On March 3rd, Louise Phelps will be available to advise and value pictures and fine art.

On March 16th, well known gun expert, Paul Atkins, will be conducting valuations and on March 23rd, watch expert, Adam Elliott, will be available. Do call in and see them to get free valuation advise and consign items to auction.

At their recent sales, Killens saw strong global interest for silver, jewellery and antiques with a gold and diamond solitaire ring achieving £2200, a platinum and diamond cluster ring £2500, an emerald and diamond pendant £2400 and a gold and turquoise

cluster parure £3000.

A lovely array of clocks generated interest with a Justin Vulliamy bracket clock realising £3000. An important collection of hand written notes by the composer, Richard Wagner, found in a garage amongst personal papers also achieved £3800.

Are you looking to sell items? Valuations can be undertaken on a drop-in basis at the auction rooms between 10am and 3pm each weekday. Alternatively, valuers are able to conduct free home visits. They can also arrange house clearances and undertake probate valuations.

Wassail is part of town’s culture

Photos by Mark Adler

MIDSOMER Norton’s community wassail saw families enjoy crafts, a procession, music, morris dancers and mummers mayhem – along with the town’s own take on the traditional ceremony. The event was part of Midsomer Norton’s Cultural Programme, a strand of Historic England’s High Street Heritage Action Zones scheme. Organisation of the day was led by the Midsomer Norton Community Trust.

For details, visit: www.mnct.co.uk

Showing off official handwarmers during the wassail crown making session

Preparing to make a noise

The procession arrived at the Town Park

Scaring off any evil spirits in the apple trees

The wassail ceremony is underway

Cam Valley Morris encourage people of all ages to have a go

Wassail time on allotment

Showing off a bird box they had built to be placed in the Town Park as part of a project by the environmental group Somer Valley Rediscovered

Sprinkling cider around the trees ahead of singing the wassail rhyme

MEMBERS and friends of Shipham Community Allotment gathered at the organic site behind the village hall for their own wassail.

Singing the traditional wassail song

Gathering at the allotment

(Photos courtesy of Jeff Brewster)

Osmo, the group’s youngest member, feeds the trees with apple juice

Outdoor theatre from the Langport Mummers, who were making their debut in Midsomer Norton after a busy wassail season

Long Distance Walker becomes Short Story Writer

taken by Peter Gatenby of Mendip Ramblers or Somer Valley Ramblers walking across the Mendips. The front of his house now has Three Blue Plaques reciting his achievements of walking to the furthest points on the British Mainland from his front door; the cardinal points of E, W, S & N, being the “Extremities” and then walked to the inter-cardinal points or sharp corners as he calls them of SW, SE, NE & NW.

However, in the meantime he has just published his first short story “Married by Lunchtime” which is a light-hearted romance. He already has his next slightly darker story, involving Murder and Rape ready for print. Readers need not worry though, as there is very little graphic detail of the dreadful crime but tells the story how the perpetrator was captured and brought to justice. Readers will have to brush up on their French, as much of the action takes place in France.

His third novel is the result of 6 years of research and involves his great aunts and their life in the first part of the 20th century and concludes with a love story that happens in Singapore.

When all the above are on the shelves it will be time to complete the story of Three Blue Plaques. Thus, if you want the full collection of Peter’s writings you had better order a copy of “Married by Lunchtime” now available from Waterstones or Amazon.

Programme reaps rewards

THE team at The Bishop’s Palace in Wells has been celebrating the success of its Community Engagement programme following the completion of its most recent apprenticeship opportunity.

Matt Groom began his digital marketing apprenticeship at the palace in September of 2021. Run in conjunction with Strode College in Street, Matt received mentoring and training from the marketing team at the palace in addition to his college studies.

Matt said: “I had already completed a marketing degree but saw this apprenticeship as an opportunity to get hands-on experience of working and learning practical skills with a local employer. The training from Strode College helped me to develop my theoretical skills further and I was delighted to recently learn that I’d been awarded a distinction grade.”

Community Engagement Manager at the Palace, Siobhan Goodwin, said: “We have always tried to provide opportunities for people in our local community to get the experience they need to progress in their chosen career, or perhaps to explore a different career.

“We start early, by having year 10 students on work experience, older students on placement doing T levels, apprenticeships and the Kickstart Scheme. Some people may be looking for a change of career and the Palace has a proud record of more than 10% of our staff team starting out here as volunteers.“

Liability for straying livestock

LETus say that cows have strayed onto your property and caused damage. What are your rights? What liability does the owner of the cows have? The Animals Act 1971 makes an owner or person in possession of livestock “strictly liable” for any damage caused by their animals trespassing on land owned/occupied by another.

This means that even if the owner of the livestock took all possible precautions, they are still liable if their animal crosses the boundary of someone else’s property.

A livestock owner will be liable for any damage caused by their animal(s) to the land or any property on the land, eg the cost of reinstating the garden damaged by a cow. They will also be liable for any death or personal injury resulting from the trespass.

If the livestock owner can show that the owner/occupier of the land onto which the animal strayed gave permission for the animal to cross the boundary this will amount to a defence.

The livestock owner will not be “strictly liable” for any damage resulting from the trespass of the animal where the animal strayed from a highway and it was lawful for the animal to be on that highway.

That does not necessarily mean they will escape liability, but the owner/occupier of the land upon which the animal strayed will have to prove the livestock owner was negligent. However, they may still be “strictly liable” for any damage if they unreasonably delayed in collecting the animal.

The livestock owner will not be liable for any damage which was wholly due to the fault of the owner/occupier of the land onto

which the animal strayed. However, the person who suffered damage will not be regarded as being at fault just because they could have prevented the damage by fencing the land.

The livestock owner will also not be liable for any damage if they can show the animal would not have strayed onto the land in question had it not been for a breach by another land owner/occupier of a duty to fence land.

If a satisfactory settlement of any claim for compensation cannot be reached it is open to the person who has suffered the damage to start a court claim.

Where livestock strays onto land owned/occupied by another, that person has the right to detain the livestock, provided the livestock is not under anyone’s control at the time of the detention. However, this right should be exercised with caution as a person exercising this right is liable for any damage caused to the detained animal resulting from a failure to treat the animal with reasonable care and to supply it with adequate food and water.

The right of detention ends:

l after 48 hours, unless within that 48-hour period the detention has been properly reported to the police and the person exercising the right of detention knows who owns, or has the right to possess, the livestock and has given them notice of the detention; or

l where the livestock owner has offered sufficient money to satisfy any claim for damage caused by the animal and any reasonable expenses incurred in keeping it; or

l where there is no claim for damage and the animal is claimed by its owner, or the person who has the right of possession; or l when a court orders the return of the animal.

Assuming the livestock have been detained lawfully, the owner/occupier of the land upon which the animal strayed becomes entitled to sell the animal 14 days after it strayed onto the land, providing there are no pending proceedings for the return of the animal, or by the person detaining the animal for damage done by the animal or for expenses incurred in keeping it.

If a sale takes place and the amount the animal is sold for exceeds the value of the claim of the person who detained the animal, then the livestock owner can recover the excess from them.

If in doubt as to your position seek legal advice.

EDWARD LYONS

Labours of love as archaeology comes to life

A TEAM of volunteers – led by expert archaeologists – have spent hundreds of hours building a series of replica buildings to illustrate life down the centuries on the Somerset Levels.

The buildings range from a Saxon longhall to a dining room from a Roman villa, which features working underfloor heating, fuelled by an outside fire. An Iron Age roundhouse is currently under construction.

A Viking trading vessel and the world’s oldest archaeological excavation hut – used by pioneers Arthur Bulleid and Harold St George Gray when they were excavating the Iron Age Meare Lake Villages between 1909 and 1956 – can also be seen at Avalon Archaeology at the Avalon Marshes Centre at Westhay.

The buildings were based on historic finds made both locally – such as the Roman villa at Hurcot, near Somerton, and the major settlement at Ilchester –and also nationally, including Essex and the north east.

The volunteers – many with no previous experience – have been working one day a week since 2015, with only a short, reinforced break due to covid but even then, some continued to work at home on the project. Some of the team discovered the project was underway by chance, visiting the

Avalon Marshes Centre or walking in the area and jumped at the chance to take part.

Volunteers work across the site. However, Martin Day, from Butleigh, was especially interested in the mosaic being crafted by hand. A total of 140,00 pieces – known as tesserae and using stone donated by local quarries – are being hand-cut and David spent hours of lockdown crafting them at home.

The new visitor and educational facility has been developed by the South West Heritage with funding from

The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It began as a small part of the awardwinning National Lottery-funded Avalon Marshes Landscape Partnership Project. The hands-on project was intended to give volunteers practical experience of traditional building techniques. More than 110 volunteers have contributed their time and expertise to the reconstructions.

Dr Richard Brunning, an archaeologist with the South West Heritage Trust, who led the project, said: “At Avalon Archaeology history is

David Swan, of Ashcott, uses a hammer and hardie to cut pieces for the Roman villa mosaic

For details visit: avalon-a

Lee, who lives near Wells, touches up the friezes in the Saxon longhall which depict the story of King Alfred and his battles with the Vikings

Stepping back in time. Pictured (l:r) are: volunteer Lee, volunteer Martin Day, interpretation officer Natalie Watson, archaeologist Robert Brunning and volunteers Neil Buchanan and David Swan

brought to life through archaeological reconstructions that allow people to get a unique, hands-on experience of our local heritage.

“It’s thanks to the skill and dedication of many volunteers that we have these wonderful reconstructions. And now, through the generosity of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we’re able to share them with the local community and visitors to the area.”

Funding from the Heritage Fund is allowing the site to open throughout 2023 as well as the development of a sustainable business plan for the site’s longer-term future.

(Photograph courtesy of Joseph Speed-Mett)

The Saxon longhall, complete with an open fire

Neil Buchanan, of Croscombe, carving a leg for a table for the Roman villa

The Viking longboat

One of the many volunteers who acquired new skills at the centre

Bleadon WI supports air ambulance

BLEADONWI has presented the Great Western Air Ambulance charity with a cheque for £10,341 after making it its charity of the year last year.

It raised the money through various events including the Bleadon Ball, the Bleadon Belles’ concert, in conjunction with WorleWind Band, and the Bleadon Belles’ afternoon tea and concert.

Bleadon WI also arranged a talk about the charity given by GWAAC’s former patient and board member, Robin Jaques, who is pictured accepting the cheque.

The Bleadon WI committee said: “Bleadon WI has had great fun raising money for such a worthy local cause. We would like to thank all our members and supporters for helping us to raise such an incredible amount.”

GWAAC was called to 211 patients in North Somerset in 2022, a call nearly every other day. It relies on the generosity of people in its local communities to keep the service going.

Walk of life is back

THEannual canal walk supporting patients at the RUH hospitals in Bath will be on Saturday, May 20th.

Hundreds of walkers are expected to take part with a choice of 26.2-mile and ten-mile options along the scenic Avon & Kennet canal.

This year also marks the launch of the Walk of Fun, an accessible 1km option for children, parents and adults in Bradford-on-Avon.

Karlie Evans, Events and Community Manager, RUHX said: “We are really excited to bring back the Walk of Life for the 18th time.

“Every year hundreds of supporters take to the canal to show their support for the RUH, and this year we hope the introduction of our Walk of Fun will allow anyone from any walk of life to take part.”

Details: https://ruhx.org.uk/events/walk-of-life/ https://ruhx.org.uk/events/walk-of-fun/

The Bleadon Ball sub-committee

The Bleadon Belles

Cheque presentation

WESTONLions are holding another Mud Master challenge at Puxton Park on April 2nd, hoping for even more entries than the 400 they got last year.

The beneficiaries include Children’s Hospice South West, Great Western Air Ambulance and Weston Hospice.

The Lions say this event is the only one like this held locally and really does bring the community together to enjoy some fun either as individuals or as a team.

It describes it as “a fun but challenging day of mud, water and over 20 obstacles to combat. With events for all fitness levels, Mud Master offers a great day out for all the family whether taking part or spectating”.

Details: https://mud-master.co.uk/

Iceland trek

CANCER charity We Hear You raised £900.87 from a jumble sale towards a £10,000 target for a forthcoming trek across Iceland. The money was raised by a team including WHY CEO Lucy Kitchener, fundraising manager Ruth Knagg and RUH staff member Carys Dunstan, who will make the trek in March. It was the third jumble sale organised by the team as part of a busy schedule of community events, including a curry and ceilidh night and a gin and rum tasting evening, with more planned.

Details: https://bit.ly/iceland-trek-2023

Runners of to London

A TEAM of 60 runners from the Chew Valley area are set to tackle the London Landmarks Half Marathon on Sunday, April 2nd, raising funds for the Harvey Hext Trust, a charity which supports bereaved children.

The event started in 2014 to bring together as many charities as possible to raise up to £6.5million.

Sarah Hext, who founded The Harvey Hext Trust in 2016 after losing her son Harvey to cancer, started running in 2006 with the Chew Valley Snails to support her mental health.

With #Teamharvey she will run 13.1 miles through central London alongside 16,000 other participants.

Sarah said: “It’s such a fantastic cause and I am so passionate about helping bereaved children when they need it most and supporting their ongoing mental health is vital.

“To have 59 other local runners all raising funds for the charity is both incredible and humbling.

We hope to reach our target of £18,000 giving us enough funds to support almost 100 bereaved children.”

The trust has helped hundreds of children by providing specialist, bespoke wooden Memory Boxes to help them cope with their grief.

Details: https://www.justgiving.com/ campaign/harveyhextlondonlandmarks2023 https://harveyhexttrust.com

New ambassadors

DOROTHYHouse Hospice has announced four new volunteer ambassadors, as it seeks to expand its neighbourhood community palliative care teams.

They are Bath rugby player, Tom Dunn, writer Kitty Dimbleby, former president of the BMA, Sir Al Aynsley Green and 19-year-old Jess Sheridan, whose mum died at the hospice in 2021.

Last year's team

Glorious mud

Helipad donation

Volunteer visitors needed

THEHELP Appeal, which is the only charity in the country dedicated to funding lifesaving hospital and air ambulance base helipads, has donated £26,787 to Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, for new runway lights, helipad lighting and a new windsock at its Henstridge airfield

Pictured back row (l to r) are Chris Dragatis, Simon Jones, Charles Hackett, Dan Kitteridge; front row (l to r) Mario Carretta and Laura Bland.

Hedgehog alert

PRICKLESin Cheddar is warning that hedgehogs may soon be making brief forays from their hibernation nests before waking up properly for the spring and summer.

It suggests putting out cat food and water to support them. But anyone finding a hedgehog out in the daytime is asked to call them 07806 744772.

Striding out for MND

SOMERSETSight, which provides practical and emotional support to more than 3,500 blind or visually impaired people and their families, is looking for volunteers in the Mendip area. Their services include providing low visual aids, a mobile advisory service, emotional support, activities and outings, plus many more.

They are recruiting for their Volunteer Visiting Service, where volunteers are matched locally with a sight impaired person for regular visits for company and support and to alleviate loneliness and isolation.

Volunteer visitors help with a variety of tasks such as reading, correspondence, or making appointments, going for a drive or just a cup of tea and a chat.

It says many volunteers get great satisfaction and enjoyment from their voluntary work, many friendships are formed and the people they support look forward to their visits, some saying it is the highlight of their week.

They are currently looking to recruit volunteers who have a few hours to spare a week or fortnight and who would like to work one-to-one with visually impaired people in the Mendips. Full training is provided and they cover all reasonable expenses.

Details: 01823 333818

email: admin@somersetsight.org.uk

Grants available

TRUSTEES of the Richard Jones Foundation are inviting applications for grants for educational and training purposes.

A GROUP of 16 friends from Cheddar, named the Somerset Striders, raised £7,000 for Motor Neurone Disease research by taking part in the charity’s London Winter Challenge, a half marathon walk starting from the Oval cricket ground. Organiser, Phil Hucker, decided to enter the event because family member Carol Hooper and close friend, footballer Marcus Stewart, are suffering from the disease.

Younger people can apply from the parishes of Chew Magna, Newton St Loe, Stanton Drew, Stanton Prior and Stowey-Sutton. Applications need to be submitted by April 10th.

The Jones Charitable Trust started in 1692. The Jones family lived in Stowey and Richard Jones is buried in Chew Magna. His family held high positions locally and nationally.

Details: Peter H. Godfrey, Clerk, Two Shillings, 24D, Tyning Road, Saltford BS31 3HL

Strawberries’ special gift

A FUNDRAISING group from Cheddar, called The Strawberries, has raised £7,300 for the sight loss charity Guide Dogs.

Local guide dog owner and group volunteer, Tiggi Trethowan, said: “We thank you for your generosity. This will help many people like myself challenged with sight loss.”

Some £5,000 of the fund was raised by Dan Roberts, another guide dog owner, who is a singer and entertainer and encourages guests at his performances to donate.

Dan said: “I was partnered with guide dog labradoodle Luna in 2019. She's so lovely, clever and amazing, a truly life changing blessing - I felt like I wanted to support Guide Dogs in a practical way out of gratitude.”

Krissie Isaac, Community Fundraising Relationship Manager at Guide Dogs, said: “As a charity, we rely almost entirely on public donations to keep our vital services for people with sight loss running.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support from our local community. The Strawberries group have done a brilliant job to raise this sum.”

Big increase in rough sleepers

LIZZIE’S Soup Run, which supports rough sleepers in Bath, has received a donation of £1,000 from the BillyChip Foundation, another charity that supports homeless people.

Liz Davies started the service in January 2021. It provides not just hot food and drinks, but also sleeping bags and blankets, dog food, tents, tarpaulins and shoes.

Liz said: “I used to volunteer at the Genesis Trust Soup Run in Bath. This service had to end with lockdowns when people on the streets were offered somewhere to stay. But I noticed there were still people out at night and felt something should be done to help them.

“In January 2021 my daughters, Chloe and Annie, started to help me take food, hot drinks and anything we could think of that would make life easier for these vulnerable people, out on trolleys.

“We walked around town looking for people who needed help. Those first weeks were a real eye opener and we helped around ten people each week.

“Since then things have really become busy. We now see on average 40 to 45 people a week and these numbers seem to be rising quite quickly. We have a great team of volunteers and now need five or six of us each week to distribute everything.”

The BillyChip Foundation, which supports homeless people and rough sleepers, was founded by Sarah and Jon AbernethyHope, of Bishop Sutton, in memory of their son Billy.

Before he died in an accident in 2018, Billy had suggested that a useful way to help homeless people could be to give them a token that they could exchange for a hot drink or food. So, his parents and sister Meg made this happen, and called it the BillyChip.

The BillyChip Foundation now also supports smaller organisations, such as Lizzie’s Soup Run. Future fundraising events are planned, including a treasure hunt this summer and a big breakfast later in the year.

Sarah Abernethy-Hope said: “BillyChip are so proud to be able to help Liz with her fantastic work.”

Details: www.guidedogs.org.uk

Details: Facebook: Lizzie’s Soup Run and www.billychip.com

Tiggi and guide dog Jackie

Dan and Luna

Pictured (l to r) Liz Davies and her daughter Annie Hebden with Kevin Moon, treasurer of the BillyChip Foundation and founder Sarah Abernethy-Hope

The rough with the smooth

JUSTafter Mendip Times went to print before Christmas the society received some very sad news – Paul Harley, a long-time life member, during which he had served as chairman, president and vice president, had passed away after a long debilitating illness.

Paul Edward Harley was well known on Mendip for his passionate defence of the integrity of our landscape and its history and heritage and the society’s role in this. Nearer to home and to my own personal experience of Paul was his support for and love of our own nature reserve, Slader’s Leigh flower meadow.

He was a unique character, who would not wish us to mourn for him – but to “jolly well get on out there and carry on with the society’s work”. So that is what we will be doing.

We made a good start to the year with two very successful but quite challenging hedge laying training days for those already with some experience; the hedges had not been laid for many years and were congested and contained many trees which had grown large with entwined canopies.

It may look a bit destructive to clear out so much vegetation, with the current emphasis on increasing tree and hedge planting, but unless a hedge is laid periodically it will never fulfil the function that a hedge is there for.

To encourage and support this necessary

countryside skill the society is one of the sponsors of this year’s Wrington and Burrington Hedging Society’s competition match to be held on Saturday, March 11th at Stepstones Farm, Wrington; our society gazebo will be there - come and say hello and see for yourself.

Later in the month our long-awaited Something of Everything quiz finally took place at the Wellsway, with the questions certainly living up to its name. And the evening just went to prove that if you work for Mendip Times, you will indeed get to know “something of everything”, because they won.

Although we have to also say that the two “stray individual quizzers” needing a team and who completed the winning side were Mendip Society members!

In February our delayed wassail was held in Burrington Orchard; our Master of Ceremonies was foiled by a broken-down vehicle but the ceremony was completed perfectly by Richard Frost, ably aided and abetted by the ever pleasing Barley Rye Choir. Well attended, we were pleased to see some “first timers” in the ranks, along with a dozen children, always good for keeping the old traditions alive.

For the immediate future we have three events planned, firstly a walk with Richard Ivens on Saturday, March 4th from East Harptree Woods car park visiting the last lead smelting chimney on Mendip and the remains of Richmont Castle.

Then a talk is booked for Wednesday afternoon, March 29th in Priddy Village Hall, given by a fully togged Roman soldier (aka John Smith) who will be telling, and showing us, what the Roman army got up to here on Mendip in the years following the invasion of AD 43. Both these events can be found on our website and here in the What’s On pages.

Following on in April we are again holding the society AGM in Winscombe St. James’ Church Hall, on Friday, April 14th at

www.themendipsociety.org.uk

Paul Edward Harley

2.30pm. We are very pleased to welcome Nick Green, Farms Director for Alvis Bros Ltd, as our speaker; he is well known to readers of Mendip Times for his articles appearing in its Farming section.

Bearing in mind that this year is the 50th anniversary of the Mendip Hills AONB designation, in which the Mendip Society played a goodly part, the title of his talk will be – “Sustainable Agriculture – a Fifty Year Story of Food, Farming and the Environment”.

Members of the public are very welcome to attend, along with our members.

With the start of a full new hopeful year the society is putting together a wider programme of events, walks, talks, visits and events in partnership with other organisations with which we share a common purpose, throughout the year.

As such we are looking for a volunteer to join us to help plan, organise and coordinate some of these events; you do not need to be a member of the Mendip Society (although we hope you would of course join us in that as well).

If you enjoy having the fun of doing this sort of work and would like to give it a go – then please have a chat with either our chairman or secretary by contacting chairman@themendipsociety.org.uk or secretary@themendipsociety.org.uk

And have a look at our website where back copies of our newsletter will give you some idea of who and what we are.

JUDITH TRANTER

Quiz winners (l to r) Steve Henderson, Annie and Steve Egginton, Michael O'Haire, Peter Janes and Phil Hendy

Love is in the air –literally

VALENTINE’S Day may have been and gone, but March is the time when many birds begin their mating rituals.

As the month starts, many more resident birds will begin singing. Some may have already started nesting, so be extra careful when trimming hedges and borders. Many birds attract mates or repel rivals not by song but by visual displays; two of my favourites to watch out for are the common buzzard and the sparrowhawk.

By CHRIS SPERRING MBE

In the case of the sparrowhawk, you will need to be up at dawn to catch female birds displaying. Find some open ground with a view over a woodland, copse or forest (these are their favoured areas), ensuring you have a full view of the treetops.

Around first light the female sparrowhawk will rise out of the trees and begin circling slowly. They are easily recognisable, about the size of a wood pigeon, but with short, rounded wings and a long tail. Watch out for the classic flap, flap glide of the hawk which can’t be confused with the similar-sized kestrel because, being a falcon and not a true hawk, the kestrel has long pointed wings and will hover; the hawk does not.

Things to look out for are the interactions between hawks. It’s just the females; whilst all this is going on the smaller males are hiding in the safety of the trees as they may become a potential meal for rival females.

Of course, it’s possible to see sparrowhawk throughout the day as well and very often they will rise when the larger common buzzards begin their display flight. Common buzzards have already been displaying through January and February, but most of these displays have involved pairs or maintaining territory, with individual adults rising up and displaying to visually push young buzzards away, preparation no doubt for the main time for displaying which is well underway during March.

Watch out for buzzards rising up from the trees and across open ground as well as wooded areas and, as they rise, they may be joined by a mate or rival. If a rival comes into the territory, watch for a visual display where the resident bird

may circle above the rival and begin pushing the intruder away using flight and body language. Both buzzards may begin calling during these flights.

Watch out also for some sky dancing from the buzzards, where a bird will rise into the sky by circling in short-tolarge circles, then will fall back towards the ground (like it’s on an amusement ride) with a sudden dive, then up to a point where it appears to stall with wings still folded then dropping quickly again and repeating this several times. Two buzzards grabbing each other’s talons and swinging in mid-air is associated with rivalry.

The common buzzard is a success story, mostly because of its nature of being such an opportunist. They can, and will, take live prey, from small mammals such as voles, rats and mice to larger mammals such as grey squirrel and rabbit.

But they can also be found worming in ploughed fields, often following the tractor round the field, and they can feed on dead animals as well, hence the reason why so many people comment on seeing them along roadside verges.

Both buzzard and sparrowhawk can be observed right throughout the area and even in built-up areas as well.

If you’re trying to photograph birds displaying, you will probably need a good camera with a powerful lens to capture sparrowhawks as they’re so much smaller, but I have filmed displaying buzzards many times just using my mobile phone.

As always with any wildlife observation, choosing the right place to watch from is vital and, of course, be prepared to relax, take the weight off your shoulders and enjoy being in the presence of two of the stars of the local sky.

The buzzard is something of a success story

Sparrowhawks are about the same size as a wood pigeon

Coal and canal circle

ONa sunny day recently, I revisited this fascinating walk that I first did in 1999! Understandably, some of the landscape has changed and very sadly the important industrial heritage is crumbling even further – particularly the rare coke ovens. But it is still a very interesting ramble looking at the coalmining around Coleford and Vobster – the lifeblood there for

centuries – and following parts of the Somerset and Dorset canal. We visit several old collieries, pass remains of a Waddell fan and go under the Hucky Duck. This is all set in attractive countryside crossed by the busy Mells Stream. There is a short steep climb at the start and a couple of other uphills but it is mainly easy-going with several stiles. I am contacting the Rights of Way officer to help get some stiles repaired and unblock a footpath.

PARK: In the old part of Coleford in the car park of the popular local, the King’s Head. The village is south of Highbury and north of Leigh-onMendip. Landlord, Dave, is happy for you to park, but do give him some custom as a thank you. It is a typical old-style village pub mainly serving rolls for lunch, and snacks on Sundays.

START: Turn right from the pub and immediately up again steeply on a narrow rough cobble path. On reaching the road, turn right continuing uphill past cottages and then the impressive Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, now a private home.

Methodism was very strong in Coleford, fuelled by frequent visits from John Wesley. This present chapel was built to replace a thatched building much favoured by Wesley but it became too small.

At the far side of the chapel, go right down a path and come alongside a deep wide ditch on your right – the old Somerset and Dorset Canal.

Bend right over the canal and take the footpath on the left through a kissing gate (KG). The path goes through a wooden KG and brings you alongside the old canal again, not very obvious here. Reach another KG and continue. At a fork, keep straight on. Go through a KG into a wood and then drop downhill right and follow it on, over a footbridge. Immediately go down right and through a KG into a field which you cross to reach the lively Mells Stream.

Once over the stream, head up into a field. Cross to the far left corner. Cross

1. OLD CHAPEL

2. CANAL

3. MELLS STREAM

With Sue Gearing

a stile by a gate and continue ahead through another field, near the right edge. Here is a rather rickety stile and then maintain direction. Avoid two broken stiles in the hedge until mended, and instead go through an opening by a tree where it may be muddy. Cross this third field to find another stile in the hedge ahead onto the road. If it is too overgrown, go left along the hedge to a more secure stile (on to the track).

Turn left on the road and then go left down the track which serves Miners Pond fishing area. If the gate is closed, cross the stile into the field, parallel the track and then get back on it. This is a proper right of way! As the track bends left, go straight ahead on a grassy path to a rough area where soil dumping has taken place.

This is the site of the once very busy and productive Vobster Breach Colliery supplying coking coal for the Westbury Iron Works. Closure came in 1874.

4. COKE OVENS

Go left and round two sides and straight on walking on the line of the old tramway sidings between what was two sets of rare brick coke ovens. Sadly, only two or three remain on the left. These were the showpiece of the colliery here. Unlike others in the Somerset coalfield they are long and

rounded, not beehive shaped but they are fast crumbling away.

The footpath here was blocked by fallen trees and I have contacted the Rights of Way people and hope it may be cleared soon. If not, we can pick our way round * (see alternative below). So, for this go ahead up on the bank on the right bypassing the blockage and then drop down left and go ahead on a path and over a footbridge to a stile (broken) into a field. Go across the centre of two fields (or go round the left of the second field which will be dryer). In the third field, go ahead and

then drop down left, over a side stream and across the field to a bridge over the Mells. Head across to a gate in the far right corner and reach a main road in Vobster. Turn right to the Vobster Inn. Continue from VOBSTER INN. * An easier way is to return to the track and then the road and turn left. It is quite quiet and there is a good verge. It leads into Vobster crossing the Mells Stream. Reach the Vobster Inn.

5. VOBSTER INN

This is no longer a public house, but now a holiday venue with yurts and other accommodation. If you are interested, go into the inn car park and look at the bank on the right which gradually slopes up. This is the incline where the coke from Vobster Breach was hauled up on the tramway and loaded onto the railway.

Vobster is now a well-kept attractive hamlet but once was the scene of a lot of activity by individuals and families digging shallow bell pits for iron in the fields nearby.

Now, go back to the main road in the Mells direction and turn right with care for a couple of minutes. On the bend, go left to a KG by a large gate. Once through, turn up right under alders, through another KG to the old Vobster Church, converted to a private home. Go straight up in front and through onto what is the old church path. This leads

4.5 miles, about 2-3 hours walking and exploring. OS Explorer 142, grid ref 686 486, postcode BA3 5LU

The old coke ovens

Coal and canal circle (continued)

up through a “butterfly kissing gate” and another gate and up to cottages at Upper Vobster which are on the line of the old canal and later the Newbury railway which served Newbury Colliery.

Turn left on the lane. Up on the right is the disused Vobster quarry – which has become an open water swimming venue. Keep on to a crossing footpath, go left, through a gate, and on to the line of the old canal/railway. Turn right and stay on this. Eventually the track becomes stony and continues on. Ignore a crossing footpath.

OLD COLLIERY

Come alongside the former Newbury Colliery, now a stone works.

At the start look across and see over in the works the tall old stone Cornish engine house which housed the beam engine. It is now a listed building. The important Newbury Colliery was a very deep mine, producing a good quality coal for nearly 130 years until closure in 1927. The coal was converted into coke for Westbury Iron Works.

Follow the path all the way round to come out by the access road to the works. Turn left, reach a lane and cross onto the track ahead. Just past the right bend you will see the remains of a crumbling arch.

This was part of a building housing a Waddell Fan at Mackintosh Colliery which blew fresh air into the mine and drew foul air out the other side.

Continue on the track.

FARM TRACK

Go through a metal kissing gate (or round left) to join a concrete farm track downhill. At a bend, turn right through a large gate and then bear down and right going round the lower part of the hill. In the bottom corner find a metal Bristol Gate. Head up through a wooden KG and join a drive uphill to Highbury.

Cross to the old Temperance Hall. Note the quote above the door: “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink and maketh him drunken also.”

Turn left and shortly go right down Carey’s Mead. At a bend take the Tarmac path straight on and then downhill through a barrier. At a road, cross onto the Tarmac path opposite leading to a field. Go straight on across and down. At the foot, turn sharp right and through an opening into the next field through a band of trees. Immediately turn left, descending through Kilmersdon Common. Continue on through a hedge of trees. Take the left fork, still going down

and keep straight on as a track joins from the right. After a KG, carry on with the stream down right. Reach a property and the path goes alongside to the road under the Hucky Duck.

9.

HUCKY DUCK

TThis is local dialect for “aqueduct” and took the canal over the Coleford Valley. The few miles of canal from here to Edford were actually finished and may even have carried a few barges. Who knows?

Turn left and shortly go right down Mill Lane walking past a mill and straight along a path and over a low-sided packsaddle bridge spanning the Mells Stream. Head steeply straight up the field and turn left at the top, ignoring the gate ahead. You are now following the line of the stream down left. Keep on this path for about 0.2 miles all the way to the road and back to the start. It is rough in parts. The King’s Head is a short way on the left.

The King’s Head has a good car park but if it looks as though it will be full, please find somewhere else. You can use the car park even when the pub is closed. Opening hours are 12-2pm and 5-11pm Tuesday-Thursday; Friday 12-2pm 4.30-12.30am; all day from 12 Saturdays and Sundays. After May avoid the car park on a Tuesday evening after 5pm because of bikers’ gatherings. Tel: 01373 812346

6.

7.

8. HIGHBURY

The Hucky Duck

Mells stream at Vobster

West Countryman’s diary

ATlast I have reason for hope! The days are becoming longer and even though a frosty mist hangs in the Vale of Avalon, I will think of Mendip in the sunshine. On such a day as this it takes a lot of dedication to stay here and write my column instead of rushing up to Deer Leap. After all I’m only supposing Mendip is in the sunshine with clear blue skies, the reality may be something quite different.

How many times have I heeded the advice of “Les Davies . . . go for it” only to find that when I get there “it” had gone!

Snowdrops are showing their heads above ground and even though the ever-optimistic primrose cannot be relied upon to foretell the onset of kinder weather, it is none the less a welcome sight. Still silent beneath my garden hornbeam hedge lies Herbie the hedgehog in his winter shelter. He no doubt has a calendar on which he is counting down the days to spring as are the rest of us.

Some things in the countryside are already getting excited and I’ve seen rooks in the tree tops building and repairing nests for the coming season. I’m watching with interest the results of this labour. Will they build high or low? Higher is meant to be an indication of hot weather to come.

As always, the blackbirds will be the first off the mark when it comes to nesting. They will be up and running by mid-March. It would not be the first time that I will have been caught out with hedge trimming by peering in and finding the nest construction well underway, if not the bird sitting.

Well I’m truly “Wassailed out”. My last one will be at Godney this year and they have all gone very well. I was unable to make the Mendip Society one in the Burrington Orchard or another private celebration at Wiveliscombe due to a sick Land Rover.

Thank you to everyone who stepped up to help out on both occasions. Does the wassail really work I am often asked to which I reply: “We wouldn’t do it if it didn’t.” Heritage is so very important and passing it onto future generations is vital.

I’m now moving into my orchard days in the hope I can pass on some of my knowledge and experience to others. So far, a great day with the National Trust volunteers in the orchards at the back of Glastonbury Tor. The sun shone and the team soon got to grips with the mastery of pole saws and branch removal.

It was so satisfying to look at the improvement as the day progressed . . . confidence is built on ability and both grow together. Next comes a day with the Sustrans’ volunteers on the Colliers Way near Kilmerston.

Apple trees were planted along the length of this former coal mining rail link to celebrate the connections with apples in the county. I’m hoping this day will fire their enthusiasm as well.

I find that in my later years I’m becoming more aware that things start to crumble and collapse – no not necessarily me –but we all start to realise the head will write “cheques” that the

body can’t cash. I refer instead to places and structures that have fallen into disuse and bad repair. Once they have collapsed it’s often difficult to re-build.

Sue Gearing’s walk this month takes in the Vobster coke ovens and the decaying infrastructure of the old Somerset Coal Canal. For me East Mendip is not a familiar area, but part of the Mendip story it certainly is. The industrial heritage that still exists is phenomenal.

Much to do with the coal fields is still preserved, but we don’t have anything like the Big Pit visitor attraction of the Welsh coal industry. Radstock Museum does great work, but they can only go so far.

What is the answer to preserving the Vobster coke ovens and partially filled-in canal? I’m not looking for any sort of quick fix answer to these questions but more a raising of awareness from which might come some light and hope.

Also still in my mind is the now partly collapsed WW2 Nissen hut on the Cheddar crossroads. This is one of the last monuments that stand to pay respect to all those British, Canadian and American service people who left to liberate Europe in those dark days of the 1940s. Many never came home.

For us the days are getting longer and the promise of spring is on the way. Being able to get out into the countryside is a very important part of our lives. As humans we were meant to interact with the natural environment and when we can’t it affects us.

The Covid restrictions certainly made that clear. Whilst out there enjoying a day on hill or moor spare a thought for those who have gone before us and what they left behind as a legacy.

Next time I hope to be well into spring and the new world that’s kicking off in the countryside. Meanwhile this month’s picture graphically portrays how the next generations are picking up the old traditions and keeping them alive.

Jenny Treble was this year’s Wassail Queen at the Thatchers celebration. Working for the company she is part of the future and I was pleased to be there to see her carrying out the ancient ritual.

With LES

DAVIES MBE

Plants that tolerate drought

With MARY PAYNE MBE

AFTER the recent incessant rain and floods, it may appear incongruous to be writing about plants for dry conditions, but with climate change in mind we all need to be prepared for extreme weather events. What is certain is that had we turned our gardens into xeriscapes of drought tolerant plants they would all have died from cold wet “feet” during this winter.

I can also guarantee that whatever we choose to do the great British weather will always win. So just in case we get another scorcher of a summer let’s consider what makes a plant tolerant of drought and high temperatures.

We are lucky in the UK that our temperate climate allows us to grow an enormous range of plants, mainly due to our normal lack of extreme climate events. When looking for drought tolerant species we can start by looking at the native species from areas that are naturally drier than our own climate, such as those from the Mediterranean regions.

Many are well adapted to the hot and dry conditions, but our choice is limited to those that can tolerate our winter temperatures.

Plants use water for photosynthesis and to keep them turgid, but also lose it in the form of water vapour from the leaves in a process called transpiration, so plant adaptations for dry conditions usually revolve around methods of reducing this water loss.

Perhaps the most obvious group of drought tolerant plants are the cacti and succulents. True cacti are not hardy in our region except in very sheltered areas, but we have many succulents, and one plant growing in nearly every UK garden is the ice plant (Hylotelephium spectabile) more familiarly known as Sedum, bearing flattish heads of pink flowers in late summer.

These plants store considerable amounts of water in their leaves. Houseleeks (Sempervivums) were a familiar site on roofs and were thought to ward off lightning strikes! This makes them the perfect choice for growing as one of the species on “green roofs” along with many low growing sedum species.

The trend for “green roofs” which insulate, absorb carbon dioxide, and reduce waste water runoff into drains, is growing as they also look aesthetically pleasing.

Plants that have silver leaves can invariably cope with a lot of sun and dry conditions. The silver effect is created by a dense layer of hairs on the leaves. These hairs trap water vapour as it leaves the foliage, creating a layer of higher humidity on the leaf surface, thus reducing further water loss.

Sometimes the density of the hairs is so extreme that the leaves feel smooth as in Silverbush (Convolvulus cneorum), a desirable Mediterranean relative of our native pestilential bindweed! The “silver” colouring also has the benefit of reflecting the sun’s rays so the foliage is not scorched by UV rays.

These plants usually demand to be grown in a sunny position. Many are often very tactile, as in the case of Lamb’s Ears (Stachys lanata), so commonly seen on the front edge of sunny borders.

A recent introduction has been the startlingly white foliage of

Angel’s Wings (Senecio candicans). The hairs are so dense that the green colouring is completely masked. Cineraria maritima, often used to add a silver foliage effect to pots and hanging baskets is similar.

Some plants have done away with leaves that lose water and survive by having green stems that take over the job of photosynthesis. Woody members of the pea family such as Broom (Cytisus) and Genista are examples.

The Mount Etna broom (Genista aetnensis) is native to the slopes of Mount Etna, surviving in full sun with very limited water availability. Our native Gorse (Ulex europaeus) has gone further and has adapted by having a multitude of green spines which protect it from grazing livestock, whilst allowing it to grow with reduced foliage.

Large leaves use, and lose, a lot of water, so it makes sense to have small tough leaves as do many Mediterranean plants such as lavender, rosemary and thyme, along with rock roses and sun roses. Lavender rarely does well in the West Country, as we have a higher rainfall than the east of England, and our winters are usually wet.

I usually allow for it to be replanted every five to seven years, unless in a well-drained sunny position.

Spring flowering bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers, have got around summer drought by doing all their growing early in the spring and they then go dormant in the summer, surviving on the water stored in their underground storage organs.

Examples are tulip and Narcissus bulbs, crocus corms, and cyclamen tubers. The rhizomes (underground stems of bearded iris) are similar and enjoy a good baking in the summer sun.

Plants with evergreen foliage are also reasonably well able to cope, as they have a waxy surface to their leaves which reduces the water loss by transpiration and as with nearly all plants when the going gets tough, they shut down their stomata (breathing pores) through which they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen and water vapour.

Some plants, especially grasses, can roll their leaves downwards, thus trapping moist air and reducing water loss. This can clearly be seen on bamboo, especially when restricted to growing in a pot.

All plants with these adaptations can be utilised to create low water demand planting schemes that look particularly good associated with a gravel mulch, which itself further reduces water loss by evaporation from the soil surface.

Indeed, all plantings would be helped through a period of drought by a 5cm layer of wood chip mulch.

No matter what we do Mother Nature will always win.

Sedum 'Herbstfreude'

• It’s time to sow ageratum, alyssum, antirrhinum, asters, begonias, marigolds, pansies, petunias, stocks and many other flowers in a cold frame or greenhouse.

• Cell or plug packs are becoming increasingly popular for raising young plants. You can sow or transplant seedlings directly into them.

• Apply a general fertiliser to all beds and borders.

• Make a concerted effort to get on top of weeds now, they are about to make a serious spurt of growth! Remove by hand or spray with weed killer.

• Time to get planting new herbaceous perennial plants. Astrantia, anemone, campanula, echinacea, hardy geranium, rudbeckia and verbenas are the most popular varieties at the moment.

• Prune most roses now, (climbing, rambling and shrub roses are best pruned in summer after the main flush of flower). Start spraying roses for blackspot, rust and aphids.

• If you haven’t done it already, prune buddlejas back to about waist height and trim lavatera back to healthy new shoots.

• Lift crowded snowdrops, carefully divide and replant. Avoid breaking their delicate roots if possible.

• Remove flower heads from daffodils as they finish flowering. A liquid feed with a liquid tomato fertiliser helps next year’s flowers to form now.

NORTON GREEN

GARDEN CENTRE

SUMMER FLOWERING BULBS FANTASTIC RANGE TO CHOOSE FROM including BEGONIA, CANNA, DAHLIA, GLADIOLI, LILIES & MANY MORE!

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THOMPSON & MORGAN, UNWINS & COUNTRY VALUE FLOWER & VEGETABLE SEEDS

COMPOST, GRO-BAGS, TOPSOIL, MANURE & DECORATIVE BARK

PRIMROSES, POLYANTHUS, BELLIS & POTTED SPRING BULBS FOR EARLY SPRING COLOUR IN THE GARDEN!

WELLS ROAD, CHILCOMPTON, RADSTOCK BA3 4RR

Telephone: 01761 232137

Open Mon–Sat 10am to 4pm • Closed Sundays

afternoon teas Tel: 01749 841155

Open gardens

WESTON Hospicecare is appealing for people, businesses and clubs to open their private gardens to host dates in its Open Gardens 2023 series. Since 2016 the event has raised more than £21,000.

Details: westonhospicecare.org.uk

Time to prune

BLAGDON Orchard Group and volunteers have been pruning in the village’s Eldred’s Orchard, a community wildlife habitat.

The group was led by Suzanne Wynn, with helpers Andy Chastney, Mike Atkins, Ranjan, Louis Tippett, Pete Davies, Benjamin and Albie Roe, and Ian Pratt.

PERFECT PAVE

Perfect Pave, based on the Valley Line industrial estate, in Cheddar, has built an enviable reputation over the last 16 years for the quality of its work installing block paving and other landscaping products. Now founders Alex Howley and Simon Bethell have set up a new service run by James Starmer supplying these products to both the trade and public, as well as continuing to expand their installation team. e company now has contracts all over the South West and offers a wide choice of projects.

It’s not only friendly, professional service that sets us apart, we can’t be beaten on price and ensure our prices beat those of builders’ merchants and garden centres.

Showroom open 8am-5pm Mon-Fri 8am-12noon Sat

NGS GARDENS OF THE MONTH

Forest Lodge

THISis a threeacre mature garden with many camellias and rhododendrons in May, with lovely views towards Blackmore Vale. It’s part formal with pleached hornbeam allée and rill, part water garden with lake.

It has

wonderful roses in June, unusual spring flowering trees and interesting garden sculpture.

Address: Pen Selwood, Wincanton BA9 8LL.

Contact: James & Lucy Nelson, https://forestlodgegardens.co.uk

Opening dates and time: Saturday March 25th and Saturday, May 20th, 12-3.30pm.

Combined Admission: £10, children free. Cashless

Lower Shalford Farm

FAIRLYlarge open garden with extensive lawns and wooded surroundings with drifts of daffodils in spring. Small winterbourne stream running through with several stone bridges. Walled rose/parterre garden, hedged herbaceous garden and several ornamental ponds.

Address: Shalford Lane, Charlton Musgrove, Wincanton

BA9 8HE.

Contact: Mr & Mrs David Posnett.

Opening dates and time: Saturday, March 25th, 10am3pm and Saturday, May 20th, 10am-4pm.

Combined Admission: £10, children free. Cash only.

To see more gardens open for the NGS, see The Yellow Book, or Local County Leaflet, available from local Garden Centres, or go to: https://www.ngs.org.uk

100,000 potential customers within a short distance of your business

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Sarah’s show debut success

A SURPRISE Christmas present has led to Sarah Bacik, who lives near Holcombe, winning the prize for Best in Show at the Somerset Vintage and Classic Tractor Show at the Royal Bath & West Showground.

The tractor – a 1958 Nuffield Universal Four DM4 – was a gift from Sarah’s partner John Godley and the couple decided to enter to learn more about the skills behind exhibiting at shows. Not only did the tractor take the coveted award, but Sarah was also placed first in the ladies category and the tractor took third prize in the vintage class.

Sarah said: “We even had to call the show organisers (who were incredibly helpful) to confirm what categories it should go in. We certainly didn't expect to win anything, let alone Best In Show.

“It's just amazing that we have come away with so many rosettes and silverware. We will definitely be back."

The two-day show raised a total of £11,500 for local charities and organisations, including the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and Freewheelers EVS.

Sarah Bacik with her Christmas gift

A rare Doe double-engined tractor owned by the late Mike Brockway (pictured at the 2020 show), of Coleford, was sold at the show auction for £49,000

John Deere tractors – old and new – were the central theme of this year’s show

Judge Stephen Hall examining one of the entries in the Original and Working class

Admiring some old farming publications

Success for Ansford’s young speakers

THE public speaking competition

Youth Speaks returned for the first time since 2020 when Shepton Mallet Rotary Club ran the local heat. Schools from Glastonbury, Castle Cary and Bruton took part in the competition at Ansford Academy with pupils also attending from Shepton Mallet’s Whitstone School, who plan to enter next year. The competition allows young people, aged 11-17, to display their public speaking abilities. The winners of this year’s competition, chosen by a panel of three adjudicators, was the team from Ansford Academy.

also won the individual award for outstanding speaker

Ansford Academy students Liam, Tom and Noah with Ted Allen, the chair of the adjudicators’ panel. Noah

Would you like a bigger house?

BROTHERS Laurence and Edward Pole have had a really busy 12 months with their new venture Banwell Garden Buildings. They have built garden rooms for all sorts of uses including home offices, art studios, therapy rooms and home gyms.

Laurence says: “We’ve been very pleased at the demand for our buildings and it has been great to help make people’s ideas come to life! We have had lots of requests to provide buildings for sleeping accommodation so we have designed a building especially for this purpose, the Banwell Garden Annexe.”

Banwell Garden Annexes are designed and built off-site and can be used in most gardens as extra sleeping accommodation without requiring planning permission. This means you can quickly and easily add an extra bedroom or living space in your garden.

Installation is typically just a week on site and because it’s not an extension there is virtually no mess or disruption in your home. The buildings are designed to look and feel like a permanent structure inside and out and feature high quality materials, fit and finish.

Pantry’s first year

Helping the elderly through winter

SOMERSET Community Foundation’s Surviving Winter appeal has raised more than £1million since it was launched in 2010, with £150,000 raised so far this year.

The annual appeal encourages pensioners to donate some or all of their Winter Fuel Payment, if they don’t need it themselves. These donations provide funding and support to older people across Somerset who are struggling to heat their homes – or living in fuel poverty.

THEHighbridge and Burnham Pantry celebrated its first anniversary having distributed the equivalent of over 20,000 meals, as well as fighting food waste and tackling hunger.

Members join for an initial six-month period during which time they can access the pantry each week and rescue food that would otherwise go to waste for a fraction of what it could cost in the supermarket.

The pantry works closely with the region’s largest food charity –FareShare South West as well as other food partners, to redistribute good quality surplus food that might otherwise go to landfill.

Rotarians raise a dram to Robert Burns

MIDSOMER

Norton & Radstock Rotary Club were joined by district governor, Ric Canham, at their Burns Night celebrations at the Centurion Hotel. Several club members sported kilts including president, Craig Shaw, who initiated the evening with the Selkirk Grace. Piper, Billy Colvin, led the procession through the hall to parade the haggis.

So far this winter the SCF team have supported over 300 people in need since November, with grants of up to £500.

SCF’s Philanthropy Director, Laura Blake, said: “The demand for Surviving Winter grants is huge this year with over 50% of low-income pensioners living in fuel poverty and we need all the help we can to reach as many of those in need as possible.”

Details: www.somersetcf.org.uk/winter 01749 344949 or send cheques to Somerset Community Foundation (and write SW on the reverse), Yeoman House, Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, BA4 6QN

Charity quiz night

MENDIP TIMES • MARCH 2023

GLASTONBURYand Street Lions’ annual quiz saw 12 teams of four battle it out to win the coveted Brains of Avalon Trophy in Glastonbury Town Hall, tackling 75 questions put together by Lion, Mike Edmunds.

The evening was kept in order by question master Chris Ford and raised £370 for the club’s charity account.

The winning team was Forum with Tor First Class in second place and Riflemans in third, all within six points of each other.

Some of the volunteers

Club president, Craig Shaw (left), and president-elect, Kevin Chard

Winners Forum receiving the trophy from club secretary Brenda Wood

Café profits help village

Awards nominations open

CONGRESBURY’S Supporting the Community Initiative has donated £1,000 to St Andrew’s Primary school in the village.

The initiative is run by Congresbury community café and Debbie Fortune Estate Agents. The cafe opened four years ago in rooms and a courtyard in Bridge House, provided by Debbie Fortune.

Run entirely by volunteers, surplus profits from the café are used to support village organisations, activities and some local and national charities. In 2022 almost £6,400 was donated to various organisations.

The initiative also paid for the Senior Citizens Lunch Club’s Christmas dinner.

The café which serves freshly brewed hot drinks and delicious homemade cakes is open on Wednesday and Friday mornings, 9am-1pm, and alternate Saturdays, 10am-2pm.

Memories of the Cold War

CHEDDAR Parish Council is inviting residents of the parish to nominate individuals or groups for Community Service Awards. These are given annually to people who have contributed significantly to the community, whether for work done over the past year or commitment over many years.

In 2022 awards were presented to Ceri Davies, on behalf of the volunteers at Winchester Farm Covid vaccination centre and Christine Reynolds for her community work.

Derek Bradley-Balmer, chairman of the parish council said: “This is a great opportunity to celebrate those unsung heroes whether individuals or groups who go that extra mile in supporting the community. If you know someone deserving the parish council would love to hear from you.”

The closing date for nominations is Wednesday, March 22nd.

Details: www.cheddarparishcouncil.org clerk@cheddarparishcouncil.org

01934 743217

Helpers welcome

ORGANISERS of Blagdon Village Fete are starting to look for helpers, old and new, to help with this year’s event at Blagdon Court on Saturday, May 20th.

As usual there will be many traditional stalls and sideshows, children’s entertainer, raffle, BBQ, tea and cakes and ice-cream.

They say there are many ways to get involved; cakes can be donated, they need people to help with setting up or clearing away at the end of the event, stalls to be manned, white elephant goods, books or toys to be donated and prizes to be gifted.

MEMBERS of the Royal Observer Corps Association (ROC) are pictured enjoying lunch at the Castle of Comfort Inn. Their former nuclear outpost in West Harptree was stood down in 1991 and finally closed in 2021. But they still like to meet up to reminisce.

They say: “It is a charming village event that provides the perfect place to meet up with friends and neighbours and to enjoy the beautiful gardens overlooking the lake. Volunteering at such events is a great way to meet new people and for any younger volunteers is always good to put on your CV.”

Details: blagdonvillagefete@gmail.com

Pictured (l to r): Julie Mayo and Fran Martin, St Andrew’s School, Lisa Baines and Neil Drejer, from Debbie Fortune estate agents, and Ian Sheppard, Community Café

Previous recipient, Elaine Reynolds, Cheddar Foodbank

Village club is thriving

WHILEmany pubs and restaurants are struggling due to soaring inflation and energy prices, Wookey Hole Club is thriving and has just had its best year in living memory.

Dave Hudsmith, who has been the club treasurer for 22 years, said: “Everyone at the club works hard to keep it alive for the benefit of Wookey Hole.

“All profits are invested back into the club to preserve the building and improve the facilities, so the better the club does the more our members benefit.”

Andrew Mannion, who became bar manager in 2021, said: “The rising cost of living is squeezing everyone’s wallets, so we are delighted to see our membership growing and the club enjoy its best year in living memory.”

This isn’t the first time that community spirit has helped the club to endure hard times. It has been run as a social club since

it was built in 1884 and has survived two world wars thanks to its loyal members.

In 1955 Guy Hodgkinson left the club in his will on condition it continued to be used as a club for the benefit of the village.

Long-term committee member, Clifford Hopkins, said: “Although the club has recently been refurbished with new toilets and is always warm thanks to a new heating system, one thing that hasn’t

changed is the friendly welcome that everyone receives.”

Rachael Hofgartner, who is a member of the club, said: “Great drinks, friendly staff, lovely people and a buzzing atmosphere –why would you not come to the club? Add in the variety of events, like themed parties, live music, open mic and you realise how lucky Wookey Hole is to have the club.”

The club is located on the High Street just up the road from the Wookey Hole Inn. Its 300 members live in Wookey Hole, Wells and the surrounding villages, and visitors staying in the village can apply for temporary membership.

Membership costs just £10 for the year and applications can be made in person at the club or via the website. The club has regular events and live music and you can keep up to date with it on Facebook and Instagram.

Details: www.wookeyholeclub.co.uk

Knitters’ charity efforts comes to an end

A GROUP of knitting enthusiasts are calling time on their major fundraising activities after raising more than £25,000 over 16 years for various charities.

Numbers of people attending Shepton Mallet’s Knit and Chat weekly sessions have been dwindling since the pandemic and the group say they no longer have sufficient volunteers to run stalls at fairs and other events.

Knit and Chat meet every Thursday at the Shepton Brasserie and the group will carry on gathering at their usual table for coffee and a natter and some will continue to knit blankets for the Linus Project.

But now the group wants to donate its extensive stock of wool and items, ranging from baby clothes and shopping bags to doorstops and cuddly toys, to a charity or other organisation which can use them to raise funds.

The stock is currently held at Clearspace Self Storage in Shepton Mallet but Knit and Chat organiser Cathy Kingstone said the time has come to clear the unit. Any leftover funds in the group’s bank account will be donated to the Stroke Association and Somerset Sight.

Cathy said: “We’ve lost people for various reasons –including the pandemic and the fact that some no longer have

access to convenient buses from outside Shepton – and we felt we couldn’t commit to the events we used to attend.

“We’ll carry on meeting at the Shepton Brasserie, where we have been made so welcome, and people are very welcome to join us each Thursday morning from 10ammidday – even if you can’t knit, you can chat!

For details, find Knit and Chat, Shepton Mallet on Facebook

Chloe (left) with regular knitters Georgie, Cathy and Sue at the Shepton Brasserie

Excitement as new playground takes shape

PUPILS at St Paul’s Junior School in Shepton Mallet enjoyed an exclusive tour of the new-look £200,000 playground in the town’s Collett Park.

The youngsters took part in a question-and-answer session with the park’s designer before being shown around the site which is due to open at the end of March.

The extensive renovation is being carried out by Sutcliffe Play South West. The centrepiece will be a six-metre-high rope climbing frame, but the design team say they have created a play area for children of all ages and abilities, including those with limited mobility.

The redevelopment has been made possible by support from charitable donations. The playground will feature areas for quiet play, toddlers and juniors, with a range of innovative and stimulating equipment including trampoline, rope bridge, sensory games panel, activity tables as well as the climbing frame.

Seating includes adapted picnic tables to accommodate young people – and adults – who are wheelchair users. There will also be a chair swing for children who require support and a parent/sibling swing.

Studying the plans for the play area

Law firm supports foodbanks

LOCALsolicitors, Mogers Drewett, has donated £1,000 each to three food banks local to their offices in Sherborne, Wells & Bath. The money was raised by staff who sold raffle tickets in December, with prizes donated by local companies.

Managing partner, Sean McDonough, said: “We see this as the start of a longerterm relationship which will include the firm encouraging staff to volunteer at food

banks and working with the food bank team to identify additional support needed in 2023.”

Sue Marland, senior pastor and foodbank manager at Wells Vineyard Foodbank, said: “We are now spending around £1,800 per month on groceries and other essential items as demand has outstripped the traditional donations of long-life products.

“Financial support such as this is a

Details: www.wellsvineyard.com

https://gofund.me/3f498589

need.”

Enjoying the tour of the new-look playground

Sutcliffe Play South West’s vision for the area

The new equipment is being installed in stages – the slide was high on the list of priorities for youngsters

lifeline and will help continue to support local people in desperate

Community farm welcomes refugees

Love was in the air for WI group

THECommunity Farm, above Chew Valley Lake, has been welcoming asylum seekers and refugees, thanks to funding from the Mendip Hills AONB team.

The visits were designed to help connect participants to their new homeland, meet each other and the wider community and gain respite from inner city life.

The funding came from the AONB’s Farming in Protected Landscapes DEFRA Fund. It will support a twoyear project to enable The Farm to reach out to wider communities through community partner organisations.

One of these, Aid Box Community (ABC), has been taking asylum seekers and refugees out to The Farm. Many commented that it connected them with memories of previous homes that have had to be left behind.

One said: "It has been a great experience for me to see how the food we eat every day grows and how much effort people put into it.

“The Farm life is like a whole different world on its own. Also, the sitting room (roundhouse) made me feel very emotional, because I likened it to the village houses where my parents were born and raised.

“It was so amazing for me. I met new lovely people in there, so I left very happy from The Community Farm."

ABC said: “We’ve had six nourishing trips to The Community Farm with 32 adults and 11 children, who enjoyed spending time in the hills of Chew Magna.

“The feedback we get is always incredible, highlighting the important need for these spaces in nature. A HUGE thank you to The Community Farm for welcoming us with warmth and love. And a thank you to our wonderful volunteers.”

Details: https://www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk/ support-us • www.aidboxcommunity.co.uk

MEMBERS of the Strawberry Line WI group at Cranmore took part in a special evening featuring a visit from Shepton Mallet-based jewellery maker Holly Berkley, who taught them how to make their own heart pendants in time for Valentine’s Day. The heart pendants take shape

RAF celebration

FRANKSmith, an RAF veteran and long-time resident of Glastonbury, celebrated his 100th birthday on January 12th with a small celebration with his two daughters and an RAF roundel birthday cake as well as with a steady stream of well-wishers.

As well as a card from the King, he received two certificates from the RAF Association (RAFA), one from RAFA President, Air Marshal Sir Baz North, and another from his local RAFA Mid-Somerset Branch recognising his unbroken 76year membership.

Concentration on the tables at Cranmore Memorial Hall

Supporting good causes

PROCEEDSfrom the The Axbridge Progressive Supper have been presented to various local groups, Axbridge Heritage Trails, Axbridge Strawberry Carnival, Axe Valley Men’s Shed and Cheddar Valley Plus Foodbank.

The event, organised by Zoe Hebden, Kirsty Edwards, Paul Hughes, Harry Mottram and Margaret Cowey, raised £2,000.

Soup run

CHEW Stoke’s monthly soup lunches, which started up again at the end of October, have been very successful, raising more than £1,700 for various charities.

The supper, which dates back decades, is a community charity event in which couples sit down to a three-course meal with each course in a different home in the town –meaning much walking in between and the chance to make new friends!

The next one is on Saturday, December 2nd, 2023.

The latest raised £281.50 for the Carpenter’s foodbank in Withywood, Bristol. The next is on Wednesday, March 8th, 12.30-1.30pm at Chew Stoke Church Hall.

Strawberry Carnival

Men's Shed

Foodbank

Heritage Trail

A busy lunchtime

The kitchen team (l to r) Gill Wring, Liz Wormald, Sheila Limburn, Anne Summers, Cynthia Troop and Alison Letts

New hope as the weather improves

WE are well into 2023, the days are getting longer and the weather is improving. Winter can be put behind us, although the last months of 2022 brought cavers from many clubs together for social events. Most of the club dinners have taken place, although the Templeton diggers still have theirs to look forward to.

We gathered at the Wells and Mendip Museum in October to view the “Common Ground” art exhibition, hosted by Ceris Jones and Robin Gray. The main theme was caving and diving and the collection was well received.

I have already reported on the 13th J-Rat Award ceremony held in November, but December saw us gathering again at the Hunters’ Lodge Inn for the launch of Robin Taviner’s third book in the series Somerset Underground.

This volume covers central and south Mendip, which is where most of the hill’s major caves lie. Tav, as he is known to all, has extensively researched the area, both by fieldwalking and perusing various written sources, some of which are very obscure.

The result is a gazetteer of sites of speleological interest, often with a brief history or interesting facts. For anyone who thinks they know the area well, there are lots of surprises. Of course, due to ongoing research and discovery, any list of Mendip caves will quickly become out of date, but that of course is the thrill of the chase.

A complete listing of Mendip caves, with location maps, will be found on the Mendip Cave Registry and Archive website.

Mendip cavers have a long tradition of caving in foreign parts and there is probably not a country in the world with limestone or lava caves that has not been visited and explored by our men and women. Often, they return celebrating significant discoveries.

Recently, particularly in Croatia, cave divers have made some incredible finds, usually of long roomy underwater passages. Sometimes, knowledge of a foreign cave can be immensely useful, for example the familiarity of Mendip cavers with the Tham Luang system in Thailand during the rescue of the boys of the Wild Boars football team in 2018.

This year at least two expeditions are planned, one to a known French cave, the other closer to home but in an area of great potential. The Wessex Cave Club and Shepton Mallet Caving Club are training for a trip to the Gouffre Berger in the Vercors.

It has many deep wet and draughty pitches and the highlight is the Hall of the Thirteen, with a baker’s dozen of tall stalagmites. In 1967 the British caver Ken Pearce set a

world depth record of 1,141 metres (3,743 feet) here, until the record was broken by the Pierre St. Martin, on the Franco-Spanish border.

The cave is now 1,271 metres deep and a serious undertaking even for fit and experienced cavers.

Meanwhile, the Bristol Exploration Club is offering to accept non-members for a trip to Assynt, in northern Scotland, in conjunction with the Grampian Speleological Group. This was one of the late Tony Jarratt’s favourite caving areas and he spent a lot of time digging there.

In 2017 UNCABAC cave won the digging award. The Grampian extended the cave and won the award again in 2018. It has since been further extended and there is plenty of potential in the region.

The cold weather has not prevented various teams from continuing with their digs. In some cases higher than usual water levels have slowed progress, but it is often warmer and more comfortable underground. Pity the poor caver forced to work on the surface!

Trevor Hughes and his team are further extending Stock Hill Mine Cave and progress is good at White Rabbit Hole, at Lower Pitts Farm (access by agreement with the diggers only). We have had problems at Templeton, where the old Daihatsu 4x4 donated by Dave Turner in 2007 has finally given up the ghost.

This was converted by farmer Jim Young to drive a hydraulic winch, used to haul spoil up from the 166ft level. Sadly, it is irreparable, but plans are in hand to use an exmarine fire pump engine to drive the hydraulics. Jim, unfortunately, is with us no more, but when the weather improves, the conversion will take place.

Fine weather always improves confidence and morale, so hopes are high that the next J-Rat Digging Award, to be held in November, will reveal another significant Mendip discovery.

With PHILIP HENDY

Phil has been caving for more than 50 years and is a member of the Wessex Cave Club. He has been involved in producing several caving publications and until his retirement was a caving instructor at Cheddar. His main interest is digging for new caves

(Photograph by Phil Hendy)

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Springtime will boost the housing market

I ALWAYSget excited when I see little signs of fresh growth in the garden and they literally put a spring in my step. You can be sure the new season will do the same for an already strong housing market, so there has never been a better time to come and talk to us if you are considering selling your home in the near future.

So many people have decided we are the agent of choice that the number of instructions coming in has been keeping the team busy, but we have still found time for training on new software which will provide an even better customer experience.

We may already be the number one agent in the Chew Valley but with our motto of Dedication, Imagination and Delivery we are always looking at ways to invest in the business so we can improve the service we provide.

There is still very strong demand for houses in every price range and whilst

there may not be quite so many purchasers around, what they lack in quantity they more than make up for in quality and we have a number of serious buyers who are ready to proceed when they see the right property.

Many are local people who want to move but there are also a good number of London buyers who are keen to come to share in our lifestyle and their eyes will light up when they see the new blooms as our gardens come back to life.

With our unrivalled experience in the market, we are able to provide the best possible advice for our clients, especially when it comes to the crucial question of price. Vendors who approach things realistically have a much better chance of making a sale and making the move to their next home.

The arrival of spring means we are

that much closer to one of my highlights of the year when we can get out and about at local shows in Clutton, Compton Martin, Stanton Drew and Chew Stoke, meeting friends old and new and having a good old chat.

But there are a few months of hard work before those events. We are already working on launching a number of exceptional properties which will attract strong interest so now is the moment to register with us and join our Buyers’ Club.

You will beat the portals by receiving early information about new properties coming to market. We also specialise in discreet “Off Market” sales and as a member you will enjoy exclusive access to those properties.

So whether you are a seller or a buyer please come and talk to us and we’ll get you moving.

JOANNA TILEY

Dogs and Wotsits –their place in medicine

Plop the Raindrop

I WASin the Bear and Swan recently, catching up with my old friends in Chew Magna, who have asked me to say that, like Blagdon, it is a glorious place to live. Only even more expensive. Once we’d exhausted the argument about which village is best, one member of the Wednesday Elders Sensible Drinking Emporium – let’s call him Miguel –asked me whether I would pop outside and have a quick look at his warty growth.

By DrPHIL HAMMOND

He’d noticed it in the car park down by Chew Valley Lake, when he’d been reading Mendip Times and enjoying a coffee and a fresh pastry from the village shop in West Harptree (also a lovely place to live, as is Bishop Sutton).

Anyway, while we were round the back of the smokers’ tent by the light of my iPhone, Miguel asked me if there was anything I’d wished I’d known before becoming a doctor. Well, I wish I’d known it was OK to say no to friends who ask for a free examination when you’re off duty.

A female gynaecologist I know was stopped in the supermarket by one of her patients… well you can guess the rest.

But Miguel is an old friend who is frightened of doctors and his warty growth was nothing to write home about. In fact, it turned out to be a Cheesy Wotsit that had been nestling there since Christmas. A quick flick of the wrist and it was gone. But his question was a good one, and here are my answers, some of which you may have heard before.

1. You’re often better off with a dog than a doctor. Dogs are always happy to see you. Dogs give you unconditional love. Dogs don’t mind if you get their name wrong. Dogs don't mind if you’re drunk. Dogs don’t mind if you don’t take your

tablets. Dogs are delighted if you forget to wash. They particularly love it when you bring a sample. Dogs look you in the eye –and they keep looking at you until you take them out for a walk. You can wrestle on the carpet with a dog without getting arrested. When did you have that much fun with a doctor? Also, a dog will very quickly remove the Cheesy Wotsit you were confusing with a warty growth.

2. When doing a home visit, don’t assume the dog that follows you in belongs to that house. Also, don’t kneel down by the sofa to examine a patient without looking. You’ll nearly always kneel on a wet patch, either left by the patient or the dog that isn’t his.

3. Health is relational as much as it is medicational. Yes, drugs and vaccines reduce your risk of unpleasant diseases but they don’t give you the same sense of well-being as love, laughter and friendship, or the beautiful view of Blagdon Lake. So look after your partner, your pets, your planet and your mates. And if you are going to make up stuff about Miguel in Mendip Times, make sure it’s well disguised, or he’ll be phoning you to say he’s spilt his coffee on his trousers in the Chew Valley Lake car park, and could I come and check him out for scalds? (I told him to get his dog to lick it off).

I’Mlooking forward to seeing my first Mad March hare. The way they twist and jump you would think they have springs in their legs.

It takes quite a lot to hold on, even for a water droplet like me. But first you have to find one, they aren’t as common as they used to be.

They’re also quite keen on having “boxing” matches.

Hares are probably the most fun, but they are not the fastest animal I’ve seen. I landed on a cheetah once and couldn’t believe the speed they go. Again, there aren’t as many as there used to be. Even they aren’t the fastest in the world. You only need to go to Cheddar Gorge or one of the reserves on the Somerset Levels to get the chance to see a peregrine falcon, the world’s fastest animal.

They dive at speeds of up to 390km/h which is pretty awesome. And the good news is that there seems to be more of them.

They’re not very big, but they are quite bossy and there will only be one pair in an area. Sometimes you might hear them making a clack clack clack sound near the nest.

More often they will be high in the sky, like a speck of dust against the clouds. You will need binoculars to see them.

Unfortunately, pigeons and other small birds don’t have binoculars and won’t see or hear the peregrine if it dives.

MENDIP

GRANDAD

Dr Phil is doing a gig for the excellent mental health charity Boys in Mind in Widcombe Social Club on March 25th. He has asked Miguel to join him on stage (friendship and burns permitting). See you all there

Breastfeeding support group opens in Radstock

ORGANISERS of a weekly breastfeeding support group in Ubley are to set up a new series of sessions in Radstock.

Valley Feeding Friends are made up of a team of volunteer peer supporters with a wealth of experience.

Founder Kim Crawford said: “These services really help support families as there is very little provision for breastfeeding support around BANES.

“We get no funding from the council or health services but have been lucky enough to receive a generous donation from Norton Radstock Round Table which has enabled us to open the second group.”

They are currently in the process of training several women to become peer supporters and want to train more to develop a network across the area.

The sessions will be held every Friday in term-time from March 3rd at Radstock Children’s Centre from 10.15-11.30am.

For details, find Valley Feeding Friends on Instagram or on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/valleyinfantfeeding https://www.valleyartscentre.co.uk

A session underway in Ubley

Live in Warden Windsor Hill Wood

To lead this small woodland community in Somerset offering Christian hospitality to those who are finding life difficult. Windsor Hill Wood offers a place to recover and rebuild for adults with diverse needs. Beneficiaries (we call them guests) come and join a very small community, the size of a large family and built around a family home.

They are accepted on the basis of need rather than diagnosis and can be struggling with any of a very wide range of challenges, ranging from a specific mental health challenge (depression, anxiety, PTSD and personality disorder are the most common), the effects of childhood trauma, drug or alcohol abuse, experience of prison, homelessness or social isolation and inability to find connection in our complex modern society.

All have lost confidence and need respite to gain self-worth, learn new skills and feel able to contribute to the community and the wider world. The warden (including any partner or family) will live on site in the house provided and will be responsible for maintaining the ethos and equilibrium of the community, organising the duties which include food preparation, woodland management, animal husbandry, horticulture and site maintenance.

The warden will have experience of community life, addiction recovery or mental health issues, so as to be able to facilitate the recovery process of guests through one-to-one meetings with guests and the offering of support and advice. Salary £18,964pa for a nominal 35-hour week. 4 weeks holiday per year. Three-bed accommodation provided.

Women’s health expert

THRIVEand Shine

Women’s wellness studio was set up in July 2022 by Roberta Bass who is a women’s health physiotherapist with over 17 years’ experience. She is also a Pilates instructor, remedial hypnotist and menopause coach.

She offers treatment for a wide range of conditions to improve the health of women both physically and mentally. Conditions that she is able to treat include incontinence, prolapse, post-natal issues, pregnancy pelvic pain, menopause symptoms, sleep issues, anxiety and many more.

Roberta has a passion to support and educate women on menopause, pelvic health and mental health and holds regular information sessions at her clinic. She is also able to speak to groups and companies about women’s health.

Details: www.thriveandshinestudio.co.uk

Teaching youngsters about dementia

Learning about Archie

CHILDRENfrom Stanton Drew Primary School have been taking part in the Archie Project, which has been designed to help pupils understand how dementia can affect older people. It began with a visit from staff from Stanton Court Nursing Home, who joined the school assembly. The children then visited the home and more regular visits are now planned.

The project is centred around a brightly knitted scarecrow called Archie.

The first Archie project was established in 2012. Head teacher, Dieter Cook, said: “It linked primary schools and care homes together with the ultimate aim of reducing the fear and stigma often associated with dementia and thereby creating more dementia friendly communities.”

Roberta Bass

100,000 potential customers within a short distance of your business

The war in Ukraine –one mother’s view

A year after Russia invaded Ukraine, church services are due to be held across the area to commemorate the anniversary. One of those who escaped, Maryna Kyrychenko, has spent most of the year in the Chew Valley with her twin sons.

THEY attacked our freedom, our sovereignty and our choice of democracy. One year has passed since a full-scale atrocious invasion of Ukraine tremendously changed the history of Europe.

Rockets shelling Ukrainian cities and villages on February 24th, 2022, signalled the commencement of the war, which would go on to become one of the bloodiest battlefields in Europe since the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.

I remember I was at home in my bed when I woke up about 5am to explosions of air defence systems. I refused to believe it was happening. That “older brother” country, how russians* called themselves, dared to bomb us, literally to kill, destroy and conquer the territory like in the Middle Ages.

Savages and barbarians.

Innocent civilians were caught in the crossfire of the battle and unable to escape the violence that has engulfed their homes and communities. Along with the death toll, the battle has also caused widespread destruction and displacement.

Over 7.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes and become refugees, many of them seeking refuge in other parts of Ukraine or in neighbouring countries. Entire neighbourhoods and towns have been reduced to rubble, leaving behind a trail of destruction that will take years, if not decades, to repair.

Me and my children escaped from war leaving our homes and lives that were not peaceful any more. Despite the enormity of the suffering and loss caused by the war, the Ukrainian people have not given up hope.

In fact, many of my friends, relatives and colleagues have become even more determined to see the war to its end and to reclaim our country from the forces of aggression and oppression.

This sentiment is echoed by many Ukrainian immigrants and refugees living in the United Kingdom, who have come together

in the face of this crisis to provide support and assistance to Ukrainian military forces and civilians left in Ukraine by raising money for different needs.

The most frequent fundraisers are for the purchase of vehicles, medical equipment and generators. We believe that a free and democratic Ukraine is not only possible, but also essential for the future of the world.

We also believe that the international community has an important role to play in supporting the Ukrainian people in our struggle for independence and freedom.

This includes not just providing humanitarian aid and support for refugees, but also holding russia accountable for its actions in the war and taking steps to bring an end to the violence.

We dream and pray to come back home, rebuild and renovate the whole infrastructure and invite all the countless new and old friends of Ukrainians to visit Ukraine.

Ukraine is unbreakable, Ukraine is the shield of Europe, Ukraine will prevail!!

* Since the invasion Ukrainians prefer not use a capital letter when referring to Russia.

Special event to mark the anniversary of war

WEDMORE Village Hall will host a special fundraising evening on Friday, February 24th to mark the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.

Don’t Close Your Eyes starts at 7pm and promises an “immersive performance” with all proceeds going to Somerset Aid for Ukraine. The organisation is currently collecting essential items such as generators, power packs, over-the-counter medicines and thermal clothing as it raises money to fund its next shipment to the stricken country.

It is also appealing for people to donate money to buy essential medical items directly from a supplier, Reflex Medical.

l Tickets for the evening cost £12.50 and are available from The Cottage Gallery and Wedmore Village Store. For details, find Somerset Aid for Ukraine on Facebook or visit: www.somersetaidforukraine.org

Andrew, Maryna and Sasha Kyrychenko

Cossington Village Hall hosted a sell-out theatrical concert called History of One Nation in aid of SAU

Shanties and songs

NAILSEALions Club is holding an evening of shanties and songs of the sea, featuring two well-known local shanty groups, The Harry Browns and High and Dry, at Holy Trinity Church, Nailsea on April 1st.

The Harry Browns have been performing around the country for over 20 years. They are noted for their wide diversity of songs and great harmonies and are full of surprises and humour.

High and Dry, founded some 12 years ago by a few friends singing in the pub, have developed into a group well known for harmony singing, and have performed at festivals throughout the West Country. They are also the organisers of the Bristol Shanty Festival.

Tickets are £10.

Details: www.TicketSource.co.uk/NailseaLions 01275 810067

Guitar duo at St Mary’s

Frome Orchestra in action

YATTONMusic Society’s March concert will be a rare opportunity to hear a guitar duo who are graduates from the Royal Northern College of Music.

Emma Smith and Sam Rodwell have played at venues and festivals throughout the UK and they always strive to create varied programmes of interest to any music lover, ranging from Renaissance to newly commissioned works.

The concert starts at 7.30pm on March 25th at St Mary’s Church, tickets £10, students over 16 half price, children free.

Details: www.yms.org.uk

FROME Symphony, the amateur orchestra for Frome, has bounced back from the pandemic with a series of concerts planned this year. Dates at the Cheese and Grain are already booked for March 12th and July 9th.

The first concert will feature romantic music from across Europe. It will kick off with the ravishing suite from Tchaikovsky’s music for his Sleeping Beauty ballet, followed by Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite and will be rounded off with the majestic First Symphony by Rachmaninov.

Conductor, Mark Gateshill, said: “There is definitely something here for all the family, so please come and join us!”

Details: www.fromesymphony.org.uk

Wrington concert

Rehearsing in Churchill

TRINITYSingers will be giving a concert in recognition of both the upcoming Coronation and the Royal events of 2022 at All Saints’ Church, Wrington on Saturday, March 25th, 7.30pm.

“Music for a Royal Occasion” will include Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Handel’s much loved Zadok the Priest and other works performed at the late Queen’s Coronation, together with Purcell’s evocative Funeral Sentences.

Accompanying the choir on the recently restored organ will be Claire Alsop, assistant organist at St. Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol and the choir will be conducted by its Musical Director Andrew Tyrrell.

Details: www.trinitysingers.co.uk

Roth guitar duo

Children’s choirs

Frome’s feast of busking is back

A SCHOOL choir based in the Chew Valley is welcoming new members after recently performing in front of an audience of more than 200 people including parents, teachers and fellow pupils.

Mini Melodies and Jubilee Choirs are led by choirmaster and accomplished musician, the Rev Dr Ian Mills, and is based at Chew Stoke Church School. The two choirs include pupils from Chew Stoke, Chew Magna and Pensford Church School.

Chew Stoke head, Ben Hewett, said: “Singing is such an amazing way for children to grow in confidence. We would love children from other schools in the valley to come and join us and enjoy some fun singing.”

The choir meets on a Tuesday (Mini Melodies ages 7-9) and a Thursday (Jubilee ages 9-11) at Chew Stoke Church School during term times from 3.30pm to 4.30pm.

Details: Carole Hope 01275 332354 or office@chewstokeacademy.org

Wizard show!

Mark

Details: Wdctickets@gmail.com Julie 0753 5582694

FROME town centre will come alive with music and singing on Saturday, March 18th when Frome Busks returns.

The annual event is hosted by Frome Town Council in association with Frome College, whose students will be performing on various stages in the heart of town including Boyle Cross, the Valentine lamp, King Street, the Westway and outside the Cheese & Grain and Black Swan Arts from 11am2pm.

Eight stages across town will host the students who will provide a spectrum of music styles with some well-known songs mixed with some original compositions.

Councillor Andy Wrintmore said: “This is one of my favourite days in the town; taking a wander through our streets and hearing live music from our up-and-coming students who may well be stars of tomorrow.

“Having it right in the centre, gives us a great excuse to explore the town and visit its many wonderful shops and outlets, so make sure the date is in your diary!”

Any money raised by the busking on the day will go towards extra curricula music performances and productions for Frome College students.

Charity concert

More than 100 musicians from the USA will perform a charity concert at St Cuthbert’s Church, Wells on Monday, March 13th, in aid of Wells Community Network, Ukraine.

From City High School, Iowa, ensembles will consist of a big band, symphony orchestra and choir, performing traditional, popular, jazz and classical music by Chilcott, Rachmaninov, Percy Grainger, Vaughan Williams and many more.

The concert starts at 7pm and cash donations will be taken on the night.

Details:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2147189178814423

One of last year’s Frome Busks acts

(Photograph courtesy of Mark Brooks)

WRINGTONDrama Club’s production of the Wizard of Oz, directed by Julie Kingcott, was a sell-out and they are now looking forward to their next production.

Bullen and John Rubidge are working on “The Memory of Water” by Shelagh Stephenson. The club’s keen to hear from anyone who wants to get involved.

Getting ready for spring

THE grass may not be growing yet but the children certainly are, at an alarming rate. At KSEC (King’s Sedgemoor Equestrian Centre) on the last Sunday in January, the Mendip Farmers Pony Club held an Open Showjumping competition, where some of the youngsters had noticeably shot up in height and were beginning to appear on larger ponies.

Some of the ponies had been acquired for new riders by being passed on from one family to another as they so often are, but then it becomes necessary to do a double take to be able to identify who is riding who.

There are quite a few lovely grey Connemara types around at the moment, some with similar names which makes it even harder to determine who is on top! The classes started just after 9am with the 40cms and went on throughout the day until darkness descended and beyond, ending with the 90cms.

By then the lights were on around the arena, it was cold and damp but that didn’t weaken the spirits of those who had travelled from all corners to compete. Teams came from the Cattistock, Taunton, Blackmore & Sparkford Vale, Wylye Valley branches of the Pony Club, as well as the Seavington, Polden Hills and beyond.

Mendip teams achieved good placings, with the Mendip Blues team consisting of William, Thomas, Ollie and Charlotte coming first in the 70cms and individual results also showing a good sprinkling of Mendip riders. Thanks to the dedicated staff and organisers, helped by willing mums and dads, everyone had a funfilled day despite the intermittent rain and wind.

KSEC do an amazing job, keeping everything as dry and safe as possible, even providing stabling for the day if needed. It’s great to see a few more boys getting into Pony Club. Riding is one of the few sports where boys and girls, men and women, all compete on a level playing field, so come on boys, let’s see more of you out there giving it some welly.

These early competitions are very popular. It’s a chance to get the ponies out after such a long, wet spell. The arena and warm-up areas at KSEC are the perfect place for everyone to be out in the fresh air getting some good exercise and meeting new people from other branches.

A week later, a few miles up the road from the Levels on slightly higher ground at Badgworth, another busy day was enjoyed by local riders and horses. Working Hunter classes attracted good numbers.

The venue is spacious and friendly, there is a varied programme on offer every month to suit a wide range of capabilities and disciplines and, as ever, the cheesey chips from the Vosper’s canteen alone make it worth the trip! See Jane Vosper’s

Badgworth website or Facebook page to keep abreast of What’s On.

Down at Ditcheat, home to National Hunt racing champion trainer Paul Nicholls and his team, the wins are coming in well and putting him ahead of the competition yet again for the championship for 2023. There are still a couple of months to go in this exciting contest which will be won by the trainer who accrues the most prize money over the year running from April to April.

The Cheltenham Festival is not far away now… it runs March 14th-17th with the prestigious Gold Cup race being run on the last day. Tickets for the Gold Cup are sold out unless you can fork out whopping three or four figures for hospitality packages. Needless to say, I will once again be watching from the box at home.

To get nearer some jump race action, I will be heading to Ston Easton on Sunday, March 19th for the Mendip Farmers Point to Point meeting, where tickets can be bought at the gate. First race is at 12.30. It’s always an exciting day out.

On a more sombre note, Road Safety for riders and horses is an ever-present important topic which needs to be constantly highlighted.

The British Horse Society statistics make worrying reading, but it’s no good burying heads in the sand and being complacent, we all need to be raising awareness about the number of drivers and cyclists on the roads who are not taking any notice of the Highway Code, as well as emphasising the need for riders to be encouraged to be considerate and polite to those in charge of vehicles.

There is room for everyone on roads, as long as we are all patient, tolerant and polite. Lives depend on it and attitude can be so important. It is horrifying to witness road rage quickly escalate to an incident.

Horses are animals of flight and fright, so are easily spooked by shouting, hooting of horns, and people waving fists out of car windows, let alone by cars and bikes roaring past them, dangerously close. Keep as visible as possible and stay aware.

The BHS website contains details of what to report, to whom it should be reported, and interesting information about what you should report, including fireworks and drones. Police will accept video footage. It will help if we are all vigilant and responsible. It could help to prevent accidents and save lives.

With JANE PATERSON

The Mendip Blues 70cms winners Ollie Lambie, Thomas ReesMogg, William Falango and Charlotte Smith

A busy breeding season ahead for equine practice

THE team at Stables Equine Practice are gearing up for another busy time in the world of thoroughbred breeding.

Practice founder Nicko Robertson and highlyexperienced breeding specialist vet Steve Wildman – the latest vet to join SEP – will be putting in the miles around stables and yards throughout Somerset and Dorset, offering pre-breeding, pregnancy care and post-foaling services.

Steve has 35 years’ experience in the equine sector and has previously worked with many large thoroughbred and Arab studs.

AI and breeding are just one of the many specialist equine services offered by Wookey-based SEP, part of Langford Vets, ranging from dentistry and surgery to vaccinations.

SEP also support events and competitions and Nicko –who founded the practice in 1997 – will be one of the vets at the Mendip Farmers Point-to-Point on Sunday, March 19th.

Return to riding!

Nicko Robertson with a proud mum and foal

In praise of the hill climb

SEVERAL years ago, I was cycling up a relatively steep hill towards Nempnett Thrubwell when I heard a tractor following me. As I reached the peak and stopped to let the tractor pass, the farmer smiled and said, “If God had intended us to cycle up hills – he would have given us wheels!”.

As I crouched over my handlebars hardly able to breath, I pondered for a moment over those words of advice. “No” I said, “the struggle to get to the top makes it all worthwhile!”

Cycling across Mendip at some point will inevitably involve a hill climb or two. It’s part of our environment and what makes where we live an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. That’s why each year there are a number of popular cycling sportives across Mendip, attracting riders from across the country.

For many, particularly those new to cycling, the prospect of going uphill can be daunting. But it doesn’t need to be so. There are a few things that can make a difference; mainly centred around the capability of the bike and how you ride it, psychology and preparation.

It goes without saying that a heavier bike is going to be harder to cycle uphill than a much lighter one. The same is also true about the rider, lose weight and you will go faster, but that probably doesn’t matter unless you want to be King of the Mountains!

In any case, with adequate gears fitted, it’s possible to cycle up most of the major hills across Mendip. It helps to keep a steady cadence, anticipate changes in the gradient before they occur and save the lowest gears for the hardest section.

Standing on the pedals can be helpful on a short steep section to get a bit of

extra power and reduce the number of gear changes needed.

Body position plays a part as well. A strong core minimises the upper body movement meaning more power ends up going to the legs. Placing the hands on the hoods or on top of the handlebars and adopting an upright position can also be more comfortable.

But beyond these physical aspects is a psychological hurdle and the question –can I do it?

Hills can look intimidating the first time you see them. It’s human nature to think that some things are going to be more challenging than they really are. The best way to overcome this is to have the confidence in knowing what lies ahead so that you can maintain a pace that gets you to the top.

Searching on Strava will reveal the profile of almost any hill climb, who cycled up there the fastest and in what time (some books and online blogs are also useful). What is most important is how long the climb is, where the steepest sections are and how steep they are. Then you are better prepared for the challenge.

The first time cycling up a new hill is

going to be the hardest and it’s best to concentrate on one section at a time, and not worry about the rest of the hill.

If you look up too much, the difficulty can put you off, so distraction is a useful tool. On the very hardest hills I count pedal strokes or breaths towards a target. This takes my mind off what my legs, heart and lungs are going through.

Then, once you have conquered a hill on a bike it is yours forever. The next time you’ll approach it with less trepidation, be more relaxed and enjoy it a bit more. The more you try different hills the more you learn about where you think your limits are and how to beat them.

In the end, the hill climb is an honest test of power and determination against gravity, with a bit of insanity thrown in for good measure!

From a personal perspective, when I first started cycling, I never really set out to cycle up hills. There just happened to be quite a few around where we lived.

From chasing buses up Lancashire Hill in my teens to heading off across the Peak District for the day I did it just because they were there.

ACROSS: 4. Sap 8. Wrington 9. Rascal 10. Strip light 11. Alto 12. Enrapt 14. Lamp-post 15. Ostrich 17. Arsenal 21. Shanghai 23. Cattle 25. Urdu 26. Kingfisher 28. Minion 29. Salesman 30. Gas. DOWN:1. Bruton 2. Anti 3. Athletic 4. Snuggle 5. Pro tem 6. Escarpment 7. Fantasia 12. Ego 13. Aeronautic 16. Spheroid 18. Rockfall 19. Lie 20. Lioness 22. Hiking 24. Leeway 27. Sash

MARCHCROSSWORDSOLUTION

Hoopla in Glastonbury as new-look court is opened

GLASTONBURY Town Council’s Youth Provision Committee has responded to feedback from users of Abbey Park by refurbishing the basketball/netball practice court.

As well as a new, permeable surface, the project also saw the installation of new hoops – complete with backboards – at the correct height. Previously, there was just one hoop. The court is slightly narrower than standard which is why it has been called a practice area. Some of the funding came from a “dowry” from a recent housing development in the town.

The council is also working with Mendip YMCA to reopen a youth club in the Red Brick Building to run alongside an existing, thriving, club on Windmill Hill.

Rugby tackle changes

SOMERSET and Dorset and Wiltshire RFU council members have broadly welcomed the decision to reduce the tackle height to reduce the risk of head injuries.

The RFU Council have recommended the height should be reduced to the navel (the stomach, not below the hips as some people have assumed) and the attacking player should where possible, remain upright when carrying the ball.

Local council members said: “We have watched footage of matches with the new laws and it remains very similar to today’s game.

“Understandably, there were a few more penalties as players were getting used to the new laws but there were more off-loads and it was definitely more free-flowing. This should encourage the game to be more skilful and entertaining as a result.

“We all appreciate that change is not always welcomed but something had to be done to improve player safety and hopefully encourage more people to play rugby, rather than shying away from it for fear of head injury.”

But council members said the way the issue had been handled had been very unsatisfactory and should not have been allowed to happen.

They said: “This has been compounded by a communication process from the RFU we feel has fallen far short of competence.

“Decisions of this magnitude should only be taken after Council Members are given sufficient time to consult with their clubs, and this is but one item that we and many of our fellow RFU Council members have and will continue to feed back to the RFU.”

Guests including mayor Jon Cousins at the opening of the refurbished practice court

All smiles from these youngsters

Time for some practice –the courts are free to use

Woodland trials

Last-gasp winner for Nailsea and Backwell

A carpet of snowdrops beneath the course

BATH Classic Motorcycle Club staged a busy trials event on land next to Emborough Ponds at Emborough.

The club has around 200 members with weekly meetings around the Bath area and a variety of road runs, shows, trials and scrambles to cater for everyone’s needs. Future trials dates include Lamb’s Lair, near West Harptree, on May 20th and 21st and at Binegar on November 19th.

THE final play of a fiercely fought derby between Midsomer Norton RFC and Nailsea and Backwell RFC saw the visitors grab a much-needed 37-38 victory.

Home side Norton thought they had the game settled with a try with minutes to go, but missed the conversion, only for Nailsea to pile over at the other end.

For details, visit: www.bcmcc.org

Badminton winners

CHILDRENat Chew Stoke Church School are over the moon after their A and B teams came first and second respectively in the B&NES Badminton Tournament, which was held at Wellsway School in Keynsham.

Vicki Hennessy, who is the PE co-ordinator at the school, said: "Across the tournament you could see how the children develop as players, whilst also demonstrating the values we promote in sport."

l Austin, from Year 6, is winner of Chew Stoke Church School’s Teammate of the Year Award. He’s pictured (left) with Charlie, who nominated him.

The award is made in conjunction with the school’s link with Bristol Sport Foundation.

As Mendip Times went to press, Nailsea were sitting in second place in Tribute Western Counties North with Norton –having played two games less – in fifth. l Norton will host their end-of-season lunchtime reunion for former players, sponsors, supporters and friends on Saturday, March 4th when they are due to host Barton Hill.

Trials make up just a part of the club’s busy calendar

The victorious Nailsea and Backwell team

Nailsea try to break through Norton’s defence

A vroom with a view!

HILLSIDE farmland at Launcherley, near Wells, provided stunning views of Glastonbury Tor when riders and spectators gathered for a motocross practice session.

Described as a “proper old school” motocross track, it boasts big hills and off-camber corners.

It may have been a practice session, but the pace was fast

For details, find Launcherly MX on Facebook

Simply the best –for the sixth time

FOR the sixth time in 11 years, football referee Julian Seviour has been awarded the annual Mark Box award for being the best official in the Mid-Somerset League.

Julian was presented with the trophy by Sara Box, Mark’s widow, who donated the trophy 13 years ago to go to the ref with the highest points aggregate awarded by the clubs. The presentation was made ahead of a cup match between Clutton Reserves and Timsbury Athletic Reserves. Timsbury won 2-3.

Sara Box with Julian Seviour and the Clutton and Timsbury teams

The day was open to riders of all abilities

Soaring over a hill with the tor in the background

Launcherley is a popular venue for MX

Shepton Mallet’s monthly market is back

MAD March – with an Alice in Wonderland fancy dress theme –is the theme for the first Shepton Mallet independent market of the year, being held in the Market Place and surrounding area, on Sunday, March 26th.

Running from 10am – 3pm, there promises to be the market’s trademark mix of quality stalls, including street food. These will include returning stalls from last year as well as some new faces joining for 2023. There’s live music from local artists and, with the town’s shops and cafes open on the day, there's sure to be lots for everyone to enjoy.

Jude Jackson, a spokesperson for organisers, The Shepton Experience, said: “We can’t wait to be back again for 2023, and we are really looking forward to starting our year off and seeing everyone again. We hope that the markets, especially the independent traders, continue to receive the amazing support of the local and surrounding community throughout the year.

“As with all businesses and especially not-for-profit community interest companies like ours, funding is essential to bring these markets to the community. So, if there are any local businesses interested and would like to donate, please get in touch.”

For details, visit the market’s Facebook/Instagram page: @thesheptonexperience, at:

www.thesheptonexperience.co.uk or email: info@thesheptonexperience.co.uk

John still going strong

VOLUNTEERS at the Somerset and Dorset Railway have celebrated the 80th birthday of John Smith, their eldest colleague, with tea and cake in the mess van.

John is a member of the permanent way gang at Midsomer Norton which used the winter downtime at the heritage line to tackle the long list of tasks required to maintain the infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the retail and buffet volunteers have been giving their respective areas a deep clean and refresh ahead of the 2023 season – beginning on Sunday, March 19th – which sees the arrival of a guest loco – Bristol-built Avonside 1919 Cranford – and the return of resident diesel D1120 after having a new brake system fitted to allow it to haul passenger trains.

More volunteers are always welcome at the line. For details, visit: www.sdjr.co.uk/volunteering

Permanent way team member John Smith

Easter at Downside Abbey

DOWNSIDEAbbey

visitors centre will be opening their courtyard once more for their Easter craft fayre. This year they have more stalls in the stables and in their new bigger marquee.

Crafters will have a wide variety of goods on offer ranging from jewellery and mirrors to leather goods and cards.

As an additional attraction there will be a concert by Orchard Brass on both days at 1.30pm and on Sunday afternoon they will have an Easter egg hunt for younger visitors to find the hidden eggs and collect a chocolate egg or gift from the “eggschange” (advance booking required at £5 each).

The tea rooms and gift shop will be open each day. There’s plenty of FREE on-site parking and FREE admission.

Details: www.visitdownside.co.uk • email info@visitdownside.co.uk

All things wool

FIBREQuest, which tells the story of farm to yarn, returns to Fernhill Farm on top of the Mendips on March 18th and 19th.

Organised by Stitch Fest South West, the organisers of Devon’s well-known November yarn show, it’s now in its second year on Mendip.

The show promotes the use of natural dyes and the place of wool textiles in the fashion industry.

There will be a rich programme of workshops teaching crafts, shearing skills, talks, films and even sheep dog demonstrations.

Details: www.fibrequest.co.uk

Jubilee Party

Point-to-points offer a great day

TWO action-packed – and fun-filled – days are on offer in March when point-to-point meetings return to Ston Easton and Charlton Horethorne, near Wincanton.

Both are a great way to enjoy a family day out in the spring sunshine – hopefully – enjoying some first class racing and offcourse attractions.

First up is the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale fixture, on Sunday, March 5th. The action kicks off with two pony races from midday, sponsored by Bradley Head Shoot. One race will be for novice riders. The jockeys of the future start their journey here from the ages of nine to 15.

Six main races get underway at 1pm, including the £1,100 Mixed Open sponsored by Ineos Grenadier. First prize for this race will be £650. This race is part of a series of 16 races with the final at Cheltenham’s Hunter Chase Evening in May.

Another national sponsor returning to Charlton Horethorne will be Tattersalls Cheltenham who sponsor a four and five-year old series which in the past has introduced some very talented youngsters that have progressed in the National Hunt ranks. Salt Rock, who won at this meeting last year, went through the sale ring for over £200,000 ten days after his win.

Alongside the racing will be plenty of trade stands selling hot and cold food, a licensed bar and also a variety of clothing and

out

country goods. There will be a big screen to watch all the action and on-course bookmakers.

The Mendip Farmers Point-to-Point returns to its Ston Easton home on Sunday, March 19th – Mother’s Day. The first race is at 12.30pm and the racing will be followed by pony racing.

All the usual amenities will be on offer including big screen, licensed bar, bookies, a variety of trade stands and food stalls. Races are being kindly sponsored by Ford Fuels, Alec Jarrett Ltd, Killens, Morris & Perry, Tincknell Country Stores and Pennys Group.

SUNDAY MARCH 5th (Pony racing from midday, followed by six point to point races from 1pm)

BLACKMORE & SPARKFORD VALE POINT-TO-POINT

Admission: £12.50 (until Feb 28th) from pointingwessex.co.uk or £15.00 on the gate. Under 16s free.

SUNDAY MARCH 19th (1st race 12.30pm followed by pony racing)

MENDIP FARMERS’ POINT-TO-POINT

Ston Easton, (off A37, 8m N of Shepton Mallet, BA3 4DH)

Admission £13.50 (advance) from pointingwessex.co.uk or facebook.com/mendipfarmerspointtopoint or £15 on the gate. Under 16s free. Tel: 07879 645364 for more information.

Two thrilling days of racing are on offer in March

We’re happy to list entries for non-profit community groups and charity fundraisers free of charge. Please send them written as a succinct single paragraph, in the format below, to annie@mendiptimes.co.uk Entries sent in as posters or which take time to re-write may be charged for at the commercial rate, £25.

Wednesday February 22nd

Folk Session 8.45pm City Arms, Wells. Sing, play a tune or just listen. Free. All welcome. Details: richardlm397@gmail.com

Backwell & Nailsea Macular Support meeting

1.30pm Backwell WI Hall. Details: Sheila, 01275 462107.

Harptrees History Society: Honiton Lace Industry with Heather Toomer, 7.30pm West Harptree Memorial Hall BS40 6EG. Visitors welcome £3. Booking essential, email: info@harptreeshistorysociety.org

Thursday February 23rd

Avon Wildlife Trust: Mike Bailey talking about moths and their struggle to survive, 7.45pm Chew Magna Old School Room, £2.50.

Friday February 24th

Save the Children lunch 12.30pm Shipham village hall, £5. Come and join us!

Saturday February 25th

Bristol Brass Consort 7.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Yatton. Tickets £10: www.yms.org.uk

Monday February 27th

Mendip Folk Dance Club, 8pm-10, St James Church Centre Winscombe BS25 1AQ. No experience needed. Details: 01934 742853.

Wessex Stationary Engine Club meeting 8pm Old Down Inn, Emborough.

Tuesday February 28th

Wells & District Wildlife Group talk by Prickles Hedgehog Rescue on how to support hedgehogs, 7.30pm Wells and Mendip Museum. Details: www.wdwg.org.uk

Chilcompton Gardening Club Suzanne Addicott talking about Root Connections, how they have grown and how they support the homeless in rural areas, 7.30pm village hall BA3 4EX.

Wednesday March 1st

Backwell & Nailsea support group for carers talk and display from North Somerset Birds of Prey centre 2-3.30pm Backwell WI Hall.

Bereavement Support Keynsham drop-in first Wed every month, 5.30pm-7pm, Baptist Church Hall, High St. A safe place to meet others who are bereaved. Free, with refreshments. Details: 07776 493221 or bereavementkeynsham@gmail.com

Thursday March 2nd

Folk Session 8.30pm The Red Lion, Paulton BS39 7NW. Sing, play a tune or just listen, all welcome. Free. Details: richardlm397@gmail.com

Congresbury Gardening Club talk by Christopher Bond “Satisfying all five senses in the garden” 7.30pm Congresbury Methodist Hall. Visitors welcome. Details:

www.congresburygardeningclub.com

Cheddar u3a “Musical Memories” a talk by James Vincent about his career in holiday camps and cruise liners. 2pm Cheddar village hall, BS27 3RF.

Friday March 3rd

World Day of Prayer service at 10am, St Andrew’s Church, Blagdon, followed by refreshments. Children welcome.

Saturday March 4th

Mendip society walk, meet 1.30pm car park at the top of Smitham’s Hill, East Harptree. ST 557541. Moderate 4m to lead smelting chimney, Harptree Combe, site of Richmont Castle. Some hills, views,

expect mud! Details: Richard Iven, 01275 852786. Spring dinner & disco 7.30pm Binegar Memorial Hall. Two-course meal, BYO. Tickets £15 from Steve, 07528 169533 or Facebook: Binegar and Gurney Slade Social Fundraisers. For Macmillan Cancer Support.

Sunday March 5th

Bruton Choral Society concert of French music, 7pm St Mary’s Church. Tickets £10 in advance, £12 on door (children free) from Bruton Convenience Store or 01749 813161. Details: www.brutonchoralsociety.org.uk

Oxfam Quiz Night at the Tramways, Wells. 7.30pm. Teams up to six, £4pp. To book call 01749 672342 or email terryricketts1948@gmail.com Raffle prizes welcomed.

Rowberrow and Dolebury, Mendip Hills Area Group of SWT walk. Meet 10am at The Swan Inn. Details: www.somersetwildlife.org/events

Monday March 6th

RAFA Mid-Somerset branch AGM, 11am, Wessex Hotel, Street, BA16 0EF, followed by lunch. Details: rafa.midsomerset@gmail.com 01458 224057. Bath NATS talk by Mike Hackston “Beetles and their world” 7.30pm BRLI, 16 Queens Square, Bath BA1 2HN. Visitors welcome £4.

Tuesday March 7th

‘Lucy Kemp-Welch: A Painter of Horses’ The Arts Society Mendip, 11am Croscombe village hall & Zoom. Guests welcome £6. Details: www.theartssocietymendip.org.uk.

Yatton Local History Society AGM followed by a talk by Marianne Pitman about the history of Cleeve, 7.30pm Yatton Methodist Church. Details: yattonlocalhistorysoc@gmail.com

Wednesday March 8th

Weston-s-Mare Family History Group talk by Sam Walker: “The Walker and Ling story” 2.30pm Lady of Lourdes Church Hall, Baytree Rd, BS22 8HQ. Kilmersdon Gardeners talk by Colin Higgins ‘Gardening for moths’ 7.30pm Kilmersdon village hall BA3 5TD. All welcome, visitors £3 inc tea/coffee.

Thursday March 9th

RNLI Winscombe & District AGM 7.30pm Winscombe Club BS25 1HD. Open evening, bar open. Details: allan.coop@tiscali.co.uk Wells Garden Club: Rewilding with Chris Sperring MBE. 7.30pm Wells Town Hall. Details: www.wellsgarden.club

Friday March 10th

Frome Third Age meeting with speaker, 2pm at the Assembly Rooms. Details: www.fromethirdage.com

Avon Wildlife Trust ‘Climate Change under our feet’ with Emma Brisdon, 7.30pm Baptist Church Hall, High St, Keynsham. Members £3, visitors £4. Save the Children lunch 12.30pm Shipham village hall, £5. Come and join us!

Saturday March 11th

Wrington & Burrington Hedging Match, Stepstones Farm, Wrington, BS40 5HS. Churchill Music: Classico Latino 7.30pm All Saints Church, Wrington. Details & tickets: www.churchillmusic.org.uk/concerts or 07442 672805.

Brent Knoll Bazaar, Farmer’s Market & Café 10-12 noon in Brent Knoll Parish Hall

Wells & District National Trust Group: James McWilliams on “The Wellington Monument” 2.30pm Henton village hall BA5 1PD (AGM 2.15). Non-members welcome. £3pp.

Sunday March 12th

“Lost in Blue” professional theatre play, 7pm Croscombe Village Hall £11/£8 from: www.takeart.org

Frome Symphony Orchestra Concert at the Cheese & Grain. Details: www.fromesymphony.org.uk

Monday March 13th

Nailsea & District Local History Society talk: “The Follies of Bristol & Somerset” 7.45pm Nailsea School. Details: www.ndlhs.org.uk

Mendip Folk Dance Club, 8pm-10, St James Church Centre Winscombe BS25 1AQ. No experience needed, Details: 01934 742853.

Concert for Ukraine with Iowa City Music Ensembles, 7pm St Cuthberts Church, Wells. Cash donations, all welcome. Details: www.timeconcerts.co.uk or 01749 672522.

Tuesday March 14th

Frome Selwood Horticultural Society talk: “My Way of Growing Fuschias” by Peter Holloway. 7.30pm Critchill School BA11 4LD. Details: 07776 208531 or jane.norris9@gmail.com

Management of trees & shrubs: a talk and demonstration, 7.30pm Pylle Village Hall. Visitors £2 incl. refreshments. Details: Jill 07772 008594.

Wednesday March 15th

Mendip Gardening Club Plants and Soil Association’s Clem Maidment, 7.30pm Ston Easton Village Hall.

Henton & District Gardening Club: “Moving House and starting up a new garden again”, Noelle Mace 7.30pm Henton Village Hall, BA5 1PD. Visitors welcome, £5. Details: www.hentongardenclub.weebly.com

Thursday March 16th

Shipham & District Gardening Club, a talk on Hedgehog Awareness by Laura Batt, 7.30pm Shipham Village Hall, BS25 1SG. All welcome.

Cheddar u3a Coffee Morning 10am Village Hall, BS27 3RF.

Saturday March 18th

Yatton & District Horticultural Society Spring Show 2pm-4pm Yatton village hall, BS49 4HS.

Saturday March 18th to Sat March 25th

Artists in Dialogue: UK & Ukrainian artists working together to provide support through art. A free exhibition at the Silk Mill, Frome, BA11 1PT. See: www.artistsindialogue.org

Sunday March 19th

Mendip Farmers’ Point to Point, Ston Easton. First race 12.30.

Steam Trains running again! Silver St. Midsomer Norton, BA3 2EY: www.sdjr.co.uk

Rare Plant Fair at The Bishop’s Palace, Wells. £8. See: www.bishopspalace.org.uk

Monday March 20th

Chew Valley U3A talk by Sarah Luckwell about inHope, a charity that supports some of the most vulnerable people in Bristol, 10am Ubley Parish Hall. All welcome.

Timsbury NATS talk by Pete Brownlee, “A year around Timsbury and its wildlife”, 7.30pm. Conygre Hall, BA2 0JQ. Visitors welcome £3, U16s free.

UIDEFOR M ARCH 2023

Tuesday March 21st

Mendip Hills Area SWT, talk by Kirsty Dunford, Bristol Water and conservation, 7.30pm. Cheddar Community Sports Pavilion. Details: www.somersetwildlife.org/events

Wednesday March 22nd

Folk Session 8.45pm City Arms, Wells. Sing, play a tune or just listen. Free. All welcome. Details: richardlm397@gmail.com

Thursday March 23rd

“60 years of bird watching at Chew Valley Lake” talk by Andy Davis for Avon Wildlife Trust meeting 7.45pm Old School Room, Chew Magna, £2.50. “Behind the scenes at Sissinghurst” talk by Neil Ross for Yatton & District Horticultural Society 8pm Hangstones Pavilion BS49 4HS.

Friday March 24th

Save the Children lunch 12.30pm Shipham village hall, £5. Come and join us!

Grassy Knoll Ukulele Band 7.30pm Felton Village Hall BS40 9UF. Tickets £10 incl ploughman’s supper from r.britton151@btinternet.com or tel 01275 472223.

West Mendip Orchestra Concert, 7.45pm Churchill Academy BS25 5QN. £10. Details: www.westmendip-orchestra.org.uk

Saturday March 25th

Volunteer Recruitment Day at the East Somerset Railway, 10-1pm. Come and see all different roles available, no need to book, meet 10am by the Ticket Office. Complimentary coffee & train ride! Details: education@eastsomersetrailway.com

Wessex Counselling & Psychotherapy 40th

Anniversary Charity Gig, 5pm-10pm 23 Bath Street, Frome. Free entry, donations welcome. Details: www.wessexcp.co.uk

‘Come & Sing’ Stainers Crucifixion 2pm Church of St John the Baptist, Glastonbury. £20 to incl music and refreshments. Performance 5pm, admission by donation.

Somerset Hardy Plant Society Spring Plant Fair

10am-3pm Yeo Valley garden, Holt Farm, Blagdon. £5 (RHS and HPS members £4). Booking essential: https://somersethps.com/

Congresbury Gardening Club Spring Show

2.30pm The Old School Rooms. Schedules from local businesses or www.congresburygardeningclub.com

Roth Guitar Duo, 7.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Yatton, Tickets £10, details: www.yms.org.uk

Congresbury LIVE! with The Lost Trades 7.30pm Congresbury War Memorial Hall, £7. Trinity Singers’ “Music for a Royal Occasion” 7.30pm All Saints Church Wrington. Details: www.trinitysingers.co.uk

Sunday March 26th

Shepton Mallet Mad March Market 10am-3pm Market Place, Shepton Mallet, BA4 5AZ. Somerset Wildlife Trust Challenge: the Big Cheese: a 15-mile off-road, hilly run through Mendip Nature Reserves. See: www.somersetwildlife.org/supportus/fundraise-us/challenge-yourself

Monday March 27th

Mendip Folk Dance Club, 8pm-10, St James Church Centre Winscombe BS25 1AQ. No experience

WHAT’S ON

needed, Details: 01934 742853.

Wessex Stationary Engine Club meeting 8pm Old Down Inn, Emborough.

Tuesday March 28th

Chilcompton Gardening Club talk by Simon Knight on Gardening for Climate Change followed by a gardening Q & A, 7.30pm Village Hall BA3 4EX. Wells & District Wildlife Group: Supporting insects in your garden, talk by Jacky Morgan of ReWild Chew, 7.30pm Wells and Mendip Museum. Details: www.wdwg.org.uk or 01749 677600.

Wednesday March 29th

Backwell & Nailsea Macular Support meeting 1.30 pm Backwell WI Hall. Details: Sheila, 01275 462107. The Mendip Society talk: “What the Roman Army got up to on Mendip” by a Roman soldier (aka John Smith) 2pm Priddy Village Hall. All welcome, visitors £3. Details: 01275 472797.

Harptrees History Society: The Romans in Somerset, talk by Steve Clews. Visitors welcome £3. 7.30pm West Harptree Memorial Hall BS40 6EG. Booking essential, by email: info@harptreeshistorysociety.org

Friday March 31st

RNLI Quiz 7.30pm Bishop Sutton village hall. Teams up to six. Tickets £10pp incl. light supper. Cash bar. Tickets: 07769 813489 or email: bob.shapland@btinternet.com

Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Gondoliers” by Somerset Opera: 7.30pm Edington Village Hall, TA7 9HA. Tickets £10 from: 07850 957615.

Restored loco to make its debut

THE East Somerset Railway at Cranmore is looking ahead to a busy season when it re-opens to the public at weekends only on Saturday, March 11th.

The following weekend, March 18th/19th, will see the heritage railway showcasing all its locos including the newly restored ex-GWR Prairie 4110 at a steam gala. It was built in Swindon in 1936 and withdrawn from service in 1965.

The gala will be a busy weekend with seven services running starting at 10.30am and a demonstration freight train running at regular intervals. Punch and Judy shows will be on offer on both days and the miniature railway, signal box and engine sheds will be open to visitors. Standard ticket prices apply.

Future events include a Peter Rabbit day on May 1st, a murder mystery “As You Wave Me Goodbye” on Sunday, May 7th and a Paddington-themed day on June 17th.

Chefs to cook up a storm at the Royal Bath & West

THE Royal Bath & West Show returns on June 1st3rd, with the Great British Kitchen hosting another exciting line-up of chefs to tempt visitors’ tastebuds.

The Great British Kitchen enjoyed a highly successful debut show in 2022 with its free-toattend cooking demonstrations proving popular. This year organisers have invited a wonderful variety of food gurus to inspire visitors, offering a range of dishes and cocktails too!

The three days will be hosted by Lisa Cadd, the “Fuss-Free Foodie”, who will be joined by cocktail mixer Andy Clarke. The Royal Bath & West Show is delighted to welcome Matt Tebbutt of Saturday Kitchen Live and Food Unwrapped fame to the kitchen on June 1st, and he will be followed by This Morning’s Phil Vickery on June 2nd. On the final day of the show, The Great British Kitchen will have a Caribbean feel when Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE, “The Black Farmer”, comes to Somerset.

Jess Chiplen, Head of Shows, said: “We are really excited about our line-up of chefs in The Great British Kitchen this year. We recommend getting to the theatre (located next to the Main Ring) early, to make sure you get a seat!”

Ticket prices have been frozen for the third show in a row, with advance saver tickets starting from £22 per adult. Each advance saver ticket also allows free admission for two children, making the Royal Bath & West Show a great value day out for all the family.

For details, visit: www.bathandwest.com/tickets

The Black Farmer will be a special guest chef on Saturday, June 2nd