Bridport Times April 2020

APR IL 2020 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

MAKING HISTORY

with Janet Tristram & Cameron Short of Bonfield Block-Printers

bridporttimes.co.uk

WELCOME

I

t is never truly silent. Quiet perhaps, but never silent. Recently however silence has come thrillingly close. Leaving the house to walk our dog feels like stepping into a vacuum; the quietude creating an unsettling blur of bliss and melancholy. Senses are heightened; the screech and grind of a passing car jangles my nerves, while the call of a red kite overhead pulls me to the edge of tears. So this is where we find ourselves.

It would be hard to add to what has already been said without turning to now well-weathered words. I will though say this; in our wake, nature is treading tentatively back into long-feared spaces, for all the distance forced between us we will only grow closer and, as hideous as this thing is, it might also just be downright beautiful.

Take care.

Glen Cheyne, Editor glen@homegrown-media.co.uk @bridporttimes

CONTRIBUTORS Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editor Elaine Taylor Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury Editorial assistant Paul Newman @paulnewmanart Social Media Jenny Dickinson

1 Bretts Yard Digby Road Sherborne Dorset DT9 3NL 01935 315556 @bridporttimes glen@homegrown-media.co.uk paul@homegrown-media.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk

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4 | Bridport Times | April 2020

David Burnett The Dovecote Press dovecotepress.com Ines Cavill From Page to Screen Festival frompagetoscreen.info Kelvin Clayton @kelvinclaytongp greenthoughts.me philosophyinpubs.co.uk Alison Ferris Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre @CharmouthHCC charmouth.org/chcc Jane Fox Yoga Space @yogaspacebridport yogaspacebridport.com Kit Glaisyer @kitglaisyer @kitglaisyer kitglaisyer.com Roy Gregory Clocktower Music @clocktower_music_bridport clocktowermusic.co.uk Charlie Groves Groves Nurseries @GrovesNurseries @grovesnurseries grovesnurseries.co.uk Annabelle Hunt Bridport Timber and Flooring @BridportTimber @annabellehuntcolourconsultant bridporttimber.co.uk Beth Kempton & Elli Lamb Slow Life Good Life @ slowlifegoodlifeclub slowlifegoodlife.com Little Toller Books @LittleToller @littletollerdorset littletoller.co.uk Will Livingstone @willgrow willgrow.co.uk Gill Meller @GillMeller @Gill.Meller gillmeller.com

Anne Morrison The Bookshop @bookshopbridprt @thebookshopbridport dorsetbooks.com Chris Onions The Old Dairy Kitchen @olddairykitchen @olddairykitchen olddairykitchen.co.uk Brian Parker Bridport Museum @BridportMuseum bridportmuseum.co.uk Samantha Pearce Beaminster Town Clerk discoverbeaminster.co.uk Anna Powell Sladers Yard @SladersYard @sladersyard sladersyard.wordpress.com Ellen Simon Tamarisk Farm @ tamarisk_farm tamariskfarm.co.uk Steven Spurrier Bride Valley Vineyard @BrideValleyWine @bridevalleywine bridevalleyvineyard.com Emma Tabor & Paul Newman @paulnewmanart @paulnewmanartist paulnewmanartist.com Chris Tripp Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group dorsetdiggers.btck.co.uk Colin Varndell Colin Varndell Natural History Photography colinvarndell.co.uk Sally Welbourn Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife @dorsetwildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Sarah Young Porter Dodson Solicitors porterdodson.co.uk

APRIL 2020 6 Community Support

50 Archaeology

78 Gardening

20 Arts & Culture

54 BONFIELD BLOCK-PRINTERS

84 Legal

30 History 34 Wild Dorset 44 Outdoors

64 Food & Drink 72 Body & Mind 76 Interiors

86 Philosophy 88 Literature 92 Crossword

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COMMUNITY TAKEAWAY & DELIVERY SERVICES ____________________________ Balsons Butchers West Allington, Bridport. Britain’s oldest butchers. All meat locally-sourced where possible. Sausages a speciality. Exotic

Also stockists of eggs, cheese, organic

Felicity’s Farm Shop

bags and vegetable boxes available.

____________________________

milk, baking goods, spices, etc. Fruit

Morcombelake, DT6 6DL. 01297 48930

Collection and delivery 01308 427096

Framptons Butchers

____________________________

sourced where possible. Shop open

or message via Facebook

Town Hall, Bridport. All meat locally-

delivery 01308 422638 richard@rjbalson.

Cafe Bean

8am–3pm. To enable deliveries minimum

____________________________

sandwiches, soups, jacket potatoes &

meats also available. Collection and co.uk rjbalson.co.uk

South Street, Bridport. Hot drinks,

Beach & Barnicott

homemade cakes. Monday-Saturday

South Street, Bridport. Fridays and

Saturdays, 6pm-10pm. Takeaway and delivery 01308 807002 or via website

9am-3pm. Follow Café Bean

order £10. Regular offers advertised on

Facebook. Collection and delivery 01308 422995 or message via Facebook

____________________________

Bridport on FB & Instagram for

Furleigh Estate

____________________________

good cheer. 25% off and free delivery.

updates 01308 422115

Keenly priced wine collections to bring

____________________________

Cherries Ice Cream Parlour

Visit furleighestate.co.uk to order

Barrack Street, Bridport. Vegetarian

dairy, bread, dry good and Cherries

Gelateria Beppino

or frozen to reheat at home when you

delivery: gelato boxes, Colomba Di

beachandbarnicott.com BearKat Bistro

meals for a fiver with free delivery.

Order dinner for a neighbour in need.

£5 per meal – extra donations welcome – through their Crowdfunder initiative via their Facebook page. Delivery only

DM on facebook or email bearkatsupper@ outlook.com

____________________________ The Bridport Basket

West Bay. Veg and fruit boxes, meats,

____________________________

home made ready meals delivered chilled

West Street, Bridport. Offering home

fancy a treat. Bridport to Axminster.

Pasqua classica, vegan & senza glutine

See facebook page for menu and details, telephone before 2pm for next day

delivery or collection. Daily except

Sunday. Minimum order for delivery £25 01308 301207/07973 631059

____________________________

(Easter cake) and mini glandula Easter eggs with hazelnut milk chococolate.

Also cheese scones, kale & pinenut rolls, arragostine, pasteis de nata.

Minimum order £10. Please call

01308 422856. Delivery Fridays and

Crepe Business Park, Symondsbury.

Community Soup Kitchen

Mercato Italiano (cheese, cured meat),

Hot fresh vegetable soups and frozen

Haddon House Hotel

01308 422448

2pm). Each meal only £9.50. Three miles

Saturdays. Find us on Facebook.

Local suppliers to your door including

Beacon Church, Priory Lane, Bridport.

Selected Grapes (wine), Wobbly Cottage

single portions. Takeaway and delivery

West Bay. Lunchtimes only (11.30am–

____________________________

delivery radius. Free delivery. Takeaway

(bread/pastry), Haypenny Market

Garden (veg), more favourites to be

added. Home delivery Wednesday and

Coriander

07827 524602 mercatoitalianoshop.uk

Delivery available. 01308 428262

____________________________

and delivery 01308 423626 or email at

Friday. For full details and to order

South Street. Indian takeaway.

____________________________

____________________________

The Half Moon

Brassica

Crown Inn

Beaminster. Delicious ready meals and

Uploders. Takeaway menu and home

Melpash. Delivery to Netherbury parish.

min order. Free delivery to Beaminster,

01308 485356 crownuploders.co.uk

dry goods for takeaway or delivery. £25 £5 delivery within 8 mile radius. Order

deliveries. Follow on Facebook for details ____________________________

info@haddonhousehotel.co.uk

____________________________

See Facebook page for menu and (preorder) times. Takeaway and delivery 01308 488321

____________________________

online brassicarestaurant.co.uk/meals or

Davy’s Locker

Hangers Dairy

call 01308 538100.

____________________________

Dreadnought Trading Estate,

North Mills Trading, Bridport. Milkman.

Bridget’s Market

Bridport. Fishmongers 01308 456131 davyslocker.co.uk

flavoured milks, cheese, butter and yoghurt.

East Street, Bridport. Greengrocers.

8 | Bridport Times | April 2020

____________________________

Can also supply eggs, bread, fruit juices, See their Facebook page for complete

COMMUNITY TAKEAWAY & DELIVERY SERVICES product list. Collection and delivery 01308

01308 423199

by phone 01305 261480, message or

____________________________

Leakers Bakery

The Hare & Hounds

East Street, Bridport. Artisanal bakers.

order on line morrishandbanham.com

423308 or message via Facebook

Local delivery only. Phone for menu and times. Delivery only 01308 488203

____________________________ Ilchester Arms Symondsbury. Takeaway and home

deliveries. See our Facebook page for

____________________________

email mark@morrishandbanham.com or ____________________________

Shop online on their website for next day

Naturalife Bridport

telephone. Local deliveries within a three

open 9am-5pm. Home delivery service.

delivery, Monday to Saturday, or order by

Groceries and essential supplies. Shop

miles radius, by courier further afield.

Phone or visit Facebook page for details.

Collection and delivery 01308 423296 leakersbakery.co.uk

01308 459690

____________________________

____________________________

Nina’s Greengrocers

& Saturday Evenings only 6-9pm -

The Marquis of Lorne

South Street. 01308 422794

Symondsbury. Call 01308 422600 to

advance via phone 0138 485236,

New Inn

or DM on social media.

pre-order. Follow on Facebook for updates.

menus. Serving and delivering Friday Bridport, West Bay, Chideock and

Nettlecombe. Takeaways - order in

place your order and pay over the phone

email info@marquisoflorne.co.uk

Stoke Abbott. Takeaway menu. Call to

____________________________

01308 868333 newinnstokeabbot.co.uk

for delivery to your door.

____________________________

____________________________

Kernow Pantry

Mercato Italiano Crepe

Brydian Mews, West Street, Bridport.

Farm Business Park, Bridport. Italian

Nick Tett Butchers

delivery at no extra charge. Minimum

07827 524602 hello@mercatoitaliano.uk

Saturday. Minimum order £10, free

Pasties, turnovers and sweets. Local

order of four pasties. Cash on delivery.

delicatessen. Collection and delivery

Beaminster. Delivery only – Monday-

____________________________

delivery to surrounding area. Phone to

Takeaway and delivery 01308 422833

MDS Meats

____________________________

Butchers who raise their own meat

or message via Facebook

North Mills Trading Estate, Bridport.

L&F Fish and Chip Van

locally. Boxes available. Pies and

Visit Facebook page for times and locations. Takeaway and delivery 07803 257674

____________________________

____________________________

place order or leave a message. Payment taken over phone. Delivered to your doorstep. 01308 862253

____________________________

savouries a speciality. Collection and

Norman’s Butchers

mdsmeats@gmail.com

01308 423618

delivery 01308 427152 or 07939 244678

Bradpole. Shop and free home deliveries

____________________________

____________________________

Lime Tree Deli

Modbury Farm Shop

Palmers Wine Store

West Street, Bridport. The town’s oldest

Burton Bradstock DT6 4NE. Fresh milk

Bridport. Online orders for delivery

service. Biscuits, jams, chutneys,

produce and vegetables. Open as usual.

____________________________

cheesemongers. Free home delivery

chocolates and of course delicious cheese!

Everyday essentials such as bread, butter, eggs and milk can also be provided.

Follow on Facebook for offers - message via our Facebook or call 07799 267653

from own jersey cows, beef port and local Home delivery within the Bride Valley,

Pineapple Estate

and leave a message with name and

Salway Ash. Essential groceries, dairy

____________________________

goods, eggs, etc. To register for the

at no extra cost. Phone 01308 897193

Community Shop

phone number.

products, frozen ready meals, tinned

limetreedeli.co.uk

Moores Craft Bakery

Longs Fish and Chips

moores-biscuits.co.uk

____________________________ King Street and West Street, Bridport.

via courier palmerswinestore.com

Morcombelake. Bread, cakes and biscuits ____________________________

service contact info@pineappleestate.co.uk

01308 488280 option 1. Let them know what you need, and they will do their

best to make a bespoke order for you.

If you would prefer not to wait for your

Morrish & Banham Wine Merchants

Punch and Judy

have it ready for you. Collection only

Local home doorstep deliveries. Order

West Street, Bridport. Traditional bakers.

order please phone ahead and we will

____________________________

bridporttimes.co.uk | 9

COMMUNITY TAKEAWAY & DELIVERY SERVICES Bread, cakes, sandwiches and savouries

at request) 01308 422821

The Three Horse Shoes

delivery only. Collection and delivery

The Spyway Inn

service. Fresh meats, chicken, fish,

____________________________

Sunday. Delivery in the village only. See

available. Sourdough a speciality. Local

____________________________

07841 523664 or message via Facebook

Askerwell. Available Tuesday to

The Pursuit of Hoppiness

Facebook page for menu. Takeaway and

West Street, Bridport. We have a

delivery 01308 485250

Powerstock. Providing village shop sausasages, bacon, dairy produce, eggs

fruit & veg, as well as a selection of frozen meals and other essentials 01308 485328

____________________________

____________________________

Waste Not Want Not

4 pint flagons for draught ale. Reusable

Stephie’s Eggs

South Street, Bridport. Organic,

8pm. Phone or visit Facebook page for

____________________________

plethora of fridge beers available plus and only £1. Delivery available 5pm-

Free range eggs 07831 615542

menu. Takeaway and delivery 01308

Straight off the Boat

____________________________

West Bay fisherman to enable their catch

427111 or message via Facebook

Quayside West Bay. A new initiative by

Rawles Butchers

of the day to be bought at the Quayside.

East Street Bridport. 01308 427590

Follow Straightofftheboat on Facebook

unpacked, plant-based wholefoods and

personal care products – open for orders, collection by appointment. Place your

order online at wastenotwantnotbridport. co.uk or by phone 07775 380797 for collection and home delivery.

____________________________

for updates.

Washingpool Farm Shop

St Michael’s Trading Estate, Bridport.

Sumtum Thai

however only 5 customers inside the

£6 on deliveries (cash only). Order before

mile radius (minimum order £30) 01308

____________________________ Red Brick Café

____________________________

Vegetarian and vegan. Minimum order

Café & takeaway. Home deliveries in 3

noon for delivery between 12 & 1.30pm.

420004 thaitakeawaybridport.co.uk

Takeaway and delivery (three mile radius)

____________________________

07868 752329 or message via Facebook

Sundorbun Indian

Rise

01308 425266

____________________________

South Street. Home deliveries

Bridport. Opening hours as normal shop at any one time and expect all

customers to respect social distancing.

Order and collection service available email order to info@washingpool.co.uk with your requests and your phone number. They will call you back.

____________________________

____________________________

West Country Catch

and the weekend. Call or email from

The Station Kitchen

Chickerell, Weymouth. Fresh, locally-

See website for menu and hours.

cuisine. Wine available. Dinners and

West Bay. Takeaway service on Fridays 3pm. Card payments only by phone.

West Bay. Locally-sourced British

Delivery only 01308 422011

afternoon teas delivered on Saturdays

info@risecafebar.co.uk risecafebar.co.uk

____________________________ Samways Fish Shop West Bay. Open Wednesday – Sunday

only. Covering the Weymouth,

Dorchester, Bridport and Lyme Regis areas. Free delivery. Takeaway and delivery 01308 422845

caught seafood. Free home delivery for customers in and around Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport for orders over £20. Check Facebook page.

Collection and delivery 01305 259135 westcountrycatch.com

____________________________

____________________________

Windy Corner

____________________________

Taj Mahal

Shaves Cross Inn

East Street, Bridport. Indian cuisine,

West Bay. Takeaway and delivery

10am–4pm 01308 424496

Shaves Cross. Takeaway and delivery

of food, bread and shopping essentials

to immediate area. Call 07508 310180 email tom@foxandowl.co.uk

____________________________ Soulshine Café South Street, Bridport. Vegetarian and

vegan. Takeaway and delivery (arranged 10 | Bridport Times | April 2020

takeaway and home delivery within 3

01308 459221

____________________________

miles for orders of £20 and over. As well

The Wobbly Cottage Bakery

have been introduced based on popular

mile radius. Minimum order £10. Free

as usual takeaway menu 2 special menus

Broadwindsor. Delivery within a 10

dishes eaten in the restaurant for 2

delivery. See Facebook or phone for

people at £20 visit tajmahalbridport.co.uk for details and take away menu.

____________________________

product list. Delivery only 07368 200249 (Dani) 07488 313857 (Rich)

____________________________

D I S C O V E R | E AT | S H O P | S T AY | C E L E B R AT E

Welcome to Symondsbury Estate, set in the beautiful Dorset countryside just a stone’s throw from the Jurassic Coast. Join us for lunch. Browse our shops. Visit the gallery.

Explore our fabulous walks and bike trails. Relax and unwind in our holiday accommodation.

Celebrate your wedding day... ... Isn’t it time you discovered Symondsbury Estate?

COUNTRY FAIR - THURSDAY 16th APRIL 11am - 4pm

SY M O N D SBURY E S TAT E

+44 (0)1308 424116 www.symondsburyestate.co.uk The Estate Office Manor Yard, Bridport, Dorset DT6 6HG

BEAMINSTER COMMUNITY RESILIENCE TEAM CORONAVIRUS SUPPORT PLAN Samantha Pearce, Town Clerk

T

he Beaminster Town Council’s Community Resilience Team are well advanced in implementing a Community Support Plan to support and assist any members of the local community who may require additional help as the Coronavirus (Covid-19) unfolds in the United Kingdom.

Part of the initial planning has been to establish a network infrastructure of volunteers to help with extreme cases where emergency support is required, from individuals in the community to local businesses who need assistance to get deliveries to those who are self-isolating. However, due to limited resources under increasing pressure, the plan is also aimed at encouraging individuals within the community to assist their own immediate neighbours, friends and families as a first solution. Such individuals are advised to review official government and NHS guidance to ensure this is done in a safe manner.

The Support Group is made up of, amongst others, representatives from local businesses, church groups and community initiatives, healthcare workers and community wardens. Liaising closely with Dorset Council’s Emergency Planning Team, the group has started to identify critical areas of need that require support, as people self-isolate in a bid to protect themselves, and others, from the spread of the virus.

Those in need of help

The initiative is urging anyone in the community who needs urgent help to contact the Town Council directly.

The council will then liaise with the correct volunteers to provide the support required or direct the enquirer to the appropriate healthcare bodies for further assistance.

Volunteers

The Community Resilience Team has been collating

12 | Bridport Times | April 2020

the contact details of a huge number of volunteers within the local community who have offered their time and support as part of this initiative. Working closely with individuals and businesses, the team is coordinating efforts based on critical demand.

Critical services identified so far which may require assistance include collection or delivery of medication, distribution of food and supplies, dog-walking services and more. Any volunteers who have already been in touch to offer assistance will be contacted shortly with further updates and requests to get involved where the need arises.

‘We are living in unprecedented times and, with a huge strain already placed on our National Health Service, we feel that as a community it is important to do what we can to support each other through these challenging times. The most important message that we’re aiming to spread is that there is emergency support available beyond friends, families and neighbours, and that nobody needs to feel isolated and alone. We have an incredible database of volunteers already putting their names forward to step in and help in any way that they can,’ says Robin Cheeseman, Vice Chairman of the Beaminster Town Council.

For further information about the Coronavirus, consult the UK Government’s Response Page. For further updates and more information, visit the Beaminster website. To volunteer your services or request additional help, contact the Beaminster Town Council via email or telephone 01308 863634.

For after-hours emergencies, telephone 07377 435186. gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19uk-government-response discoverbeaminster.co.uk townclerk@beaminster-tc.gov.uk

NETHERBURY HELPERS

N

etherbury Helpers (Salway Ash, Netherbury & Melplash Coronavirus Community Support Group) is a large, and continuously growing, group of residents within the parish of Netherbury who have come together to provide help and support to each other during the current situation. We are here to make the most of an amazing community and to do our best at holding the fort while so many formal local and national resources are so stretched. A huge number of volunteers have come forward to help with shopping, deliveries or just moral support for anyone who is self-isolating or vulnerable. We are working closely with similar groups in Bridport and Beaminster and in conjunction with them can point residents to reliable information on local businesses, clinical, wellbeing and mental health issues and other support for those most in need.

Best ways to get in touch and keep in touch are by emailing netherburyhelpers@gmail.com or via: facebook.com/groups/netherburysupport/

14 | Bridport Times | April 2020

AN ADAPTATION A DAY...

STAY SAFE AND SHARE STORIES Ines Cavill, From Page to Screen Festival Committee

B

ridport’s film festival is not cancelled but postponed so, for now, our collective viewing will be done remotely — a time of sociallydistanced cinema.

By 13th March, the From Page to Screen programme had been finalised, brochures printed and volunteer stewards were booking in. We scrambled meetings together when clear national information had not been issued - over the course of a week full of more shocking changes than most decades - until it was clear that Bridport would have to close its venues’ doors and the 12th annual film festival would not go ahead this month.

The brilliantly enthusiastic guest curator, Edith Bowman, wants to stay on board for the rescheduled dates, and the Bridport Arts Centre, Electric Palace and Lyric Theatre are all standing by to reschedule when it’s safe to do so.

From Page To Screen wants to explore ways to carry on sharing the experience of great movies and will gather ideas for films and where to find them — from the classics on TV to specialist streaming services such as Curzon Home Cinema and the British Film Institute’s BFI Player. Netflix has already lowered its charges and the National Theatre Live service is free for students to access while schools and colleges are closed. We are working at putting all the previous

programmes up on the website and thinking about a suitable way to create and distribute a local library of DVDs for those in isolation. We will also be looking out for links to local filmmaking partners such as Bridflik and the new Chasing Cow collective to carry on supporting homegrown talent.

Mother’s Day in this newly separate world has made me think of Room, director Lenny Abrahamson’s close rendition of Emma Donoghue’s powerful novel and one of those stories that is set in the most extreme of scenarios but which explores the universal: how parents (especially single ones) create a whole world for their young children in any situation. If we benefit from learning from stories, are adaptations a double dose? Is the translation of a great book to a great film such as Room the best of adaptation? Digitally discuss...!

‘Story — sacred and profane — is perhaps the main cohering force in human life. A society is composed of fractious people with different personalities, goals, and agendas. What connects us beyond our kinship ties? Story... the counterforce to social disorder, the tendency of things to fall apart.

Story is the centre without which the rest cannot hold.

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, Jonathan Gottschall frompagetoscreen.info

Thinking of letting your holiday home?

We know that your holiday home is just that – a home.

That’s why our local team is dedicated to managing your property with the same care and attention you would. With tailored services to suit your needs, you can be as involved as you like, so why not get in touch today?

01929 448 708 newowners@dorsethideaways.co.uk dorsethideaways.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 15

HELP YOURSELF. HELP EACH OTHER Elli Lamb

Top chefs, gardeners, producers, makers and wellbeing experts in the South West of England have come together to create Slow Life Good Life, an online club and community to teach the nation how to thrive and grow in these challenging times. Through sharing practical lessons, friendly advice and regular inspiration, these talented locals will help us all save money, have fun and stay motivated through all that lies ahead, and reimagine how life might be different when all this is over. All proceeds will go towards feeding families and supporting small rural businesses in the South West who have been heavily hit by recent events.

16 | Bridport Times | April 2020

Image: Holly Bobbins

W

e are living in frightening, unchartered times, searching for respite from the relentless news reports and building a new approach to our old lives. It is impossible to ignore the invisible threat which is moving with devastating consequences through our global society and local communities. Whilst in many ways this is the worst of times, it is also the opportunity for much needed change and hopeful beginnings.

Step forward Slow Life Good Life, a new virtual community, designed to support everyone in isolation, a friend to navigate through the turbulent times ahead.

Inspired by real time events and the impact on their own lives, a group of talented people from a small community on the Dorset/Devon border have joined forces to create a platform to share their knowledge and skills. Pooling their resources they are offering practical advice, tips, inspiration and joy for individuals and families across the nation and the wider world.

You’ll get to sit at Gill Meller’s kitchen table while he teaches you how to make home made pasta, learn how to choose thrifty meat cuts with Steven Lamb, wander around Trill Farm with Kate Norman and Ashley Wheeler to learn about seasonal growing, creatively document your experience with photographer Holly Treloar, stop by at the Old Dairy Kitchen for breakfast with Chris Onions and Andy Tyrell, calm your mind with Insight Timer app meditation teacher Joey Hulin, stand by Naomi Devlin’s workbench as she cooks up gluten-free delights, become a barbecue hero with James Beard Award-winning food writer and chef James Whetlor, learn songwriting with Neil Treloar, former manager of Catfish and the Bottlemen, try out container gardening with Mark Diacono and garden designer Anna Wardrop, whip up a budget-friendly

A subscription costs just £5+VAT a month with ALL proceeds going towards feeding families and supporting small rural businesses affected by current events. Club members will save much more than this with the new skills they learn each week.

store cupboard feast with former Borough Market demo chef Luke McKay, navigate this unsettling time with bestselling self-help author Beth Kempton. Over the coming weeks they will be joined by makers, DIY and fitness experts as well as small business and personal finance specialists will play an important role in helping to reimagine a new normal. All this awaits you in the Slow Life Good Life club.

Access brand new content delivered by leading experts plus access to a virtual community of thousands of others in the same situation.

Monthly membership includes: • A new video three times a week in a private members’ club online, plus access to the archives (filmed by an expert on an iPhone from their home kitchen or farm – they are in this too) • Access to a private Facebook group where the experts offer creative and wellbeing inspiration, and you can connect with others all over the UK – and the world.

• ‘Friday Night In’ weekly Facebook Live broadcasts from Friday 3rd April, kicking off with a store cupboard cook up with Steven Lamb.

slowlifegoodlife.com @slowlifegoodlifeclub bridporttimes.co.uk | 17

THE SLOW LIFE IS THE GOOD LIFE Beth Kempton

I

t’s funny how one small act of kindness can make a world of difference. A couple of years ago, my husband and I decided to move to this area from Southampton with our two young daughters. It was a decision that had been brewing for some time, but when our eldest didn’t get into any schools we had requested in the city, we decided to make the move in haste in order to meet the beginning of the school year.

In the space of ten days, I had a new book come out with all the associated promotional activities, we brought our four year old down on the train and stayed in a pub overnight so she could attend her first day at school, then we travelled back for the weekend so my husband could run the New Forest Marathon. That night we packed up our house, and the following morning I went to Heathrow to fly to California for a week to teach, 18 | Bridport Times | April 2020

keeping a commitment that had been in the diary since before our decision to move. My husband and the girls left our home while it was still dark to get here for the start of the school and nursery week, and the removal men came to put all our things in storage.

With tourists staying around here through to the end of September we lived in three different Airbnbs before finding a longer term rental. Everything was new, we had no family or friends nearby, we were trying to run our online business with limited wifi, and the house we were trying to buy fell through.

It was a turbulent time, and felt anything but the slow life we had moved for. But then one day we had a power cut, followed shortly after by a knock at the door.

One of our neighbours, Laura, was standing there with a handful of candles and a box of matches. ‘I thought you

Image: Holly Bobbins

might need these,’ she offered. It was a small gesture, but it meant so much, and it captured the spirit of community we have felt here ever since.

In time we slowed down, found an old house and started to grow our own fruit and vegetables. We spent most of the summer barefoot, learnt how to bake and cook with local produce, and discovered new ways to entertain ourselves. We had long conversations with people who always seemed to have time for us. We did not miss high street shops, or traffic and were grateful to see the sea every day.

We made more friends in that first few months than we had in years living in cities, which is why we felt an urgent need to do something to help when the current pandemic reached this part of the world, and changed daily life as we know it.

Almost overnight many of our friends saw their incomes drop off a cliff. Chefs were no longer needed, producers lost their restaurant trade, cafes and hotels had to close, and all those working for them suddenly had no work. The holiday rental business which was the back up income for so many also fell away, and suddenly parents found themselves facing the challenge of homeschooling children while trying to figure it all out. It was an anxious time for everyone.

We couldn’t do nothing. Within three hours of the Prime Minister’s announcement that schools would be closed, my husband and I reached out to our friends Steve and Elli Lamb, to see if they wanted to work with us to create something that would generate income for our community whilst being of immense value to everyone stuck at home. They had been dreaming up similar ideas, and so Slow Life Good Life was born.

In a matter of days a huge group of talented people had offered their services to teach in this new members’ club. From farmers and chefs to creatives and wellbeing experts, from carpenters and musicians to lawyers and teachers, the enthusiasm and generosity poured in from all corners. We launched within a week, and now have members from all over the country and across the world, learning simple, valuable things that help them be more self-reliant, stay healthy and well-fed, and have fun during this unsettling time. We hope that in the long run the club will provide a sustainable income to feed families and support local businesses, while helping thousands of people to embrace the idea of slow living, in the company of likeminded people through our online community.

This crisis highlighted the richness and diversity of skills and experience in this community. None of us could have made this happen on our own, but together we pulled it off in record time. Crucially, it has been a bonding experience, and a source of hope for many. We have learnt how asking ‘How can I be of service?’ can be a powerful tool for grounding and positive action in the face of adversity.

More than ever we need to work together, and help ourselves whilst helping each other. Perhaps this challenging time will be the catalyst for many more good things in the months and years ahead. slowlifegoodlife.com Beth Kempton is a self-help writer whose books have been translated into 25 languages. bethkempton.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 19

Arts & Culture

MUSIC MATTERS Roy Gregory, Clocktower Music

B

y the time you’re reading this we could be living in a very different world. At time of writing it’s already quite changed – mere days ago shops weren’t stripped of sanitiser and toilet roll, school exams hadn’t been scrapped, and you could still enjoy a drink and a meal in your choice of hostelry. You could visit the gym, or the theatre, or catch your favourite band in concert. We didn’t greet friends with just a wave.

We didn’t feel the need to pray for our NHS. How unprepared we were.

We hope that fairly soon the peak of this pandemic will have passed and we’ll be out mingling again, but in reality it’s more likely most of us will still be pacing the confines of our homes on repeat – as much exercise as some of us will get – and those with gardens will be deemed the lucky ones (unless we’ve had a return to February’s deluges). Strike that – those who’ve stayed 20 | Bridport Times | April 2020

well, and working, will be the lucky ones.

Coronavirus has been catastrophic for many businesses, with town centres virtually gutted by government order – and Bridport has been no exception. Whilst supermarkets and internet traders have boomed, high-street retailers and the hospitality industry have crumbled. Those who could adapt at short notice may have managed to carry on in some form – caterers making home deliveries, for instance, or shops refocussing on web trade – but not all, and not without struggle. The creative and entertainment industries have, though, been crushed. In all, whole swathes of us were left without income virtually overnight.

It’s left us with a lot of time to fill – and not a lot of space in which to spend that time. We’ve needed entertainment. Those with young families have had to be inventive, finding small-scale outlets for all that

Image: Elizabeth Sporne

energy, but adults – especially those living alone – may have found themselves with a rare opportunity to slow down and savour things, whether that be cooking or gardening, a new or revisited hobby, or the chance to read those books or wade through that box set at last. We might even have dusted off our hi-fi to sit and listen, properly listen, hearing nuances and lyrics afresh, to our favourite albums again. We might even have ordered some new ones.

One local business you may have dealt with for your sounds is Clocktower Music. Tucked away in the ‘back streets’ of Bridport, on the St Michael’s Estate, the five-year-old shop had already survived a major fire in its building in 2018, and had not only built up a loyal, widespread clientele but, five months ago, was named the third-best independent record shop in the entire UK – top in the south of England. Selling only

in-store and previously dealing just with pre-owned vinyl, it had taken over the new-releases trade from Piers and Steph Garner when they closed their longstanding Bridport Music shop last autumn. Now, Clocktower was looking forward to taking part, for the first time, in the international music-industry event Record Store Day – scheduled for this April. Enter the virus. Record Store Day was postponed worldwide (ostensibly to 20th June, but we’ll see) and business was clearly threatened. So what did bricks-and-mortar Clocktower do? It closed to the public to protect its customers, staff and all those they come into contact with, and is considering moving its trade onto the internet.

Clocktower’s owner, Roy Gregory, appreciates that not every business could do the same. “We’re very fortunate,” he says, “to have the ability and skills and option to move online.” Indeed, he and his enthusiastic band of helpers have an astonishing range of skills accrued in former or other careers, from graphic designer and magazine editor to financial director, stage manager, audio engineer, product designer, antique dealer, portrait painter, professional drummer and more – even a retired heart surgeon; in their own ways they’ve all contributed to the shop’s success, and they would again if it moved online.

That’s not to say such a switch would be simple.

Whilst social media changes are straightforward, their website would have to be rejigged. Sales methods would need to be adapted to the new platform, with hundreds of hours entering inventory via computer. Plus, new vinyl and CDs are getting trickier, as imports from America have almost halted – a microcosm of other UK industries’ international supply-chain problems.

However, Clocktower’s still-huge stock of preloved vinyl is almost pristine as far as internet trade is concerned, and thus would prove premium. Even now, Roy is still buying record collections, and telephone contact continues. People will always want their music – and now, possibly, it matters more than ever.

This is a terrible interlude, but there are little bits of brightness to be found – having time to recharge our batteries, pay attention to those we hold dear (even if at a distance), and make discoveries, in both new interests and in sights – and sounds – we thought we already knew well.

And, looking ahead, if we’ve supported local businesses wherever possible, our little town will thrive again. clocktowermusic.co.uk @ClocktowerMusicBridport 01308 458077 bridporttimes.co.uk | 21

Arts & Culture

PETTER’S ECO-POD

T

Anna Powell, Director, Sladers Yard Gallery and Café Sladers

his time last year my husband Petter Southall, usually a designer and maker of steam-bent fine furniture, was working in an enormous and freezing-cold empty grain store, steam-bending very long planks of wood into a pavilion for the Chelsea Flower Show. Right at the end, when the Wave pavilion was standing, he took a couple of the extra bends and decided to build an eco-pod.

The Pod garden room has space for a double bed, a desk, chair and wood burner. Imagine a deliciously cosy, warm and inviting space away from the house; a romantic candlelit place for guests to stay or a peaceful escape in which to work, to dream, to read and perhaps to sleep. ‘My idea,’ he described to me back then, ‘is to bring the setting around you inside, through all the windows, so you sit inside snug and comfortable and look out on the view surrounded by birdsong.’

‘It’s as watertight as a ship’s cabin,’ smiles Petter, a former wooden boat-builder and experienced sailor.

‘You could keep it on a trailer and move it about 22 | Bridport Times | April 2020

or build a deck around it with outdoor seating and a shelter to keep your wood dry.’ Either way, it is a low-impact eco-pod that you could take with you if you moved. Stepping into it is like stepping into a tree house. It smells and feels good.

The curved walls and roof look to me like an illustration out of a child’s storybook. The tiles on the roof look like curved slate but are actually recycled plastic, providing an environmentally friendly, strong and effective roof. Built in what Petter calls ‘quality softwoods’, Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Scots Pine plus a little oak for good measure, the walls have 4 inches of insulation under wooden detailing that is comforting, warm and soft to the touch. As I write, the Pod is in the yard at Sladers where a buyer can specify how they would like it fitted out.

Most of Petter’s work is made to commission. After discussion, he will make a design sketch, agreeing with his client the size, function and feel as well as the cost.

A deposit is paid and Petter goes to work, the client’s

wishes always at the front of his mind. Now and then, however, he makes a piece on spec in response to a concept, a piece of wood or a particular steam-bent component and those are the pieces he puts into Sladers Yard.

Petter learned his steam-bending in Norway, making traditional wooden boats in pine on oak.

Later he trained as a cabinetmaker at the College of the Redwoods in Northern California and went on to build serious yachts in a large boatyard in Maine, USA. When he was asked to manage the boatyard however he stepped away, uncomfortable with the quantities of epoxy that were being used. Instead, he came to UK in 1989 to study sustainable design in wood at John Makepeace’s forward-looking Hooke Park College. He has been designing and making his beautiful sustainable furniture here in Dorset ever since.

He has always been strongly committed to the environment, careful to make in wood that is ethicallysourced and native to Northern Europe, using no tropical hardwoods. With his knowledge of steambending and a deep understanding of how wood behaves, he designs his work in solid wood rather than thin laminations over MDF, using as little glue as

possible, relying instead on joinery and copper rivets which he trusts to stand the test of time. His finishes are natural too. Polishes are worked with beeswax and natural oils to avoid any harmful emissions or degradation with time. Often now his wood is simply washed and many times sanded to create a wonderfully smooth, tactile surface.

‘When you make something,’ he says, ‘you have to work from the heart. The challenge is to imitate the simplicity of nature. If you can’t make it simple, you are imposing too much on the material. You must not try to control the outcome. You concentrate on making and designing with the best of your abilities, allowing the unknown into your process so that things happen gently and skilfully. It’s just being creative. It’s not pre-planned.

It’s subtle and unexplainable really. If you get it right, everyone wants to touch it. Being an organic material, like a log fire, wood leads the mind onwards and away.’

Petter Southall’s furniture, the Pod and the Wave pavilion are available from Sladers Yard Contemporary Art, Furniture & Craft Gallery, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4NE. sladersyard.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 23

BRIDPORT ANTIQUES Situated on West Street, in the heart of Bridport, the historic building that was Joseph Gundry and Co Ltd now houses one of the finest antiques showrooms in the south-west of England. With its diverse range of furniture, art, silver and collectables from the 1600’s through to the 1900’s there is something to cater for everyone’s tastes.

OPEN DAILY 10am to 5pm EARLY CLOSING Thursday at 2pm CLOSED SUNDAY APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE OUTSIDE OF THESE HOURS THE OLD COURT, 41 WEST STREET, BRIDPORT, DORSET DT6 3QU TELEPHONE: 01308 455646 WEBSITE: www.bridportantiques.co.uk

24 | Bridport Times | April 2020

L AND USE

Alex Lowery recent paintings Petter Southall furniture and garden features Open online

CAFÉ SLADERS

Sladers Yard

Contemporary Art, Furniture & Craft Gallery West Bay Road DT6 4EL t: 01308 459511 sladersyard.co.uk @sladersyard

Arts & Culture

FLORA JAMIESON

THROUGH COLOURED WINDOWS Kit Glaisyer, Artist This month I talk with Flora Jamieson, a Bridport-based artist with a growing international market for her stainedglass work, over 30,000 followers on Instagram and recent features in Homes & Antiques and In Her Studio magazines, and in The Financial Times.

T

he first time I became aware that making stained glass was a job was during a school trip to Salisbury Cathedral as a teenager. A couple of friends and I had snuck off during the middle of a rather dull tour and I found myself in the cloisters.

26 | Bridport Times | April 2020

Looking through a window, I was fascinated to see the stained-glass restoration workshop, with the panels all laid out in colourful pieces on the workbench. Back at school, the trip was soon forgotten but a seed had been planted in my mind.

I studied art up to A-level but didn‘t pursue it further. Then I took a degree in media studies at Sussex University, after which I found work in London as a design/photography studio administrator. Although it was a great environment to work in, I found it frustrating being surrounded by people doing creative work while

my time was largely spent processing invoices and on spreadsheets. I realised I wanted, or perhaps needed, to work with my hands, and so I decided to take an evening class in stained glass. Thus, the seed that had been planted 10 years previously finally sprouted.

After finishing the evening class, I started a more advanced course at Kensington and Chelsea College, which I balanced alongside my day job. When that course finished, I contacted about thirty stained glass workshops, looking for a work placement. One in Wandsworth replied and took me on as the ‘Saturday

person’. Over time I increased my days in the workshop and dropped days in the office until I was working in the stained-glass workshop full time. I learnt how to paint glass and found my niche as a replicator and restorer of traditional Victorian stained glass. I stayed for three years, learning from a group of talented craftspeople.

When I became pregnant with my first child, my partner (waxwork maker Mike Wade) and I left London for Bridport. The move meant that I had to change how I worked. The sheer volume of Victorian/Edwardian and 1930s domestic stained glass in London meant > bridporttimes.co.uk | 27

Arts & Culture

28 | Bridport Times | April 2020

that there was always plenty of work coming in.

However, there just isn’t that level of domestic stained glass in Dorset, so I had to start creating my own contemporary work and finding clients further afield.

I began by making smaller pieces and building up an online presence, as well as making a few connections with other stained-glass studios which might need the services of a freelance glass painter. I was pregnant with my second child just as things like Instagram and Etsy were really starting to take off. Working on a small scale like this suited my new, full-time role as a mum, and it was also a great way to explore social media and learn how to market my work.

Over time, I started to get bigger commissions for my contemporary designs, which are characterised by their bright colours, nature themes and playful, illustrative style. Through regular posting of my work on platforms such as Instagram, I started to get a bit of press attention and, as a result, I now get enquiries from quite far afield. In the past year I’ve made windows for clients in New York, France, Scotland and Ireland. I also run a kind of mail order service – clients post me the broken fragments of a damaged Victorian window and I paint

new copies and post them back.

My workload is now split fairly evenly between contemporary commissions and traditional restoration work. I like the balance of the two – there is something very satisfying about painting a really good match for an old window. I also love the challenge of working up a new design from a client’s brief and finding a way to incorporate all the elements they want to include. The commissioning process is often a collaborative effort: after an initial discussion about the sort of design the client is looking for, I’ll create an online concept board and use that to work up a design. Once approved, I’ll draw up the plan and then cut and paint the glass, which usually requires several firings in the kiln to get the detail and shading.

After that the glass is leaded together and soldered, and finally brushed all over with a runny black putty which, when set, makes the panel strong and watertight.

Living surrounded by the ever-changing and dramatic Dorset countryside and coastline, I am rarely at a loss for design inspiration! florajamieson.co.uk theroundwindow kitglaisyer.com @kitglaisyer bridporttimes.co.uk | 29

History

LOST DORSET

MAIDEN NEWTON

T

he Irish-born Sergeant of Police, John Simpson, with his wife Alice and some of his four children outside the police station on the Dorchester road: it later moved, finally closing in the 1980s. Under the terms of an act of 1856 all counties throughout the British Isles were required to establish a County Constabulary under a Chief Constable for the rural areas. By the end of the century all the larger villages had their own police station, with drunkenness and poaching the most common offences. One of the glories of the Dorset force is the ‘Black Book’ issued to all new constables, of which these are two samples: Q: If you saw a person about to commit a serious crime, what should you do?

A: Prevent, if possible, and apprehend him.

Q: How should you walk when in charge of a prisoner?

A: On one side, about half a pace to the rear, so as to prevent him tripping me up.

Remarkably, the book remained in use until the 1930s.

Lost Dorset: The Villages & Countryside 1880-1920, by David Burnett, is a large format paperback, price £12, and is widely available throughout Dorset or directly from the publishers. dovecotepress.com

30 | Bridport Times | April 2020

This is the time to be slow, Lie low to the wall Until the bitter weather passes.

Wishing you and your families peace at this time.

ELEMENTUMGALLERY.CO.UK @ELEMENTUMGALLERY

Try, as best you can, not to let The wire brush of doubt Scrape from your heart All sense of yourself And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous, Time will come good; And you will find your feet Again on fresh pastures of promise, Where the air will be kind And blushed with beginning.

John O'Donohue

WISHING ALL OUR MEMBERS WELL Meetings cancelled until further notice

STEVE ROSE STAINED GLASS taswestdorset.org.uk

Commissions and Restoration 07963 996683 St Michaels Trading Estate, Bridport steverosestainedglass.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 31

History

Duncan1890/iStock

THE LAWS OF SETTLEMENT Brian Parker, Volunteer, Bridport Museum

M

ost of us are aware of the Windrush scandal which has resulted in Commonwealth citizens being denied the right to remain in the United Kingdom because of their inability to provide sufficient evidence of continuous residence.

The concept of proof of residence is not new.

There are echoes of this concept from the past. From Tudor times, entitlement to poor relief was based on residence in the parish administering the relief.

The parish was responsible only for its own residents.

During the mediĂŚval period, statutes were enacted ‘to control beggars and vagabonds’ which enshrined this principle. The law was updated and expanded by the passing of the Settlement Act of 1662 which established the laws of settlement and a set of rules 32 | Bridport Times | April 2020

which determined in which parish a person was settled and therefore entitled to parish relief. According to the rules laid down by the Act, a person could only apply for financial relief to the parish in which he or she was settled. In most cases there was no dispute as to where a person was settled. For example: a person acquired settlement status in the parish in which he was born and, as a rule, if he or she spent all his life in his birth parish, his status did not change. If a person moved from his birth parish the situation could become confused and give rise to disputes.

The Act laid down the procedure for disputes to be determined by the local magistrates and the decision was recorded in a settlement certificate. This was a useful document because if a person went to another

parish to work or live, he could produce the certificate to demonstrate to his new parish that his old parish was responsible for his relief. Magistrates were reluctant to issue such certificates because a person could return to his settlement parish in case of need rather than acquire settlement status elsewhere. The reluctance to issue certificates inhibited movement of labour and prevented workers bettering themselves by moving to places where there was more economic activity and higher wages.

Workers did not wish to become destitute in a parish where they were not entitled to poor relief.

If a person became dependant on relief in a parish other than his settlement, parish magistrates had the power to issue a removal certificate, enforced by physically removing the person to the parish boundary.

The laws were not always enforced but the parish authorities were conscious of the need to reduce the financial burden; it is known some authorities removed pregnant women who did not have settled status in the parish to prevent their children having settled status.

Landowners would demolish empty cottages to prevent them being occupied by workers, with or without families, from another parish.

'Landowners would demolish empty cottages to prevent them being occupied by workers, with or without families, from another parish.'

Some of the basic rules governing settlement were: • To be born in the parish of parents settled in the parish, even if illegitimate.

• Married to a person settled in the parish, however if a husband pre-deceased his wife she reverted to her status prior to marriage. An extreme example of this rule was the case of a widow of 80 who, after a long marriage, was removed to the parish of her birth status - a place which was totally foreign to her.

• To have lived in the parish for a period of 40 days.

However, after 1691 the period only started to run after the claimant had given notice to the parish and the notice had been read in church.

• To have held office in the parish.

• To be hired for a term of over a year. Workers from foreign parishes were therefore hired for less than a year and then removed.

• To have served an apprenticeship for a period of seven years in the parish. Many children apprenticed to Bridport from nearby parishes such as Beaminster acquired settled status in Bridport.

In November 1785, Benjamin Warren came before the magistrates to determine his legal settlement. He had been born in Bridport to parents legally settled in the town but was then living in Powerstock with a wife and two children. His examination recited his life story and that he had, ‘heard about Lady Day, come into Powerstock and that he had married his wife ten weeks hence’. The magistrates decided that, ‘he had done no other act to gain a settlement’. He failed to establish legal settlement and was presumably still legally settled in Bridport. It appears that he and his family had lived in the parish for more than forty days but had failed to give notice to the parish on his arrival. Despite this, the magistrates’ decision did not refer to failure to give notice.

In 1740 Elizabeth Lee and her two children were apprehended in Bristol and she was declared a ‘rogue and a vagabond’. On examination by the magistrates she was found to be settled in Bridport and the constables were ordered to remove her and the children back to the town. However, they were not taken to Bridport by the constables but, in accordance with the magistrates’ order, taken to the ‘first house in Somerset that being the next county’ – i.e. the most convenient route back to Bridport! Whether she and the children reached Bridport is not recorded.

In 1834 the administration of poor relief was superseded by a formal system of workhouses which was established by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, and outdoor relief and the Laws of Settlement were abolished.

The settlement laws applied of course to Dorset and several settlement documents have survived from the late 18th century. Here are two examples:

bridportmuseum.co.uk @bridportmuseum facebook.com/BridportMuseum bridporttimes.co.uk | 33

Wild Dorset

SPRING BUTTERFLIES

T

Colin Varndell, Photographer

he lengthening of the days and the warmth of the season during April awakens the spring butterflies which then venture out onto the wing. The first to appear is usually the brimstone, flitting through copses and gardens like a tantalising blur of sulphur yellow. It is generally thought that the word ‘butterfly’ was derived from describing the brimstone as a ‘butter-yellow fly’.

The brimstone is a large butterfly that never rests with open wings. The uppersides of the male wings are brilliant brimstone yellow and are displayed during flight. The female colouration is a more muted pale-green. The brimstone is one of the longest-lived butterflies, surviving as an adult insect for about eleven months. The insect begins the winged stage of its life in August and survives the winter by hibernating amongst holly or ivy leaves. This explains the unique shape of the wings, which have evolved to allow the butterfly to remain undetected during hibernation. Brimstones will fly during warm April days, returning to hibernation in the evenings. Female brimstones lay their eggs on buckthorn or alder buckthorn from mid-April. Caterpillars feed for around thirty days before entering the chrysalis stage, which lasts for two weeks.

By mid-April the green-veined white appears, named after the prominent green-veins which run through its wings. Green-veined whites frequent early spring flowers such as dandelion and bugle to sip the sweet nectar. This is one of our commonest butterflies and may be seen on the wing from early spring until mid-summer. The ground colour of the wing undersides is pale yellow, decorated with the pronounced dark veins. Although a ‘white’ butterfly, unlike its close relatives, the large and small whites, the green-veined white does not show any interest in cabbage plants. The insect lays its eggs on wild crucifers, ladies smock, garlic mustard and watercress. Most of these larval food plants are associated with damp conditions, making this insect more of a woodland species than other white butterflies.

The holly blue is a territorial butterfly and regularly patrols its domain. It flies quickly along hedges and woodland edges, appearing like an electric blue flicker. The male has lilac-blue upperwings with pale blue undersides marked with black spots. There are two generations of this insect each year, with adults emerging in April and in August. The spring eggs are laid on holly and the summer eggs on ivy.

The butterfly over winters as a pupa.

The orange-tip is one of our most attractive insects but its flight period is also one of the briefest.

The orange-tip waits out the winter as a pupa, ready to hatch in the first warm days of April.

Throughout this month and the next it can be seen flying low along the hedgerows, flashing its distinct bright orange markings. The female might not be so noticeable as she lacks the orange colour of the forewing. Eggs are laid on cuckooflower or garlic mustard. She lays only one egg per food plant and leaves a pheromone trail near the egg to deter other butterflies from laying nearby. This species suffers from the springtime trimming of roadside verges, a task which destroys important food plants as well as the insect in its early stages of life. > colinvarndell.co.uk

34 | Bridport Times | April 2020

A male orange-tip at rest on a bluebell, Kingcombe Meadows nature reserve on an April evening last year.

Image: Colin Varndell bridporttimes.co.uk | 35

Footage: Harris Digital

Sally Welbourn, Communications Officer, Dorset Wildlife Trust For centuries, the magic and beauty of butterflies have captured the imagination of poets and artists; they have been symbols of the human soul and inspired many a folklore. In our modern times they are, of course, synonymous with the importance of pollinators, the state of the environment, and the plight of declining habitats.

The decrease of pollinators, including butterflies, both in numbers and species, is of concern across Britain as well as globally. However, luckily not all species are in trouble. The orange-tip butterfly, an early harbinger of spring, is widespread across the UK, enjoying an increase in numbers and distribution and is currently considered of low conservation concern. It belongs to the family of white and orange butterflies and, with a wingspan of up to about 5cm, rates as a medium-sized species.

The male’s distinctive appearance gives the name to this striking butterfly; their wingtips are a bright orange.

The female possesses more nuanced white wings with grey-black tips. Both sport mottled green underwings.

The adults can be seen on the wing from early April through to July, and the female produces a single brood 36 | Bridport Times | April 2020

annually. The caterpillars feast primarily on garlic mustard and cuckoo flower but also have cannibalistic tendencies, occasionally resorting to eating other orange tip larvae. The orange tip favours damp habitats such as meadows and riverbanks but is an oft-seen visitor to gardens, hedgerows and parks as well.

Changes in land management and development have caused losses to natural habitats, making gardens crucial as gateways for preserving pollinators. Gardening for butterflies is easy and rewarding, the best plants being native, nectar-rich cottage varieties. Buddleia, marjoram and lavender in sunny, sheltered areas are ideal. A little time spent planning your garden will reward you not just with the knowledge that you are protecting biodiversity overall but also with the sight of the colourful dance of these uplifting creatures throughout the summer.

Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Kingcombe Centre has a plentiful population of the orange tip, who make their first appearances there in early April each year. The Centre is surrounded by 450 acres of nature reserve and also has its own wildlife garden, an ideal destination for a springtime visit to lift spirits after a long winter. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

Keep Dorset Buzzing Do something this spring to help insects in your garden.

Visit: www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/action-insects

DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST Photos © Hamish Murray, Tony Bates MBE, Ken Dolbear MBE, Katharine Davies.

Wild Dorset

LIGHTBULB SEA SQUIRTS

Alison Ferris, Deputy Head Warden, Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre

A

s the name suggests a lightbulb sea squirt looks a bit like a light bulb and gets its name from the fact that it squirts out water when removed from the sea. Lightbulb sea squirts (Clavelina lepadiformis) are common in the UK and found in Lyme Bay. They look like a plant but are, in fact, animals.

The first time I found evidence of sea squirts in Lyme Bay was on a Heritage Centre rockpool ramble that I was leading. I found what looked like some small flowers in a transparent jelly blob attached to a rock! After a 38 | Bridport Times | April 2020

little research, I discovered this was the larvae of the sea squirt and they are incredibly pretty to look at. I have since found many more in the rockpools in Lyme Regis.

Sea squirts start life as larvae (some looking rather tadpole-like) and, once they are settled, they digest their own brains, tail and notochord (a spine-like structure).

They then become a cylindrical-shaped adult, covered by a transparent tunic (a sac) with two holes at the top end which siphon water in and out. Sea squirts are filter feeders and they filter food - plankton and detritus - from

Labetaa Andre/Shutterstock

the water they siphon in one hole, expelling wastewater from the other hole. Some sea squirts live alone but many live in colonies permanently attached to hard rock structures. The lightbulb sea squirt is colonial, found living on rocks down to depths of 50 metres. They are often found in harbours and marinas as well as on piers, docks, boat hulls and attached to shells.

Despite their soft, plant-like appearance, sea squirts are more closely related to vertebrates than to sponges and coral. Sea squirts belong to a group of undersea

animals called tunicates which are sac-like filter feeders.

They belong to the same group of animals as birds, fish, reptiles and mammals due to the notochord they have in the larvae stage. Depending on species, sea squirts can be up to 30 centimetres long and there are over 3,000 species globally. Some of the larger species can trap small fish and jellyfish and come in an array of different colours - green, red, yellow, blue, orange, pink, brown and white.

The lightbulb sea squirt in particular is transparent with yellow and white internal organs which appear to glow.

Sea squirts do have some enemies such as eels, large fish, sea stars, snails and crustaceans. Other names for them include sea grapes and sea vases, due to their appearance.

Sea squirts have both types of reproductive organs, releasing both egg and sperm into the water, where they mix and merge with other sperm cells and eggs from other sea squirts. The fertilised eggs float as zooplankton for up to 3 days before settling as larvae onto a rock. The transformation into adults lasts approximately 36 hours before they move into deeper waters and settle. Some species of sea squirt reproduce asexually by budding, where a new animal splits off from or grows out of the original animal. We witnessed sea anemones splitting in such a way in our fish tanks at the Centre last year.

This is how colonies of sea squirts form. Depending on species, they can live up to 30 years in the wild.

Sea squirts are sources of diverse natural products that are of special interest to biomedicine. One type of colonial sea squirt produces a substance known as trabectedin (ET743), which has anti-cancer properties and is used in the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. Sea squirts may also be useful in fighting viruses. Scientists have observed some species that can heal damage received over several generations, a process which could be beneficial if it could be replicated in humans.

If you are rockpooling try to spot the larvae on the rocks - they look like small white flowers in a blob of transparent jelly – but do not try to remove them. If you find them on the underside of rocks, always remember to place the rock back down gently where you found it. If you are diving in Lyme Bay be careful not to pull lightbulb sea squirts or remove them from rocks. They are part of what makes Lyme Bay such a unique marine reserve. Many places offer diving experiences or diving lessons along the Jurassic Coast, websites below. charmouth.org blueturtle.uk.com bsac.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 39

APR IL 2020 | FREE

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Wild Dorset

APRIL

Ellen Simon, Tamarisk Farm

A

pril is the changeover from winter to summer.

In the winter the animals depend on us for their food and comfort. Most of them, all the ones indoors, would be knee deep in muck if we didn’t clear it away for them and give them fresh bedding; they would be without food unless we gave it to them, and that depends on our having saved the grass from last summer. In summer, by contrast, the animals are all outdoors and don’t really need us. We see them daily but, if all is well, that is all we do: we look, we see that they are comfortable and that they seem happy and we leave them to themselves. April is the month by which the big change-around has happened. It is a relief to finally return to the summer pattern; we have by now become weary of feeding and bedding and it is a pleasure to see the animals enjoying the weather and the sweet spring grass. For the vegetables, there is an equivalent shift around now. Through the winter and well into spring we are dependant on last year’s plants and last year’s work and now we are setting out this year’s and just beginning to crop the earliest of them.

This month is dominated by lambing. It is as if we 42 | Bridport Times | April 2020

believe that is what April is for. With many farmers having their lambs indoors, April is now considered late for lambing. We choose it because we want the ewes to have plenty of good grass to grow the lambs and to make milk, and because we want comfortable weather to greet the lambs, born outdoors on clean grass. Working with the sheep frames every day, we see the ewes as it gets light and again as it gets dark. We see them frequently in between, too, just in case any need our help with birth or any fresh lamb needs help getting the vital colostrum or settling down with their mother. If she's new to motherhood she might be too confused or dazed to clean up her damp newborn.

The rest of the day is used up doing many other things; writing the following for this article has made me realise how busy a month April is!

We get the cows and calves settled outside, watching them carefully and checking their udders: an over-full udder is not only bad for the cow, it is also an indication that the calf has not sucked as much as usual, which could be an indicator of problems, perhaps ill health or injury.

By now if the bull is not in good condition and ready to work, we have made a mistake. He needs to go in with the cows in early May to get our winter calves so he has been building towards it over winter on good grass with good hay and maybe a bit of hard feed. Now he would like to leave his winter companions, a couple of young steers, and join his ladies. We won’t let him just yet but are glad to see he is ready.

In the fields of winter arable crops, we watch the wheat and rye grow. In a couple of months we will work by hand to clear particular weeds in some of the fields but there is little we can do now to improve them. In other fields and the fallow parts of the gardens, we are building up fertility and soil organic matter; here we watch the green manures, aiming to incorporate them at the best stage in their growth pattern. In the arable fields, this is either by having the sheep graze them and letting the muck fall and do its work or by using the flail topper to break up and drop the vegetative growth and then letting the earthworms take the resulting mulch down into the soil. In the vegetable gardens, some will be hoed into the top

layer of the soil and left for the worms to work.

We need to get any arable spring-sown crops into the ground. It is rare that our clay soil is ready for any cultivation or drilling in February or March; this year, the fields were all sodden from the extreme wet. Even if the tractor did not sink there would be damage to the soil structure from cultivating wet ground. Moving into April, we watch the showers scudding across the sea and wish for a couple of days without them so that the soil can become ready for the seed. Some seeds like soil to be warm as well as drier and these may benefit from later sowing. Once we have got seed in, we watch for germination: the big seedlings of peas are particularly luscious to pigeons and pheasants and we need to be vigilant and inventive over the time they are popping up.

We’d like to think that all the fencing is in good order ready for the grazing season but you can bet it will not be. I think that if you were to be able to walk at Cogden, you would see us along the lower ground this month; the fence above the reedbed needs mending and it has been far too wet to do it since September. We don’t want the cows and calves finding their way to the rich grass on the alluvial soil until we put them there.

We already have beds of salad and greens established in the autumn and growing well. We are careful to crop the leaves taking no more than the plants can handle: we need them strong and ready to go on cropping. We can take more from them if the soil is warm and if we have not had sharp, cold winds to slow them down.

Now is the time when we need to organise carefully the propagation of lots of vegetable plants, moving trays of seeds and seedlings through a system of changing levels of warmth, light, humidity and protection from wind.

We remember occasional years when, well into April, hail and cold winds drove the lambs across the field into an icy stream in spate. This means that though we’d like to, we do not put vegetables into all the poly-tunnels just yet so that we have shelter should we need it. However, we are ready to plant out the summer vegetables, particularly our pride, the tomatoes. They are important and now hundreds upon hundreds of them have been potted on and are waiting for the right moment and their space in the tunnel.

All the time we are doing these things, our minds are on the lambs as well as the immediate work, enjoying every new healthy lamb and watching each one grow and learn about life. tamariskfarm.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 43

Outdoors

44 | Bridport Times | April 2020

On Foot

WEST MILTON Emma Tabor and Paul Newman Dear fellow walkers- we hope you are all keeping safe and well in the current situation?

Here is a walk that we completed and planned for this month before the restrictions of movement came in to force.

We hope you enjoy reading this walk, it is definitely one to save and look forward to once restrictions are lifted and we are free to roam again.

Distance: 3½ miles Time: Approx. 2 hours Park: By the bus shelter and phone booth in Ruscombe Lane Walk Features: This walk consists of a gentle climb from West Milton along Ruscombe Lane, then along a deep holloway before emerging on Ridgeback Lane.

From here there are some great views across to Hooke Park and down towards the coast, with Shipton Hill and Tulk’s Hill in the distance. The return section skirts South Poorton nature reserve, taking a winding route back down towards West Milton.

Refreshments: The Three Horseshoes, Powerstock Caution - the outward and return sections can be quite tricky and care should be taken; the sides of the holloway can be unstable with slips and rockfalls after wet weather and some of the section from Ridgeback Lane towards West Milton follows the bed of a stream so, as ever, stout footwear is a must. >

bridporttimes.co.uk | 45

E

ach month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar. For April, we explore some of the sunken lanes and close-knit hills near West Milton. The route takes in Beningfield Wood, a small Woodland Trust wood named after the artist Gordon Beningfield, and also provides the opportunity to explore a particularly dramatic holloway. West Milton is pretty and the remains of St Mary Magdalene’s church make an interesting diversion. The route along Ridgeback Lane is airy and has some good views before 46 | Bridport Times | April 2020

turning off by Spring Hill Farm and descending down into a wild and twisting valley through South Poorton Nature Reserve, following the Ant Hill Trail.

Directions

Start: SY 502963 1 Park in the small layby behind the bus shelter.

2 With the bus shelter behind you, walk up Ruscombe Lane following the sign for Leigh Gate. The road soon turns into a track and, after the last few houses, the track becomes a holloway with steep sides clad with ferns. Just after the track bends round to the

left, look for the entrance to a deeper holloway on your right. (As we set out on this walk, it was early spring and the valley resounded to the noise of rooks, busy carrying twigs and branches as they began their nest building).

3 Turn right into the holloway (there were ‘Road Closed’ signs at the entrance when we did the walk).

You are now flanked by impressive sandstone walls, with an incredible array of trees and plants reaching and stretching overhead. Make your way up the holloway but be careful as the sides are prone to occasional slumps and slips especially after heavy rainfall. Look out for the exposed roots from the

trees above, which have been left hanging as the walls of the holloway are weathered by torrents of water. The formative processes which have created the holloway are very much in evidence; the floor of the holloway is littered with lumps of rock and the discarded limbs of trees. Keep heading up, soon to meet Beningfield Wood. Here, the holloway becomes a tree-lined path with views to the left across the valley. After walking alongside the wood for 750 yards, the path goes back into a holloway and the way becomes more challenging with a narrow, flinty channel which has been eroded by rainfall. At the top, you meet Ridgeback Lane; > bridporttimes.co.uk | 47

48 | Bridport Times | April 2020

leave the holloway and turn right onto the lane.

4 Follow Ridgeback Lane for ž mile until you reach Spring Hill Farm on your right. Look for a footpath sign on the right and turn sharp right to descend steeply into a wooded glen. Here, part of the way is along the bed of a stream. Leaving the stream behind, the path bends right and after 250 yards you reach a wooden stile. Cross this to enter a field and then turn immediately left to now walk along the outside edge of the wood. Go through another gateway with a huge tree to the side of it and stay on the well-trodden footpath. The path bends gently to the right. At the next large gateway, bear left and downhill, following the Ant Hill Trail sign.

5 With the stream on your left the path now descends, with a fence running along a large field on your right. This part of the walk is particularly picturesque with some good picnic spots. You soon reach another large gate with a smaller gate to the left of it, again with the Ant Hill Trail sign on it.

Go through this, keeping parallel to the bottom of the valley and the stream. This is a good spot to see jays flitting between the tree cover, with buzzards and ravens overhead. At the end of this field, go through a small wooden gate onto a narrow path then through a small section of undergrowth into another field covered with bracken. Keep on the footpath through an overgrown section, over a wooden stile, staying with the Ant Hill Trail signs and parallel to the valley bottom, into a field with gorse. After 400 yards, go through a large metal gate with a wooden stile on the right. Cross this field, straight on the footpath for 300 yards then through another metal gateway, still on the Ant Hill Trail.

6 Now follow the contours of the field around to the right, heading towards the large, old redbrick barns and farmhouse, looking for a sunken gateway in the far hedge and not the obvious gate downhill in the left-hand corner. Go through the sunken gateway onto a farm track. Turn left onto the track, towards the farm buildings. Pass between the buildings, through a large metal gate with Church Farm on your left to meet Ruscombe Lane and head back towards the start. It is worth taking a moment here to see the remains of St Mary Magdalene Church before heading back.

With thanks to Mace Bryant for suggesting this walk. bridporttimes.co.uk | 49

Archaeology

ANCIENT DORSET TREASURES SERIES

NO.4: HOARDING ONE’S WEALTH Chris Tripp BA (Hons), MA, Community and Field Archaeologist

T

he relationship between metal detector users and archaeologists can be fraught on occasion but partnerships can produce results. Thirteen years ago, on the Isle of Purbeck, detectorists found Late Bronze Age axe heads in a field, probably brought to the surface by ploughing. They followed the law and reported the find to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and a team from Wessex Archaeology was called in to excavate in the area of the find.

It turned out that this was not just a scatter of objects but individual hoards buried in three pits dug within five metres of each other, with a fourth pit twenty metres away. There were around 300 axes. Dating to around 700BCE, these were typical ‘socketed’ axes, which means that the axe head was made hollow at the butt end where a wooden crooked handle fitted in, then lashed with the aid of a leather loop to secure it. At 10cm long they were small and decorated with a raised rib along the side, thus called ‘linear facetted axes’. None had been used. In fact they had not been worked after moulding, with some ‘flashes’ not ground away. Also they had been made with a high proportion of base metal, which would have made them brittle. Try cutting branches with these tools and they would have shattered! It was obvious that they were made not to use but to be buried.

Many such hoards have been found in the UK and Dorset is particularly rich in finds, with half a dozen having turned up, all Late Bronze Age. Other hoards also tend to be small, some having just a handful of axe heads and very rarely exceeding three figures. The Dorset find is unique.

Two postholes found close to the pits may indicate that there were timber markers, but if these items were buried to be hidden, why mark the spot? Not very safe if people were living in troubled times. Were they a 50 | Bridport Times | April 2020

Glevalex/Shutterstock

gift to the gods as a sacrifice? These first metal users perhaps sacrificed their most precious object, metal, as the highest gift they could bestow. The axe may have been important as an object, however hoards have been found with metal in the shape of small ox-hides too. Before the use of coins were these small hide replicas units of exchange?

It does seem obvious why hoards of coins would be buried: security in times of trouble. A massive hoard of 22,670 coins was found in a large pot at Nether Compton in 1989. Nearly all were small denomination, dating to c.330CE and minted in the east of the

Empire. For those interested in coins, they were Urbs Roma, Constantinopolis commemoratives and Gloria Exercitus Type in the names of Constantine I and his son. In 2013 a very similar hoard of low denomination coins was found at Seaton, Devon, of the same date and with a similar number, c.22,500. When the Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group were called in to excavate features indicated by earlier geophysics work at Nether Compton, they dated from the 1st century CE and thus were not of the same date as the hoard, although the deep ditch that was found could still have been visible at the time of the coins deposition.

The coins from both hoards were in mint condition and never seemed to have been used.

Why mint coins the other side of the Empire, transport them to Britain and then put them in the ground never to be used? Questions could also be asked of the Dorchester coin hoard found in 1936, the Okeford Fitzpaine silver hoard found in 1753 and the Fifehead Neville hoard of Roman jewellery found in 1902. As usual, archaeology turns up more questions than answers. dorsetdiggers.blogspot.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 51

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BONFIELD BLOCK-PRINTERS Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

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s you drive into the village of Thorncombe you can’t miss the house-cum-workshop of Cameron Short and Janet Tristram. Its stark black exterior, and eponymous hand-painted ‘Bonfield’ sign above the door stands boldly among the local stone of neighbouring houses.

Peering through the window I notice an ancient printing press and work table. Intrigued, I open the door and half expect the ring of an old bell to mark my arrival (it was once the local ‘Bonfield Stores’, named after its then-owner). I certainly feel as though I’m stepping back in time. Every house tells a story but this one is a tome. >

54 | Bridport Times | April 2020

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56 | Bridport Times | April 2020

Cameron, dressed in Old Town trousers and braces, a collarless shirt and cap, Janet in a waisted, dress coat over what looks like a deliciously soft muslin blouse, welcome Katharine and I into their home with warming mugs of tea by the fire. We’re seated at a trestle table in their day-room, heavy flagstones lay underfoot, polished by centuries of use. The mantelpiece is stripped back to the wood and throughout the room is a curated mix of furniture and paintings, each piece chosen for its pastoral or historic significance, and each one carrying its own story. All have found their place in a home lovingly returned to its original Georgian state.

Cameron and Janet bought the house at auction in 2013. A listed property, the house had suffered a fire and was a wreck. The flagstones were covered with concrete, while partition walls and endless stud-work covered the original architectural detail. It took Cameron a year — enlisting the help of his father who had experience in renovating houses as well as Nick Simco, a local carpenter and Gary Balman, stonemason — to strip back and repair the house. They had three very young children at the time at the time. It wasn’t an easy job but talking to Cameron it’s clear he’s not a man who does things by halves. The end result is a welcoming home that in

Cameron’s words ‘feeds into and reflects their work.’

The couple met in Berwick Street in London. Janet worked at the iconic Cloth House and Cameron worked in advertising but they both longed for the countryside.

Janet hails from New Zealand and was missing its wide open spaces while Cameron who grew up on a smallholding in Hampshire felt it was time to leave the fetters of a desk. Although the move, in Cameron’s words, gave him ‘both freedom and fear’. They moved to Marshwood in 2009 and Cameron laboured on building sites to feed his growing family. He was earning £250 a week and at night began to hand-carve lino printing blocks. Cameron approached the British wallpaper designer, Marthe Armitage, to ask if she would mentor him. Marthe is now 90 and known worldwide for her hand-drawn block-printed patterns. Her career has spanned more than half a century and from her Thames-side studio she produces simple, highly sort-after, hand-blocked patterns.

An inspirational but private person, no one thought Marthe would allow Cameron to study with her but his persistence paid off and she agreed to meet him.

Studying with Marthe, Cameron still needed to provide for his family. As Janet says, ‘It is so hard to change career mid-life.’ But the couple are adept at > bridporttimes.co.uk | 57

58 | Bridport Times | April 2020

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swimming against the tide and their determination to succeed as printers was rewarded. In 2011 Cameron was offered a Qest Scholarship which enabled him to study, two days a week with Marthe for a year. ‘I used the scholarship to pay myself £50 a day,’ says Cameron but what he learned with Marthe was in his words, ‘priceless.’ She helped him to develop his style, hone his skills and most importantly realise his ambition of making this long-forgotten craft an occupation.

Present day and the couple are accomplished artistcraftsmen, gouging and scooping into linoleum to create intricate, hand-crafted printing blocks for use on their 1904 press. The subsequent motifs, scenes and forms are brought to life on block-printed logos, fabrics, art prints, garments and wallpapers. Inspired by the West Dorset landscape and nearby sea, their beguiling images portray a retrospective narrative of bucolic life. In an age when the majority of designs originate on screen, Cameron and Janet draw everything by hand. ‘Cameron is a perfectionist,’ says Janet ‘while I am more whimsical.’

60 | Bridport Times | April 2020

Both appreciate the importance of making things by hand. Only in that altered, semi-conscious state can authentic creativity be found.

One of my favourites among their work is ‘Bloodlines’. A motif, hand-printed on to natural linen and sold by the metre. Reproduced in ochre or Venetian red, the print is a wry celebration of 18th century pastoral life. It depicts a gang of toiling peasants, penned in by a beautiful hawthorn hedge while just beyond the landed gentry indulge in sport and conversation. The detail is incredible. Closer inspection reveals the humorous lines of Dorset poet, William Barnes: a narky bull terrier barks “fretten worms” while a falconer on horseback remarks that the “zun mus rise”.

This fabric serves far more than mere purpose. It is to be enjoyed, revisited and pondered.

‘Shades of the Countryside’ is a double-width wallpaper, from an original graphite drawing by Cameron. As he explains on Bonfield’s Instagram feed: ‘I recently came across a field being ploughed by a >

bridporttimes.co.uk | 61

Image: Lucas Allen 62 | Bridport Times | April 2020

lone tractor. It struck me that not so very long ago the same job would have been done by a ploughing team comprising horses, a ploughman and a ploughboy - a more sociable, human arrangement.’ For many reasons the countryside has emptied out and is bedeviled by loneliness. It’s easy to forget all those who once worked the land. ‘Shades of the Countryside’ focuses on the silhouettes of eight figures reminiscent of those who would have once toiled in the fields and woods, among them the charcoal burner, poacher, mower, shepherdess and the ‘wise woman’, pedlar of hedgerow remedies.

The couple’s designs extend to printed cushions, lampshades and traditionally upholstered furniture.Janet is also a talented seamstress, designing and making handstitched coats that feature block-printed linings. Each coat takes five long days to produce. The Poacher’s Coat, for example, is hand-dyed and made from grey linen and wool herringbone, the lining adorned with block-printed poacher’s quarry. Or the hand-dyed, wool and linen men’s waistcoat that features a motif from the Songs of Somerset series, celebrating the exploits of song-hunter Cecil J. Sharp. A man who, in 1903, took to his bicycle and notated 1,600 folk songs from 350 singers.

Cameron and Janet are looking forward to

welcoming visitors to their workshop again, once life as we currently know it returns to a new version of normal.

As Janet says ‘when people visit they get the full idea of what we are about, they see the work, the endeavour that goes into it and the provenance of the pieces.’ The couple are currently working on a new series which focuses on ancient lost objects and their owners. As always, their work will tell a story; ‘I am interested in how objects from the past are lost and found,’ explains Janet, ‘it’s our response to the throwaway society of today. In the 18th century it would have been devastating to lose something, it might not have been worth a lot in monetary terms but would be semi-precious to the household. The idea is inspired by the things that we found when we were renovating the house, such as a porcelain egg that revealed itself after a storm and would have been used to trick a hen to sit.’

Cameron and Janet seem to share a symbiotic relationship with the house. They’ve cared for it, respected it and brought it back to life. In return, the house provides not only a home, but a nurturing creative space. Another meticulously detailed chapter carved into its history. bonfieldblockprinters.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 63

Food & Drink

NEW POTATOES & ASPARAGUS IN BUTTER & HERBS Gill Meller, River Cottage

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his recipe is based on the simple idea that butter and vegetables belong with each other, in the same way the shore belongs to the sea, the moon to the night, or a child to its mother. Try to find freshly dug new potatoes, and asparagus that’s been cut only a day or so before cooking – you’ll notice such a difference, in both flavour and texture. Be generous with the herbs, but don’t worry if you can’t find all the varieties listed below – a combination of mint and parsley alone will do fine.

Ingredients Serves 4

500g (1lb 2oz) new potatoes, cut into large bite-sized chunks 2 teaspoons fine salt 50g (1¾oz) butter 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 small bunch of parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped 1 small bunch of mint, leaves picked and finely chopped with a few leaves left whole small bunch of chives, finely chopped with a few left long small bunch of chervil, finely chopped with a few leaves left whole 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 24 asparagus spears, trimmed salt and freshly ground black pepper

64 | Bridport Times | April 2020

Method

1 Place the potatoes in a large pan. Cover generously with cold water and set over a high heat. Add the salt and bring the water to the boil. Cook the potatoes for 8–15 minutes (cooking time will vary according to the variety and freshness of the potatoes), until tender.

2 Drain the potatoes in a colander, then return them to the pan. Add the butter, half the olive oil and half the chopped herbs. Spoon over the vinegar, then season the potatoes really well with salt and plenty of pepper. Tumble everything together to rough up the potatoes slightly, which makes everything more delicious and buttery. Cover and keep warm.

3 Fill another pan with water and bring the water to the boil over a high heat. Add the asparagus spears and cook for 2–4 minutes (the cooking time will vary according to the age and size of the asparagus), until tender. Drain and return to the pan. Trickle over the remaining olive oil and season well.

4 Scatter the warm potatoes over a large serving platter. Arrange the asparagus over the top.

5 Finish the dish with the remaining chopped herbs, and a few whole ones, and bring to the table immediately.

From Time: a Year and a Day in the Kitchen by Gill Meller (Quadrille, £25) Photography: Andrew Montgomery gillmeller.com

bridporttimes.co.uk | 65

Food & Drink

Image: Matt Austin

SPRING SALAD OF POLLOCK AND ASPARAGUS

WITH WILD GARLIC AND SMOKED MILK DRESSING

T

Chris Onions, The Old Dairy Kitchen

hey say that March and April are the trickiest months to find high-quality, fresh local ingredients in the south west. I disagree. For me, it’s all about being a little creative, accepting that spring’s bounty hasn’t fully arrived and, as the days grow longer, stretching our wild legs and venturing outdoors for a forage.

For thousands of years we have preserved our foods for the leaner months. Before refrigeration and to prevent spoilage, we used, amongst other natural materials, salt and smoke to protect the raw ingredients, enhance flavour and keep our larders stocked. Preparing a well-stocked larder for the winter is to take back the power of our local food culture, reconnect to the seasons and feel a richness like no other.

This dish is a cautious step into spring, bringing together the first spears of asparagus from Dalwood, 66 | Bridport Times | April 2020

filled with vitality, lightly smoked line-caught pollock and punchy wild garlic. In the Old Dairy Kitchen we smoke the fish over oak from the farm; this whole process is great fun and definitely worth exploring.

Undyed, smoked white fish from the fishmonger is also perfect. The pollock can be substituted for other white fish.

Ingredients Serves 4

300g cold smoked pollock fillets, skin on 400ml whole milk 50ml water 1 bay leaf Small bunch parsley, stalks removed, leaves finely sliced Small bunch chives, finely chopped Small handful of wild garlic leaves, finely sliced 2 tsp grated or creamed horseradish

1 tsp Dijon mustard 2½ tbsp olive oil 12 asparagus spears, as fresh as possible 1 lemon, finely zested and juiced 1 tsp sugar Salt Optional

Wild garlic flowers, jack-by-the-hedge shoots, primroses, pennywort or other spring shoots.

Disclaimer: If using wild plants, it is of vital importance that you know exactly what you are eating!

Method

1 In a saucepan gently heat the milk, 50ml of water, bay and some parsley stalks to around 75⁰C. Don’t boil the milk or the fish will dry and lose its magic.

Once it feels hot to touch, add the fish and gently poach until just cooked; timings will depend on the thickness of your fish fillets but it should just flake apart when pressed with a fork after about 8 minutes. Once cooked, carefully remove the fillets and allow them to cool a little, then remove the skins

and flake into chunky pieces. Set aside.

2 Return the milk to the heat, simmer and reduce by half, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk catching on the bottom. Once reduced, strain out the herbs and add the horseradish, mustard and 1½ tbsp of olive oil and pulse up in a food processor or with a stick blender to create a rich dressing. Check the seasoning and add the lemon zest and a little lemon juice to taste. Add the parsley, chives and wild garlic. Keep warm.

3 The asparagus can be steamed or quickly blanched in salted water. However, I like to shave it thinly on the mandolin, lengthways. The crisp texture is as important as its delicious flavour. Do this at the last minute to prevent it drying.

4 To plate the dish, lightly dress the asparagus with the remaining olive oil, a small pinch of salt and a little lemon juice. Arrange on the plate then scatter over the poached fish and pour over the warm dressing, Be generous. Garnish with the little spring shoots and flowers. olddairykitchen.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 67

Food & Drink

Partnering with @VinsAlsace, IWSC is bringing together 4 industry leaders to select 12 Alsace wines for @prowein_tradefair. IWSC honorary chair, Steven Spurrier joins Roger Jones, Rebecca Palmer and Kelly Stevenson to select 12 wines from over 120 entries.

ALSACE FOR ALL SEASONS Steven Spurrier, Co-owner, Bride Valley Vineyard

T

he vineyards of Alsace occupy the northeastern corner of France between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine Valley, running along a narrow 110 kilometre stretch from Strasbourg in the north to Mulhouse in the south. The mountains offer protection from the wind and rain emanating from the north-west to the extent that Alsace has one of the driest climates in France – the historic wine town Colmar has the same rainfall as Perpignan on the Spanish border – with sunny days lasting long into the autumn. The soils are incredibly varied, with a mix of limestone, silt, clay, sandy-gravel, sandstone, granite and volcanic running though the region. The grape varieties planted are Chasselas for everyday ‘carafe’ wines, Gewürztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Blanc (also known as Klevner), Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sylvaner.

In contrast to other regions in France, the wines of Alsace are recognised not by their village or geographical 68 | Bridport Times | April 2020

origin but by their grape variety so, whereas there are 100 appellations in Burgundy, there is just one in Alsace: Appellation Alsace Controlée.

While this might seem simple, and all Alsace wines are bottled in the tall ‘flute’ as in Germany, this is far from the case, as the wines, except for Pinot Noir, vary from bone dry to fully sweet (with a 1-5 code on the back label) and the variety of soils produces a myriad of styles. The vineyards, mostly planted on hillsides facing east and south at an altitude of 200-450 metres, have been minutely classified to reveal 50 Grand Crus and work is almost finished to recognise over 100 Premier Crus. Such wines, although never too expensive, are only to be found in specialist wine merchants. Alsace in general used to be known as ‘the wine merchant’s wine’ for the buyers bought them, couldn’t sell them and so drank them themselves. Today the region is on a roll, both quality and value being better than ever, and the

UK is one of its best export markets.

One of the region’s great successes has been the Cremant d’Alsace, a sparkling wine made from the Pinot varieties, sometimes with a little Riesling. With the regularity and warmth of the climate bringing fruit ripeness and freshness, it is perfect as an aperitif or with light dishes. The most approachable of the grape varieties is Sylvaner, sadly being replaced in the vineyards in favour of the more flavourful Riesling and Gewürztraminer. It has a lightly spicy fruit with most examples best drunk young. The least planted and perhaps the most entrancing grape is Muscat (both the Muscat de Frontignan and Muscat d’Ottonel), whose delicate, slightly ‘musky’ aroma, is highly prized.

The Pinot family does very well: Pinot Blanc is much used for Cremant but makes a lovely fresh pear/ apple wine with a bit more florality than Chardonnay; the increasingly planted Pinot Noir, in the old days producing a full-coloured Rosé, is now responsible for some stunning reds with capacity for ageing; and the Pinot Gris, previously known as Tokay d’Alsace, is richly mouth-filling and about as far from the everyday Pinot Grigio as can be imagined.

This leaves Riesling which is undoubtedly the King of Alsace as well as being recognised by many as the finest of all white grapes for its blend of precision, depth and versatility. The style, except for the late-harvest wines, is generally dry and, even if in the richer style, its natural acidity lifts the finish. Finally, Gewürztraminer, referred to as the Emperor for its grandiose, perfumed and often exotic bouquet and richly-textured flavours, is always attractive even at entry level prices, and memorable at the top end.

I was recently in the region after too long an absence as a guest of Vins d’Alsace and the International Wine & Spirit Competition (of which, in its 51st year, I am Honorary Chairman) to select, along with three colleagues from different parts of the UK wine trade, 12 wines from a blind tasting of 120. These were to be presented at Prowein in Germany, the world’s largest wine fair, by Anne Kriebehl MW in a series of Master Classes. This reminded me just how marvellous these wines are, many to be found at affordable prices in a wine merchant near you. bridevalleyvineyard.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 69

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Body & Mind

72 | Bridport Times | April 2020

AN AWESOME WAVE

H

Jane Fox, Yogaspace

atha, Rocket, Hot, Kundalini, Flow, Iyengar, Ashtanga: there are so many different labels attached to yoga that it becomes mesmerising. They all stem from the same ancient philosophy started 5,000 years ago in Northern India. They are many threads of the same weave. In the early 20th century yoga masters began to travel to the west and began the evolution of modern western yoga as we know it. As the western teachers shared their experience of yoga within their teaching practice, these different schools were born.

Amongst Bridport’s delights is a wealth of yoga teachers from all schools of yoga. I will be talking to several of them to learn about some of these different threads. Here I talk to Bryony Henderson who teaches Scaravelli-inspired classes with a creativity and joy that embodies the Scaravelli quote, ‘practising yoga is like being on a body holiday’.

‘My grandmother started teaching me yoga when I was 12 but I never met Vanda. She died in 1999. I can’t be an authority on Vanda Scaravelli’s yoga. The only person who could truly teach Scaravelli yoga is Scaravelli herself. This was an important element within her approach to teaching yoga. She taught with kindness and compassion and didn’t look like the kind of strapping, muscular teacher the yoga world at that time was used to. For a start, she was a woman and, to the eye, aged, frail and vulnerable as an old bird. She started teaching in her 50s after studying with B.K.S. Iyengar and kept on until her 90s.

‘What Vanda bought to yoga was the antithesis of so many previously strict yoga routines where students had to copy and replicate. She almost rebelled against this impossible task to replicate what the teacher does and instead created a series of conditions for her students to work with and apply to their practice.

This, in essence, gave each student permission to fall in love and blossom with the yoga that they were born to practice and ultimately live. The conditions centred around waves of breath up the spine and gravity, with a big chunk of ‘just the right attitude’.

‘Her compassion was the result of her getting ‘herself ’ out of the way and becoming a conduit for the waves of joy and the profound effects of unfurling and undoing

tensions in the body. The effect of gravity on us was a vital part of her teaching. It was almost as if she could see the invisible forces that pull deep into the Earth and weight us. Rather than letting gravity drag us down and cripple the body, her methods gave the body the ultimate freedom - authentic movement. She knew there was a magic and mystery that we hold within ourselves and that can only be really explored and known with time, patience, practice, compassion and fun.

‘Do not kill the instinct of the body for the glory of the pose. Do not look at your body like a stranger but adopt a friendly approach towards it. Watch it, listen to it, observe its needs, its requests, and even have fun.‘ (Vanda Scaravelli) ‘It’s often said by those who teach with Vanda in their hearts that their yoga classes are like ‘coming home’. I certainly felt that when working with Diane Long, John Stirk and Marc Woolford. They are teaching with their own enquiries, their passions worn clearly on their sleeves and with a huge respect to the forces of nature and indeed the earth.

‘I’ve found my passion’s fire in working with the seasons and the magic of the every day. I work less with the eastern traditions in my teaching and more with the culture of this land that I inhabit. I like to find practices that can develop in the climate and location we are living in, using the nature and specific moments in life to inspire us for constant gentle transformations.

‘Scaravelli said the body blossoms and I find there are moments that it does - without force, without strain and often without pain. Kindness is always an integral part in my teaching. I often say to treat yourself as you would treat your best friend. When you do this, your body begins to trust that all is well, that it’s not going to have to be put into extreme tension and it can actively relax.

And it begins to open. It produces the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin and positive change is not only more likely but, when we really listen to the body and understand it, there is a chance for it to thrive and bloom.’

Bryony normally teaches at The Glow Collective in Bridport.

Public and private classes are now available online. bryonyhenderson@gmail.com and @yogawithbryony yogaspacebridport.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 73

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Interiors

MAGNOLIA

F

Annabelle Hunt, Colour Consultant, Bridport Timber and Flooring

or those who prefer pale interiors to dark or more colourful schemes, the good news is that we are seeing a return to pale, warm neutrals. Even those who love colourful interiors have spaces in their homes where a more neutral scheme might be called for, if only to serve as punctuation between rooms. Rather than the cooler greys that have dominated for the last few years, there has been a decided shift towards warmer, more organic neutrals. The earliest use of ‘Magnolia’ as a colour name-dates from about 1880, when it was described as a ‘tint of cream-colour’. I often wonder at this time of year how it is that something with a namesake as gorgeous as a magnolia tree in full bloom has become so reviled in decorating terms. Beloved by developers up and down the land, since the 1950s Magnolia has been the ‘standard’ colour of household paint. Creating a successful neutral interior, however, requires more subtlety than simply slapping a coat of Magnolia or Brilliant White on the walls.

Light-filled spaces which are used mostly during the day usually work best in light, airy shades but, even if you find paint charts completely baffling, don’t be tempted to just plump for safe white.

Whilst a minimalist white-on-white scheme can look absolutely stunning, it can feel a little chilly and unwelcoming. If you’re aiming for a simple, understated room with a relaxed and comfortable feel, the trick is to opt for something less stark than brilliant white yet without too much of a yellow undertone, or you’ll be in danger of running back into magnolia territory. Subtle shades of offwhite, ivory and bone have an unfussy simplicity and, used together, result in a layered, tonal look.

Matching the woodwork to the wall colour creates a calm and cohesive look but otherwise try to avoid everything being too matching and co-ordinated. Adding something black into the scheme will pull other dark details out in the room and the overall result will immediately feel less bland.

By using natural materials and different textures, the contrast of rough and smooth, you can begin to create really interesting interiors. Layering textiles in a room will always add softness and comfort. The addition of a throw to a sofa, plump cushions to a sunny window seat or a linen cloth on a table is an opportunity to add both texture and colour to a scheme. A mix of new and antique or vintage furniture with the patina of use, aged mirrors which softly reflect light, unbleached fabrics and sun-bleached shells, feathers or seed heads, all add visual interest. Painted panelling, natural woods in differing shades, darker floors with lighter pieces of furniture, such as a pale caned chair or an old scrubbed pine table, will all work together without fighting each other. By allowing your interiors to evolve gently over time, filled with things that mean something to you, whether that’s an heirloom passed down through generations or a piece of dry seaweed collected on a wintery walk, you will create a truly individual home. bridporttimber.co.uk

76 | Bridport Times | April 2020

Farrow & Ball - Old White and Eating Room Red bridporttimes.co.uk | 77

Gardening

ASPARAGUS AND BEETROOT Will Livingstone, WillGrow Asparagus officianalis

Asparagus heralds the change in flavour from winter’s earthiness to spring’s verdant freshness. The first sight of it never fails to excite and it is synonymous with spring. With the shortest season of all vegetables and an unmistakable delicate flavour, the commitment required to grow it, in my opinion, is totally worth it. A good asparagus bed can be with you for 20 years or more. As one of the only perennial vegetable crops, committing your precious space for that length of time is the first thing to consider. Asparagus is usually purchased as one-year old crowns and requires a further two years of growth before picking can commence. This time is essential, as it allows the crowns to fully establish before you start harvesting the spears. If you happen to ‘accidentally’ snap a couple off during this two-year period, then it doesn’t hurt to give it a taste test!

If you have clay or wet soil it is worth planting in raised beds, as asparagus requires free-draining conditions for good growth. Sandy soil is preferable; they really don’t like getting their feet wet. To plant, dig a trench 30cm wide and 20cm deep. Work some wellrotted manure into the bottom of the trench. Make a 10cm-high ridge of soil down the centre of each trench.

Place the crowns on top of this ridge, spacing them 40cm apart within the row. Spread the roots evenly and replace the rest of the soil, leaving the bud tips just visible. Allow 50cm between rows and stagger the plants between adjacent rows. Water in and mulch with good quality compost.

After your patient two-year wait, check the asparagus bed every morning for new growth from about midApril – it may seem obsessive but the spears can put on six inches of growth overnight and are best if eaten straight away. If they have been left too long, the spears can become woody. Cut the spears just below the soil surface, allowing room for the next round. Give yourself a rough eight-week picking period and stick to it. Keep an eye out for asparagus beetle and pick off, if present.

Maintenance is laborious; they have shallow delicate 78 | Bridport Times | April 2020

roots, meaning they cannot be hoed, so regular handweeding is required. Allow the asparagus to grow its fennel-like fronds during the latter part of the summer so it can photosynthesise, and then allow the foliage to die right back before each cutting down to soil level in the autumn.

Beta vulgaris

Beetroot is one of my favourite crops to sow in spring.

Growing strong all the way through the season, weight for weight, it is the most plentiful crop you can grow.

With its deliciously sweet, earthy flavour it should be a regular feature in any vegetable patch and, because of its brilliant versatility, colour and unrelenting performance in the garden, it finds its way onto my seed order every year.

The ‘nose-to-tail’ food philosophy should apply to

vegetables as well as meat, so aim to use every bit. The stems and leaves are as tasty as the root, so why waste them? The leaves are delicious used as you would chard or spinach and, with the help of sugar and citric acid, the stems can be turned into fizzy laces.

I sow beetroot in two different ways. Direct sowing beetroot works very well in the warmer days of spring, which I do into a shallow drill in a well-prepared seedbed. Each ‘seed’ contains multiple plants, so spacing the seeds two inches apart does the trick. Some people soak beetroot seeds overnight because it supposedly aids germination, however I’ve never needed to. In early spring, I sow beetroot into trays, allowing two per module, growing-on undercover ready for planting out in April.

You should aim to harvest them at about golf ball size, although some varieties stay tender when left to grow on. Thinning out larger beets with a twist, not a pull, will

leave smaller beets to grow on without disturbance.

My favourite varieties are: • Cylindra: cylindrical long red beet, good flavour, dark red flesh. This beet does not go woody when it gets large, remains sweet and is generally very delicious.

• Golden Detroit: this variety grows slower and smaller than red varieties but looks beautiful on the plate and has good bolt resistance.

• Chioggia: traditional Italian ‘bullseye’ beet, rosy pink skin, white flesh with pink circles. It grows very well in the south-west and, when sliced thinly, looks amazing in raw salads.

• Detroit Globe: a smooth-skinned classic red beet that gets to a good size without going woody. willgrow.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 79

Gardening

80 | Bridport Times | April 2020

ARE TREES THE KEY TO THE FUTURE?

I

Charlie Groves, Groves Nurseries

have just finished watching an interesting mini-series on Channel 4 about how technology might help save us from the mess we seem to have got this world into.

The series was presented by Kevin McCloud and, in it, three people were sent around the world to see how robots and computers and other tech can tackle such things as waste, food shortages and, of course, the build-up of carbon in our atmosphere. It appealed greatly to my ‘inner geek’ which, I’ll be honest, is not very inner and it reminded me of the good old days of the fantastic BBC show, Tomorrow’s World.

Whilst I can see how technology will be a great help in lots of ways, I can’t help thinking it’s not going to be enough to get us off the hook when it comes to climate change.

Most of the ‘technology’ we need has actually been around since before humans got too big for their boots and started messing around with the ecosystem. One of the biggest weapons in our arsenal to beat climate change is the tree. >

Cloutsham Ball Pollard Oak, Paul Newman bridporttimes.co.uk | 81

Nettedina Silver Mist, Paul Newman 82 | Bridport Times | April 2020

The great thing about trees is that they solve lots of problems at the same time. First of all, who doesn’t love a walk in the woods? I’m a great fan of camping and there is nothing better than a campsite set in a lovely native woodland. If camping isn’t your thing then just going for a walk in the woods is wonderful. I grew up on the nursery in Bridport but I spent many a happy Saturday at my grandparent’s farm near Netherbury. The best days were those spent in the woods around the farm. I probably shouldn’t say this but I truly believe that one of Dorset’s best kept secrets is the wood on top on Langdon Hill, the most amazing ancient woodland with fantastic climbing trees.

So, trees create a lovely environment for us to enjoy but even more importantly they provide essential habitat for thousands of native species. The 2016 State of Nature report showed that over half of the 1285 species recorded were in decline; worse than that, one in ten of our woodland-dependant species are in danger of extinction. There are over 2000 species that depend on oak for part of their lifecycle, but it’s not just the birds and bugs that need the trees, humans do as well. As I sit in my office in the first week of March it’s still raining, the river at the end of the nursery is very high and Winterbourne Abbas is under water again. It’s the end (hopefully) of one of the wettest winters (and autumns) that I can remember and maybe, just maybe, it’s something to do with the climate change that we are undergoing right now. To help combat this, trees act as a great carbon sink. They take up carbon and can store it for thousands of years in the case of some of the real old timers such as oak and yew. The older the tree the more carbon it absorbs, so we need to get planting trees now in order to establish native species and then look after them.

To really make a difference we have got to increase our tree planting substantially. The Woodland Trust has recommended that England needs to plant 10,000 hectares of trees a year by 2025 (in 2018 we planted 1,420); that’s a lot of trees!

So what can we do? The simplest thing to do is to plant a tree.

They come in all shapes and sizes. Staff at your local garden centre will be able to advise on the best variety for your garden. You could hook up with a local tree-planting campaign. Bridport has its very own tree-planting group who will always be looking for volunteers on tree-planting days. As a business we have decided to put the two together and for every tree that is bought from Groves this year we will donate another tree to the Tree Planting Group so we can plant twice as many trees in 2020. It’s called ‘Buy One, Get One Tree!’

Let’s be honest, even trees and tech won’t really get us off the hook. We still need to reduce emissions and make better choices but trees are a very nice place to start!

For more information on the great things that trees can do head to the Woodland Trust website. woodlandtrust.org.uk grovesnurseries.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 83

Legal

CHANGES TO EMPLOYER’S RESPONSIBILITIES Sarah Young, Porter Dodson Solicitors

Puhhha/Shutterstock

W

hether you already employ people or are about to take on your first employee, keeping up to date with what you must do as an employer is tricky, not least because, just as you get your head around something, the law changes! This April there are a few things coming up which employers need to know about and some steps they need to take to prepare.

Most employers will know that employees are entitled to a written statement setting out their key terms of employment. As it stands, that statement only has to be provided within two months of the start date. From 6th April, that changes so that all employees and workers must be given the statement by day one. As well as that, the list of things which need to be included has grown.

In addition to the normal terms such as pay rates and job title, employers will need to include the following: • Normal working hours, including the times when the employee is required to work, whether it is variable and, if so, how. If you need flexibility from staff or use zero hours contracts, careful wording is likely to be needed here.

• Any benefits including anything non-monetary – think free meals, use of facilities etc.

• Probationary periods, their duration and any conditions.

• Paid leave entitlement, for example, sick pay, maternity 84 | Bridport Times | April 2020

pay, adoption leave. You might not have dealt with these things before but did you know there are statutory rates which have to be paid come what may?

• Training which is going to be provided and whether it is mandatory. This could be tricky if you aren’t organised.

Other important changes from April this year include: • A change in the way that holiday pay is calculated for those who don’t have a set salary. Generally speaking, current employers have to take an average pay rate from the 12 weeks before holiday is taken to calculate the amount to pay. This period is being extended to 52 weeks. Hopefully it will mean seasonal variations are averaged out.

• Parental bereavement leave is set to become law.

Parents who lose a child under 18 or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy will have the right to two weeks’ leave. As ever, there are rules on how this can be taken but it is leave which must be paid at a set rate.

Employers should look at what they have in place and see if it needs to be updated so that they are compliant with the new requirements. porterdodson.co.uk

We’re all about being there for you when required

When things go wrong at work, we can help you: • Employee rights and tribunals • Redundancy • HR Advice Talk to Sarah Young sarah.young@porterdodson.co.uk

21 South Street, Bridport T: 01308 555630 E: info@porterdodson.co.uk

www.porterdodson.co.uk

Philosophy

TECHNOLOGY Kelvin Clayton, Philosophy in Pubs

Y

ou are probably reading this in good oldfashioned print form. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century was revolutionary, a new piece of technology which enabled the mass production of books and the rapid dissemination of knowledge. Most of us would probably regard this use of technology to be a good thing. But what about modern means of disseminating knowledge?

What about electronic forms of text distributed (often for free and with little control) on the internet? What about technology in general? Bearing in mind the ever-growing centrality of technology to our daily lives, can or should technology be ethically neutral? This was the question discussed at the February meeting of the Bridport Philosophy in Pubs group.

Much of this discussion danced around what is termed ‘the neutrality thesis’, the claim that technology is a neutral instrument that can be put to good or bad use by its users. This is often expressed with statements such as, ‘guns don’t kill people, people do’. So, from this perspective, the actual piece of technology (whether it be a weapon, a printing press, the internet or a social media app) is, in and of itself, ethically neutral. Ethics only concerns the way the technology is actually used.

My concern with this approach is the obvious fact that guns did not develop themselves. They were developed, and their development constantly refined, by people – people who had some end or purpose in mind. In other words, technology is developed in order to achieve or do something, and this goal must encompass an ethical stance. By accepting the claim that an actual piece of technology is ethically neutral we are in danger of removing ethical considerations from its development. Even if a particular scientific discovery or process was uncovered by mistake or as part of an ongoing series of experiments, say the

86 | Bridport Times | April 2020

discovery that nuclear reactions can be used and harnessed to release energy, how this knowledge is used, and the consequences of its use, must be an ethical consideration.

There are, though, wider aspects to the ethical dimension of technology. One concerns the political and economic ends that technology can bring about, and the power it can give to a small and unelected group of people. For example, financial markets are now largely run by computer algorithms – algorithms designed to generate wealth for a very small group of people. Not only does this wealth concentrate a great deal of power in the hands of a particular group of people but also a small unforeseen event could cause a reaction that brings down the entire global economy – an event that would affect us all. Another aspect concerns our social and cultural activities: the extent to which technologies such as social media have the power to change social norms and embody new norms; the degree to which these technologies can directly influence our perception or understanding of the world. Up until very recently new norms have developed slowly. They have evolved. Those that have proved useful have been retained, those that haven’t have been lost. Is there a danger that this evolution of social norms could enter a chaotic state?

____________________________________________ Fourth Wednesday of the month 7.30pm Bridport Philosophy in Pubs The George Hotel, South Street

Anyone can attend and propose a topic for discussion.

Attending the discussion is free and there is no need for any background knowledge of philosophy. All that’s required is an open mind and a desire to examine issues more closely than usual. For further details, email Kelvin Clayton at kelvin.clayton@icloud.com

____________________________________________

ee gr

tA Le d A choice of three modern industrial units which after phenomenal demand were all let within a week

Literature

LITERARY REVIEW Anne Morrison, The Bookshop

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline Publishing, April 2020) £20 Bridport Times reader price of £17, The Bookshop, South Street

‘In the 1580s. a couple living in Henley Street, Stratford, had three children: Susanna, then Hamnet and Judith, who were twins.

The boy, Hamnet, died in 1596, aged eleven.

Four years or so later, the father wrote a play called Hamlet.’ (O’Farrell) Maggie O’Farrell admits to an enduring fascination with this rare historical fact about the life of Shakespeare. Inventing a tale from a snippet of information, without ever giving a name to the father (the playwright), she imagines a fictional life for her cast of characters.

Taking place in provincial and rural 16th century England (Stratford and its environs), the story gives wonderful descriptions of the farmed and forested landscape. Rural communities used the countryside to support and supplement their lives, having knowledge of plants and their healing properties as well as an understanding of animals. Agnes, the central mother character, grew up near the forest, gaining insight and country wisdom from her own mother and brother, abilities frequently perceived by others as akin to sorcery.

Her hostile mother-in-law describes her as, ‘this elf, this sorceress, this forest sprite… [who has] bewitched and ensnared her boy.’

On meeting her future husband, ‘Latin boy’, as her brother calls him, Agnes uses her hands to convey her attraction and acknowledgement of their potential together. ‘You, the hands said to him, I choose you.’ She quickly recognises a different kind of mind to her own and loves him for it despite her own illiteracy. She sees him, ‘…throwing out words and words and more words into the greenery’ and when asked what she sees in him, she says to her brother, ‘That [he] had more hidden away inside [him]’ than anyone else she’d ever met.

Their life together is never an easy one and we are shown the hard work it takes to live a decent, healthy 88 | Bridport Times | April 2020

life in a small town. The birth of Agnes’ first child, Susanna, takes place alone and in accord with her deeply held rural convictions. Later, the twins (Hamnet and Judith) arrive in a confusing and distressing delivery managed by her new family and their different customs around childbirth. (Note that in the 16th century, the names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable.)

Over time the husband’s restlessness increases and his refusal to accept his lot as a glove-maker in his unsympathetic father’s business makes for on-going family conflict. Agnes recognises her husband’s misery and frustration and his departure for London becomes inevitable, if difficult. He rarely returns to Stratford throughout their married life. Hints and intimations of his future, that have been glimpsed through the book, are now brought into focus.

The causes of the tragic death of the boy Hamnet create an interesting, historically very plausible, narrative digression. However, at a deeper level, the substance of the tale rests firmly in the shifting nuances of the characters’ emotions. This is not so much a story about the death of Shakespeare’s son, rather an investigation into two people trying, and perhaps succeeding, to reach an understanding of each other’s desires, ambitions and losses. We are shown Agnes’ own terrible grief and her struggle to understand and realise her husband’s sorrow.

They both come to believe, that ‘Hamnet [was] the pin holding them together…[That] without him they would all fragment and fall apart, like a cup shattered on the floor…’ Ultimately Agnes sees and appreciates her husband’s grief expressed in a very different, though no less powerful, version of sorrow and remembrance; he has written a play called Hamlet. dorsetbooks.com

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Literature

EXTRACT

THE UNOFFICIAL COUNTRYSIDE Richard Mabey, (Little Toller Books), ÂŁ12

The earth

In a stretch of canal near my home there was a steel narrow-boat moored for most of the spring and summer. It had been used for dredging and was full of a tangled mass of silt, beer cans and bankside vegetation. No-one seemed concerned about moving it and by mid-summer it was like a floating window-box, sprouting sharp green blades of yellow iris and great water grass, bur-marigold and the pink flower-spikes of redleg.

Soil will find its way anywhere and give plants a chance of beginning. It gets blown as dust between the stones in walls, wiped off shoes into the cracks in pavements. I have even seen plants growing precariously along the bumper-rail of a canal cruiser. This was no derelict boat. The owner himself had laid this wellwatered seedbed by just a few too many bumps into the side.

The earth, like so much else in the built-up areas, is rarely left in peace. Even when it is not actually concreted over, it is in a state of constant upheaval. A row of back-to-backs may be bulldozed down, the ground allowed to go wild for a year or two, then be rolled flat for a trunk road, and finally neatly hoed round the edges for the borough council’s dahlia beds. In rubbish tips the ground is often worked

90 | Bridport Times | April 2020

over every few months. Soil is not for growing things in built-up areas. It is an allpurpose packaging material. You can sink foundations in it or cover up coffins.

It is just earth, not the earth.

It would seem a dismal prospect for any living creature that depends on a settled home and a regular food supply. Yet such is the variety and rigorous economy of natural life that few nesting sites or food sources go untapped for long, and even these turbulent patches of ground have their own thriving communities. One summer a colony of sand martins cashed-in on a temporary sandbank which had been raised by a huge roadworks in Middlesex. The contractors were building a roundabout on a busy arterial road that ran up a hill covered with a light sandy soil. They had cut into the hill and exposed a face about 20 yards long and 10 feet high. This operation, I suppose, was complete in February. By mid-April, about a dozen pairs of these sleek brown birds, one of the very first visitors to arrive in this country from Africa, were starting to excavate their two-feet-deep nesting tunnels. To them this bank, about as secure as a sand-castle on a busy beach, was as good accommodation as the dry cliffs that are their natural habitat. Towards the end of June I would watch the parent birds ferrying food to their young from my Greenline, which passed within yards of the bank. Then, one evening in July, the young were out, flickering like ticker tape above the traffic jams. Two weeks later the bank was levelled off and planted with grass. I never found out whether this timing was an act of kind-heartedness by the builders or just a happy accident.

It seemed a tiny miracle whichever it was, this home for a season in a substance that is a symbol for change and insecurity.

But it is the plant world that has evolved the most resourceful adaptations to these disturbed and transient habitats. Consider for a moment the qualities a plant needs to thrive in these conditions. It must, first and foremost, be a quick grower.

If it is to survive it must have reached some sort of maturity before the parkkeeper’s hoe or earth-shifting machinery reach it. This may mean it has developed an intricate root system, beyond the reach of either, from which new plants can grow. Or it may produce huge numbers of seeds which germinate quickly and swamp any competitors. The seeds may have techniques for travelling long distances, or be capable of surviving dormantly under the soil for generations.

When a new stretch of earth is opened up it is a gang of these fast-moving, hardy, opportunist plants which get in first. They are an astonishing group, with some of the most sophisticated and ingenious techniques for survival in the whole of the natural world. We, alas, have written them off as weeds. That they smother our garden flowers and interfere with our food crops there is no doubt. But there’s a well-known saying that a weed is just a flower in the wrong place. When it is in the right place, and keeping out of trouble, a weed can begin to look like a respectable plant again, with a more than usually fascinating life-story to tell.

To buy The Unofficial Countryside visit littletoller.co.uk/shop. Little Toller are able to continue sending books during the health crisis with free postage.

Image: Š The Estate of Mary Newcomb

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