Sherborne Times November 2020

NOVEMBER 2020 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

STIRRING THINGS UP with Mat Follas of Bramble Restaurant

sherbornetimes.co.uk

Greerascris/Shutterstock

WELCOME

M

uted landscapes, leaden skies, socks and central heating.

We find ourselves now drawn to places of comfort and nourishment; an agenda invariably led by our stomachs.

Fortunate then that Sherborne is brimming with entrepreneurial providers of food and drink – many of whom are counted among the country’s finest by the likes of Michelin, Condé Nast, The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards and Harpers Wine. Equally, while it might be a source of shame that they should even need to exist, the humbling endeavours of Sherborne Food Bank, Community Kitchen and the recent Stop the Rumble campaign are also a source of resounding pride. It should not come as a surprise then, to see Sherborne’s culinary ranks bolstered further by the arrival of chef Mat Follas and his restaurant, Bramble. Katharine and Jo follow Mat through hedgerows, fields and woodland, emerging with ingredients for supper and the story behind Sherborne’s newest restaurant.

Keep well.

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

CONTRIBUTORS Bill Bennette Sherborne Scribblers

Sarah Hitch The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre @SanctuaryDorset @margaretbalfourbeautycentre thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk

Elisabeth Bletsoe Sherborne Museum @SherborneMuseum sherbornemuseum.co.uk

James Hull The Story Pig @thestorypig thestorypig.co.uk

Richard Bromell ASFAV Charterhouse Auctioneers and Valuers @CharterhouseAV charterhouse-auction.com

Hugh Lambert Sea Shanty Spirit shantyspirit.com @ShantySpirit

Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury

Mike Burks The Gardens Group @TheGardensGroup thegardensgroup.co.uk

Lucy Lewis Dorset Mind @DorsetMind dorsetmind.uk

Editorial assistant Helen Brown

David Burnett The Dovecote Press dovecotepress.com

Chris Loder MP @chrisloder chrisloder.co.uk

Paula Carnell @paula.carnell paulacarnell.com

Sasha Matkevich The Green Restaurant @greensherborne greenrestaurant.co.uk

Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editor Sadie Wilkins Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP

Social media Jenny Dickinson Illustrations Elizabeth Watson elizabethwatsonillustration.com Print Stephens & George Distribution team Barbara and David Elsmore Nancy Henderson The Jackson Family David and Susan Joby Christine Knott Sarah Morgan Mary and Roger Napper Alfie Neville-Jones Mark and Miranda Pender Claire Pilley Ionas Tsetikas

Dr Hannah Al-Temimi MRCVS Kingston Veterinary Group @TheKingstonVets kingstonvets.co.uk

Cindy Chant Sherborne Walks @sherbornewalks sherbornewalks.co.uk Malcolm Cockburn Sherborne Literary Society @SherborneLitSoc sherborneliterarysociety.com Ali Cockrean @AliCockrean alicockrean.co.uk Gillian M Constable DWT Sherborne Group @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

01935 315556 @sherbornetimes info@homegrown-media.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk Sherborne Times is printed on an FSCÂŽ and EU Ecolabel certified paper. It goes without saying that once thoroughly well read, this magazine is easily recycled and we actively encourage you to do so.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without prior permission from Sherborne Times.

4 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Mark Newton-Clarke MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Partnership @swanhousevet newtonclarkevet.com Simon Partridge SP Fit @spfitsherborne spfit-sherborne.co.uk

David Copp

Cath Rapley Lodestone Property @LodestoneProp lodestoneproperty.co.uk

Nathan Cracknell ReBorne Community Church rebornechurch.org

Mike Riley Riley’s Cycles rileyscycles.co.uk

Rosie Cunningham

Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom Glencairn House Clinic glencairnhouse.co.uk doctortwrobinson.com

Jemma Dempsey

1 Bretts Yard Digby Road Sherborne Dorset DT9 3NL

Eleanor Milton Colour Consultant eleanormilton.co.uk

James Flynn Milborne Port Computers @MPortComputers computing-mp.co.uk Andrew Fort B.A. (Econ.)

CFPcm Chartered MCSI APFS Fort Financial Planning ffp.org.uk Andy Foster Raise Architects @raisearchitects raisearchitects.com Annie Gent Sherborne Prep School @Sherborneprep sherborneprep.org Tim Gibson The Writing Hut thewritinghut.co.uk Craig Hardaker Communifit @communifit communifit.co.uk Andy Hastie Cinematheque cinematheque.org.uk

Steve Shield Sherborne Town Council sherborne-tc.gov.uk Val Stones @valstones bakerval.com Emma Tabor & Paul Newman @paulnewmanart paulnewmanartist.com Peter Tait @PeterTaitwrites petertait.org Sally Welbourn Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Veronica Wilton veronicawilton.com Anne-Marie Worth & Emma Batstone Mogers Drewett Solicitors @mogersdrewett md-solicitors.co.uk

56 8

Market Research

NOVEMBER 2020 48 Antiques

102 Legal

12 Art & Culture

50 Gardening

104 Finance

18 Community

56 MAT FOLLAS

106 Tech

22 Family

64 Food & Drink

108 Short Story

34 Wild Dorset

72 Animal Care

110 Literature

40 On Foot

78 Body & Mind

112 Crossword

44 History

92 Home

114 Pause for Thought

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 5

SHERBORNE INDIES YOUR TOWN'S INDEPENDENT RETAILERS AND BUSINESSES

ABACUS FINANCIAL OPTIONS

Johanna Kemp, your local independent mortgage and insurance specialist. Helping with mortgages, equity release and protection.

ANNA STILES POTTERY

AVALON DISTILLERY

Regular lessons, short courses, wheel throwing and hand building.

Artisan distillery based in Cerne Abbas. Producers of the award-winning Viper Gin and, more recently, hand sanitiser.

One-off lessons with a finish and glaze service.

07742 408528 annastilespottery.com

info@viperspirit.co.uk @viperlondondrygin @viper_gin viperspirit.co.uk

COMMUNIFIT

ECCO GELATO

FLY JESSE

Exercise for all age groups and abilities.

Gelato and more, delivered to your door. Order by 8pm Thursday for delivery Saturday.

New winter baby & children’s clothes just in!

07813 785355 jk@abacusfinancialoptions.co.uk abacusfinancialoptions.co.uk

Personal training, group training, outdoor bootcamps, running groups, over 50s exercise classes, charity events, mobile gym.

07791 308773 @communifit info@communifit.co.uk communifit.co.uk

Long Street, Sherborne DT9 3BU 01935 813659 philippa@ecco-gelato.co.uk @EccoGelato @eccogelatosherborne ecco-gelato.co.uk

@shoplocalinsherborne #shoplocalinsherborne

The only baby shop in town.

Fly Jesse’s focus is on the artisan, organic & handmade.

37 Cheap Street, Sherborne DT9 3PU @flyjesseonline flyjesse.co.uk

GODDEN & CURTIS

MELBURY GALLERY

Television and audio, sales and repairs.

We are a bright and colourful shop selling a wonderful individual collection of clothes.

Lots of new clothing, jewellery and accessories arriving.

Greenhill, Sherborne DT9 4EW

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN

OLIVER’S

Open 7 days a week for eating in and takeaway.

Delivery service available for birthday cakes and buffet lunches.

Orders now being taken for Christmas cakes and mince pies.

19 Cheap St, Sherborne DT9 3PU

07718 253309 / 01935 813451 simon@goddenandcurtis.co.uk goddenandcurtis.co.uk

@Melbury Gallery melburygallery.co.uk

01935 815005 @oliverssherbs @oliverscoffeehouse

THE PEAR TREE DELI

THE PLUME OF FEATHERS

RILEY’S CYCLES

Delicatessen & cafe open 9am-4pm, Monday - Saturday.

Delivery & take away service for sandwiches, coffees and cakes plus many more deli items.

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LS 01935 812828 @ThePearTreeDeli @thepeartreedeli peartreedeli.co.uk

THE ROSE & CROWN TRENT

The country inn loved by locals and travellers for generations.

The perfect place to soak up the sunshine and enjoy the views or curl up on an autumn evening.

Trent, Sherborne DT9 4SL 01935 850776 theroseandcrowntrent.co.uk

16th Century pub serving Italian small plates. Authentic homemade dishes using some of the finest Dorset and Italian ingredients.

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN

Riley’s is Sherborne’s long established cycle shop, providing a range of bicycles and e-bikes plus parts, accessories, clothing, repairs and servicing.

Trendle Yard, Trendle Street, Sherborne DT9 3NT

01935 389709 theplumesherborne.co.uk

01935 812038 info@rileyscycles.co.uk rileyscycles.co.uk

SHERBORNE WEB DESIGN

THE THREE WISHES

Your local ‘one-stop shop’ for everything that falls under the umbrella of web design; custom built for you.

Enjoy coffee and lunch in our garden and restaurant. Now open until 8.30pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Join us for Thai Night every Thursday.

118 Yeovil Road, Sherborne DT9 4BB

78 Cheap Street, Sherborne DT9 3BJ

01935 813241 info@sherbornewebdesign.co.uk sherbornewebdesign.co.uk

01935 817777 reservations@thethreewishes.co.uk thethreewishes.co.uk

@shoplocalinsherborne #shoplocalinsherborne

MARKET RESEARCH No.7: HUGH LAMBERT, SHANTY SPIRIT

Welcome to The Sherborne Market!

What brings you here?

I love The Sherborne Market; it has a great vibe, eclectic clientele and a range of quality producers. It’s rather nice to have an outdoor event to attend in these times.

Where have you travelled from?

Poole.

Tell us about what you’re selling?

We sell an evocative small batch, organic, seaweed botanical vodka that offers an experience like no other.

Crafted with an intricate blend of five hand-foraged, organic British seaweeds which creates stunning undercurrents of umami flavours alongside other flavour-enhancing botanicals.

Each botanical is separately vacuum-distilled to extract and retain the freshness that nature intended.

To finish off, a pinch of Dorset sea salt is added to remineralise the purest of water with which the spirit is cut.

As well as being a spirit that can be enjoyed as a sipping vodka or on the rocks, Shanty Seaweed Botanical Vodka breathes new life into old classics and is great for creating new cocktails.

Our bottle is a ‘keeper’, reminiscent of a ship’s decanter, and gives the impression of journeying through the seaweeds when viewed from different angles.

We donate a percentage of profits to projects that are concerned with cleaning and protecting our seas.

Where and when did it all begin?

Growing up by the sea in Dorset, I have always felt the shoreline’s magnetic pull. I have had a lifelong love affair with the British coastline and set out to create a spirit that would connect us to the shoreline, no matter where we are.

Having spent the last 25 years as a TV cameraman and working on a multitude of food and drink 8 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

programmes in the process, I discovered the wonderful flavours of seaweed whilst shooting a pilot with Roger Phillips, the highly respected author of ‘Wild Food’.

Around about the same time, I was introduced to the world of craft distilling. I had no idea that gin was essentially flavoured vodka - only differentiated by the fact that gin has to contain one essential ingredient: juniper. While there are many beautiful complex gins available, most flavoured vodkas are based around a single flavour or a simple blend. So, I identified a real opportunity to create a complex and interesting vodka for the botanical spirits market.

I have spent the last few years experimenting with every seaweed until I found the very best. Each of the seaweeds I decided upon brought something slightly different to the table. In the end, it was no surprise that I settled predominantly on flavours frequently used in seaweed dishes and Asian cuisine.

What do you enjoy most about selling at markets?

Having the opportunity to chat directly to the public about our product and offer them samples.

If you get the chance, which fellow stallholders here at Sherborne would you like to visit?

I never get the chance!

Where can people find you on market day?

We are usually on Cheap Street near the junction with Hound Street, at the entrance to the church. shantyspirit.com

___________________________________________ Sunday 15th November The Sherborne Market Cheap Street, Abbey Green, Digby Road and Pageant Gardens @thesherbornemarket

___________________________________________

THE

Hand picked & selected artisan market featuring local producers, suppliers, amazing food, arts and crafts.

Sunday 15th November

Art & Culture

ARTIST AT WORK No. 24: Veronica Wilton, The Green Dream, Resin, carbon fibre, colour, 166 x 20 x 20cm

A

Sherborne resident recently asked me, ‘Why isn’t the buzzard brown?’ I’m going to tell you.

I’m inspired by nature, mythology, memories, but perhaps most of all, I’m interested in what other artists have done and why they did it.

This is my context.

For me, it’s very important to consider context, as it would be naïve for an artist to imagine they could work in a vacuum or reinvent the wheel. For artists of my generation, context really means something that started in 1890s with Impressionist paintings, moved in a myriad of directions through the twentieth century, and played out or culminated in art which was totally abstract. But history isn’t a straight line. It’s expansive.

In his legendary painting of 1929, The Treachery of Images, René Magritte painted a brown pipe and across it the words, ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe.’ He challenged anyone to fill the pipe, but they couldn’t, demonstrating that it was just a representation!

10 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

I’m interested in representation too, the ways that an image might ‘stand-in’ for something else or correspond to an idea. So, if I make a work like this one, which to all intent and purposes appears to be full-frontal representation (except for one detail), I’m doing it deliberately. If I offer an image you are familiar with in every way (except one), I’m doing it cunningly. It is in fact: abstract.

For me, art is a way of exploring ideas and in this way, I bring my delicate abstract experiences into a more concrete reality. So to the man who asked why it isn’t brown, I said I was thinking green. veronicawilton.com To find out more, or make an appointment to view this piece, please contact Camilla Drinkall at Moorwood Art on 07956 967429. Limited edition pieces are available at Austyn, 6 Cheap Street, Sherborne

Trouvaille Gallery and Gift Shop DISCOVER TROUVAILLE Venture down the small alleyway off Cheap Street (opposite Boots the Chemist) and you will discover a wonderful selection of unique handmade cards and gifts including jewellery, candles, gorgeous glass creations and ceramics, as well as original paintings.

Start your Christmas shopping with a browse through our gallery, where you’ll find unique gifts created by local artists and craftspeople.

Opening hours Monday - 9am-12pm Tuesday – Saturday 9am-2.30pm www.trouvaillegallery.co.uk @trouvaillegallery

Art & Culture

ON FILM

Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque

J

ust when us folk at the film society, Cinematheque, thought it was beginning to show signs of being safe to go back into the water, along comes the second wave with extra lockdown rules… and we find ourselves firmly back on the beach. And to rub sand in the wound, as I write this I have learnt that Cineworld is closing all of its cinemas indefinitely in the UK. This includes the Picturehouse Cinema chain, which itself specialises in world cinema. So, we find ourselves back where we were in early March, with no realistic guess as to when we can resume. All we can do is hope that the promised imminent vaccine really is that, and not just another hollow Government aspiration. There is a brand new initiative within the South West Film Society group to open up a means whereby individual societies can select from a short list of international films and offer them to their members via Zoom or a similar platform. This is still being developed, but I hope to bring further details as they are formalised.

However, sitting in a comfortable auditorium, with fellow enthusiasts engrossed in a great film, is where we really want to be.

It is difficult at present for me to recommend any new films I have seen at previews as these are understandably on hold at the moment, but I am happy to suggest films I have seen and enjoyed. Two particular favourites are firstly, Still Walking (2008), a film from Japanese director Hirokazo Kore-eda, whose work always goes down well with the Cinematheque members. He is surely Japan’s leading filmmaker now, and directed the recent multi award-winning film Shoplifters, reviewed here a few months ago. His films are always family-based dramas - much in the style of the master Japanese auteur Yasujiro Ozu. Still Walking is set over the 24 hour anniversary, when three generations of a family meet to commemorate the tragic accidental death of one of their sons. They exchange familial 12 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Honeyland (2019)

memories, grievances and resentments, but this is handled with a delicate touch, humanity and wit. It is in the final scenes that a truth is revealed which resonates long after the film’s end. ‘Still Walking steals up on you quietly and stays with you forever’ Nigel Andrews, Financial Times. ‘This gentle, lovely film is impossible to watch without a lump in the throat’ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

Secondly, Honeyland (2019) is an extraordinary documentary from Macedonia, exploring the life of Hatidze, a woman in her 50s who is the last remaining wild beekeeper in Europe. She lives in a completely deserted village with her ailing mother, and spends her days looking for and maintaining hives, always making sure she leaves enough honey for the bees to survive. Watching her slowly plunge her hands into bee colonies in precarious rocky cracks, without a net or gloves, is astonishing, as she removes honeycomb to take to market. The cinematography is glorious and, at times, it is hard to remember that this is real life and not fiction. Halfway through the film, a large itinerant family move into one of the deserted houses, disrupting the harmonious balance between the natural world and Hatidze’s survival.

Filmed over 3 years, Honeyland builds a genuine intimacy between the viewer and subject, and by the end, one is left willing Hatidze to survive her perilous existence. The film the directors set out to make is certainly not the one that appears as the end product.

This is essential viewing. ‘An elemental struggle between ancient tradition and greed… an incredible true story’ Time Out. Still Walking is available on BFI Player, and Honeyland is on Amazon Prime. Stay safe. cinematheque.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk

Art & Culture

Lucian Msamati in Playing Sandwiches Images: Zac Nicholson

CONFESSIONS OF A THEATRE ADDICT

T

Rosie Cunningham

here is so much theatre happening, but you do have to search for it.

I am so pleased to say that I actually sat in a theatre and watched two short one-person plays at The Bridge in London, part of the 12-play repertoire

by Alan Bennett. Seating was arranged in ones and twos and the atmosphere was really festive, with a hugely enthusiastic standing ovation not just for the actors but also for the fact that live theatre is back.

The first was Playing Sandwiches with Lucian Msamati; he plays Wilfred who works as a park attendant. His employers can’t trace his records and by the end of the play, we know why. He befriends a little girl and through a series of circumstances gets left in charge of her one day by her mother. He ends up in prison. In the second, Lady of Letters, Imelda Staunton plays Irene, a lonely middle-aged spinster who spends her very solitary existence wielding her Platignum 14 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

pen writing letters of complaint and looking through her net curtains at the couple opposite who have a little girl with bruised arms. To keep loneliness at bay she is sustained by the standard replies from officials who feel duty bound to answer her letters.

The police eventually visit Irene who, it transpires, has been writing numerous letters speculating about the disappearance of the child opposite and learn that she actually died of leukaemia in hospital. Irene, who had been warned not to send any more letters to anyone, ends up in prison because she just can’t stop writing and, ultimately, actually loves prison life because she is not on her own anymore.

The Theatre Royal Bath is up and running again and hosting a season of three modern classics until the end of the year. Betrayal by Harold Pinter, Copenhagen

by Michael Frayn and Oleanna by David Mamet.

Please do try and support local theatre and go and see

NICHOLAS HELY HUTCHINSON LANDSCAPE AND MEMORIES 6th – 21st November

Imelda Staunton in Lady of Letters

one of the plays. If we don’t use it, we lose it.

I watched a magnificent Zoom reading of Noel Coward’s Private Lives with Emma Thompson, Robert Lindsay, Emilia Clarke and Sanjeev Bhaskar, plus all proceeds from the ‘tickets’ going to Lockdown Theatre in aid of The Royal Theatrical Fund. £45,000 was raised for the charity. You can join the mailing list on the Lockdown Theatre website to find out what productions are taking place and book your tickets.

These are once-in-a-lifetime live events never to be repeated and featuring some of England’s finest actors.

Wise Children live-streamed Romantics Anonymous, directed by Emma Rice, from the stage of Bristol Old Vic. The whole cast and crew should be applauded for an excellent theatrical evening. Look out for more of their productions.

J.W. Turner’s Modern World Exhibition is on at Tate Britain until 7th March 2021. Considered to be one of Britain’s finest artists, he lived at the peak of the industrial revolution and embraced those times by producing paintings which emphasised his fascination with new industry and technology. Book a time slot.

SHEEP ON AN AUTUMN EVENING

OIL

Nicholas Hely Hutchinson will be in the Gallery on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th November

www.jerramgallery.com THE JERRAM GALLERY Half Moon Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3LN 01935 815261 info@jerramgallery.com Tuesday – Saturday

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 15

Art & Culture

BUBBLES AND BEGINNINGS

An excerpt from The Art Class, a fictitious work Ali Cockrean, Artist and Tutor

M

eredith sat down for the first time all day and closed her eyes. It was great to take the weight off her feet. She slipped out of her high heels and wiggled her toes. What just happened? she thought to herself.

She let her mind drift and listened to the music playing soulfully to the empty room. As the dulcet tones washed over her, for a few moments, she didn’t think, but simply allowed the feelings of joy to permeate through her body.

Footsteps on the wooden stairs leading up to the first floor gallery brought her back to the moment. Her eyes still closed, she sensed that Tom was standing near.

16 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

‘Meredith Matthews…’ There was a slight pause. ‘Seven out of fifteen paintings, SOLD! Remind me who it was that thought they couldn’t paint?’ She could hear the amusement and gentle teasing in his voice. Meredith let a huge grin spread across her face and slowly opened her eyes.

‘You win,’ were the only words she could find as Tom took her hands, raised her to her feet and held her tight.

Only three months ago the idea of putting on an art show during a pandemic seemed ludicrous. However, so much had already happened in this weird, surreal year that Meredith began to feel anything was possible.

It seemed so long ago that she and Tom had spent

almost every lockdown evening on Skype planning for a solo exhibition of her work. To be fair, Meredith was happy to admit that, at first, she felt she was merely indulging Tom in some hare-brained scheme that gave them both an excuse to communicate every day, albeit virtually. But Tom was so energised and enthusiastic, so encouraging and inspiring, that Meredith found herself drawn into the possibility it could actually happen. She was painting every day and building up quite a body of work.

‘We’ll start small,’ Tom told her. ‘Just pick the 15 best paintings and we’ll create your first show. It’ll be good for you Meredith; you need to see first hand how other people react to your work.’

‘That’s what terrifies me Tom! What if they’re just embarrassed and don’t know what to say?’

Tom laughed, ‘Meredith, that simply won’t happen.

Trust me.’

And Meredith had taken courage in both hands and decided to trust Tom. Even if she found it hard to believe herself, she knew that having been a successful London art dealer for over 35 years, Tom knew what he was talking about. He described the art shop he now owned as his ‘retirement project’. This always made Meredith smile because he clearly worked hard and had built up a thriving and popular hub in the local community.

‘I’ve always wanted to set up an intimate little gallery on the first floor,’ he told her, ‘but other things have always got in the way. Lockdown has given me the opportunity to think it through and make it happen. All you need to do is keep painting Meredith; I’ll sort everything else.’

As the preparations for the exhibition progressed, so did their relationship. With no other immediate family on either side, the decision was taken to form a

bubble of two. There was just one uncomfortable topic of conversation that they had to ponder on and address.

This revolved around Anita, who, up to this point, still had absolutely no idea that Tom and Meredith were even communicating outside of their weekly painting get-togethers at her house.

‘We have to tell her Tom. I already feel guilty that we’ve kept her in the dark far too long.’

They decided that Meredith should break the news to Anita at the next weekly painting session and that Tom wouldn’t attend that week.

Anita sat down in her usual garden chair and studied Meredith’s face. ‘So, what’s up? You look uncomfortable.’ Meredith felt herself blush and decided to just go for it.

‘Anita, Tom and I have been meeting outside of our sessions,’ she blurted out. ‘We’ve become friends… well, a bit more than friends really… we talked online a lot… most nights in fact and then decided to become a bubble… because we don’t have family… and he wanted to organise an exhibition at the shop… I’m so sorry I haven’t mentioned it before… I just wasn’t sure where it was going… I thought probably nowhere… so, there was no point…’ Meredith’s voice tailed off.

Anita tipped her head to one side and smiled. She started to pour the tea. ‘Meredith, you seem to imagine this is news to me? You two really think you’ve been discreet?’ Anita laughed out loud. ‘I can read you both like a book; you give it away in your faces every time you’re here.’

‘You don’t mind?’ Meredith thought it a little ironic that she was the one in shock here.

‘I’m delighted… you make a great couple Meredith.

Now, ring Tom and tell him it’s safe to come over!’ alicockrean.co.uk

Call us to order your bespoke Christmas door wreaths or pop in and see our range of lovely Gifts, Home & Garden Decor, Houseplants and more...

Ellie Taylor

01935 814 308 occasionsofsherborne@outlook.com occasions-flowers.com 43 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PU

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 17

Community

OUR MAN IN WESTMINSTER Chris Loder MP, Member of Parliament for West Dorset

R

emembrance Sunday is one of the most poignant events of the year for me. It is the annual moment when Sherborne Abbey stands proud in remembrance, not just above the town of Sherborne, but above the county of Dorset. Last year, we were in the run up to the general election – a most bizarre feeling for me.

But never did I expect to be at the largest civic service for remembrance in the county and to be included in the prayers for the upcoming general election.

Of course, this year there will be no such service.

Instead we are going to record an act of remembrance from Sherborne Abbey, to be broadcast on Remembrance Sunday. This is also the first year without our former vicar, Eric Woods, who always led the acts of remembrance with such dignity, not only for the town but for Dorset.

In January, I attended the Abbey’s Friday morning commemoration for those who gave their lives in the Dorsetshire and successor regiments. There are so many in that book that, after the many years of reading out one page per month, remembering those who have died in war, we have not got through the books once yet. I do hope that we will be able to return that small, but very meaningful, service soon.

The war effort here in Dorset was not just on the frontline in combat, it was also to feed a nation in need.

My grandmother was in the Women’s Land Army, the vanguard of women who helped on our farms to replace the men who had gone to war. During the Second 18 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Image: Len Copland

World War, when she came to work on our own family farm at Bishops Down, just outside Sherborne, she met my grandfather. If it were not for that fateful meeting, perhaps I wouldn’t be writing here today as your Member of Parliament!

In September, Historic England announced that Sherborne Abbey’s First World War Memorial and Second World War Memorial Wall, commemorating eighteen civilians killed in Sherborne in a Luftwaffe air raid on 30 September 1940, was one of just four sites in England to be awarded Grade II protection as part of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The Heritage Minister said that by protecting these sites we can continue to tell the story of the Second World War and keep alive the stories of this greatest generation who fought for our freedom. Sherborne has always told that story so well and we always will.

Advent will be upon us at the end of this month and Cheap Street will be once again be adorned with beautiful shop windows and glittering lights. It is an invitation from the shopkeepers of Sherborne to keep our local economy moving for Christmas. I do hope you will accept that invitation, as I shall.

Chris welcomes your thoughts on these and any other local issues that matter to you. You can write to him at: Chris Loder MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA chrisloder.co.uk

. o d e W Weddings at Leweston

Email: bawdenk@leweston.dorset.sch.uk ď‚ą Tel: 01963 211011 www.lewestonenterprises.co.uk/weddings

Community

A NEW GREEN DEAL TO AID SHERBORNE’S COVID RECOVERY Steve Shield, Sherborne Town Clerk

A

s a newcomer to Sherborne, I know how much the town’s wonderful parks, open spaces and leisure facilities make it such a great place to bring up a young family. During the first wave of COVID-19, they also provided – literally – a healthy breath of fresh air and exercise space for town residents during lockdown.

So, I am delighted that the Town Council has voted unanimously to put a new green deal for Sherborne at the heart of its COVID recovery plan.

Initially, it means cutting the carbon impact of the Terrace Playing Fields and the Digby Hall: solar PV, heat exchange pumps and LED lighting to cut costs and be kinder to the environment. But, this is just part of a longer-term plan to make our green spaces and community hubs more enjoyable and more accessible for everyone, whatever your interests.

We have won a grant to study how to bring more cycle paths and pedestrian areas to the town. The hugely popular Pageant Gardens is in the midst of its ambitious restoration programme. And although it may seem a small thing, we have installed Happy to Chat plaques on park benches around the town to encourage 20 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

people to enjoy a chat at such a difficult time – at an appropriate social distance of course!

Another seemingly humble initiative could do a great deal to improve Sherborne’s environment and everyone’s enjoyment of the town. We have bought a new electrically-powered road sweeper – no diesel emissions. A new staff member dedicated to keeping the town centre sparkling for residents and visitors will be recruited next spring.

Of course, the Town Council’s ground maintenance staff worked throughout the pandemic, as did our administrators and care-taking team. My thanks go out to all of them.

It seems that anxiety about COVID-19 will be with us throughout the winter. And that is why another pillar of the council’s recovery plan is a special grants programme to help community organisations survive the winter. We want to do everything humanly possible to ensure that youth organisations, community groups, sports clubs, charities, and volunteer organisations make it through the upcoming months.

Sherborne Town Council and the Mayor’s Fund have already given emergency grants and donations

to the Food Bank, Sherborne Community Kitchen, the Little Gryphons Nursery, and the popular town markets. And during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, we opened the Digby Hall kitchens free of charge to help the community kitchen establish a firm footing in the town.

Sadly, we do not have the power or the funding to give direct financial help to struggling town businesses but we are committed to helping businesses, wherever possible, to access national and county-wide support grants. We will keep updating the banners, posters, pavements stencils and window display stickers that help shoppers understand the social distancing rules.

So many exciting planned events have been cancelled because of the Government’s national advice on controlling the pandemic. They included the Sherborne Festival, Pack Monday Fair and the annual fun fair that were all due in town recently.

The Town Council is also committed to helping hotels, shops and tourist attractions encourage visitors back to the town as soon as safely possible. A new communications officer should be recruited by the

end of the year to help raise the profile of Sherborne – transforming the council’s website and social media presence and working closely in partnership with sectors across the town. We also hope to have a new council newsletter to keep everyone in touch with the story of Sherborne’s COVID recovery.

Councillor Anne Hall has been appointed deputy mayor and will take over as mayor when Councillor Jon Andrews steps down in May, after two rewarding and interesting years in the job. Councillor Matt Hall has deferred his term as mayor – allowing him to study for a prestigious Master’s degree programme in planning, working to ensure that the community’s voice remains heard in important planning decisions.

I cannot think of a more challenging time to have moved my family to a new home and myself into a new job. But what I have seen so far of Sherborne’s response to coronavirus convinces me that this beautiful town will flourish. And I will do everything in my power to ensure that the Town Council plays a central role in the recovery. sherborne-tc.gov.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 21

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UNEARTHED Aaron Miah, aged 9, Leweston Prep School

D

uring the remote learning period, Leweston Prep students looked at the role of the NHS through their PSHE lessons, thinking about how the NHS have helped them as individuals.

Aaron Miah, Year 5, felt particularly motivated by this topic as the NHS have played an integral part in his family’s life. He decided to enter the ‘Step into the NHS’ competition and submitted a fantastic video recital of his poem ‘A Thank You to the NHS’.

The judging panel for the primary schools’ competition, which included TV personality Dr Ronx from the popular CBBC series Operation Ouch, were impressed by Aaron’s heartfelt delivery and expressive words.

Of the 123 entries for the Thames Valley and Wessex region, Aaron was delighted to be crowned the winner. He received a certificate and Amazon voucher, which was presented by an NHS Ambassador during a virtual whole school assembly.

Aaron said, ‘When I entered I thought wow, imagine if I won and a couple of months later, I actually did win! My brother is ill and when I thought about all of the names that have helped me and my brother, that’s when I got the idea to write the poem. I am really thankful to all the people that helped in the NHS with me, my little brother and everyone.’

A Thank You to the NHS

Thank you to the Porters who give up their time with their sons and daughters Thank you to the people who clean who make sure of good hygiene Thank you to the Doctors and Nurses you have studied so long and so hard They gave up their time that they could have played in their backyard Thank you to the Pharmacist who make the tablets, the medicine, and the cream that stop poorly people in pain wanting to cry and scream Thank you to the Play People for making children happy this includes teenagers, and babies still wearing their nappy Thank you to all the Cooks and Chefs that make such lovely meals when you’re feeling poorly, it’s such a big deal Thank you to everyone who works in the NHS all of these things are what make you the best.

Thank you so much NHS.

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Family

Children’s Book Review Lucia G, aged 7, Leweston Prep

I Really Want to Shout by Simon Philip and Lucia Gaggiotti, (Templar Publishing, Sept 2020), £6.99 Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £5.99 from Winstone’s Books

I

Really Want to Shout is about a girl who sometimes feels cross and angry about things and she feels like she has a big monster inside, which makes her want to shout out loud. Some of the things she does when she is cross makes other people upset, but she learns that she doesn’t need to shout and finds different ways to calm herself down.

Her friend and her dad help her feel better.

The book is very colourful and I like the pictures of

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the little girl. From reading the book, I have learnt that it is important to stay away from bullies and it is good to have a friend when you are sad. I would give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars and would recommend this book to 4 and 5 year olds because it teaches you not to shout, it rhymes and it is easy to read for that age. leweston.co.uk

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 27

Family

FINDING THE BALANCE Annie Gent, Deputy Head (Pastoral), Sherborne Prep

S

chools are constantly weighing up the balance: academic lessons versus art and drama; sport versus music; how many maths lessons each week versus English and science; rules or values‌ the list goes on and I doubt it will ever be resolved completely.

And why are schools having this constant debate?

It is because we, the staff in our community, care.

28 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Getting the balance correct in schools is vital for children to thrive.

Children benefit from the offering of a myriad of opportunities. In our community, where we are blessed with a wealth of expertise and endless energy, this is what they get. A happy, buoyant and progressive school that embraces the broad spectrum of education

"We see their head raised, a little spring in their step, a subtle indication that they are embracing life."

and allows children to direct their learning, taking ownership of their progress. The Early Years provision is child-led and children are nurtured to have enquiring minds – why should this stop as children enter the more formal years of their education?

Balance: do we enforce a curriculum with no meandering, no discussion, or do we let our children ask, to find their own inspiration and nurture a desire to learn? Surely, the second method is preferable and will not only instil a lifelong love of learning but support emotional wellness in the children we educate.

Sherborne Prep is lucky; we have educators that enable and actively encourage children to seek knowledge and ask questions through their approach and a challenging, broad curriculum. We want our children to be brave and adventurous in their school journey.

Staff should be open and actively listen to individuals. This often comes through less formal situations, be that in the co–curricular subjects, through personal pupil development and the all-important break time. The most informative, interesting and funny conversations that I have are always over the lunch table, in the playground or in the boarding house. Children respond when you are interested in them. A child that feels valued will take greater pride in their work, in their play and in who they are. We see their head raised, a little spring in their step, a subtle indication that they are embracing life.

Emotional well-being has grown in precedence, and rightly so. Schools no longer educate children in a linear way. To bring the best out of children we must educate holistically. Resilience and perseverance, I would suggest, are words synonymous with many school values. Values are vital, but only if they are fully embedded and lived through the culture of the school.

Children who are truly emotionally well have a network behind them - all working together to encourage the child to be the best version of themselves. This does not mean fixing all their problems, nor enabling them to catastrophise situations. Instead, we have a responsibility to be the balance in our children’s lives, to support them when they inevitably get it wrong (doesn’t everyone make a mistake at some point, usually daily!) and find a positive outcome. A balanced child leads to an emotionally resilient young adult, ready to venture out of education equipped to find a solution and plot their way through life’s maze. sherborneprep.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 29

Family

Image: David Ridgway

OLD YET EVER YOUNG

Tim Gibson in conversation with Patrick Francis & David Ridgway, Sherborne School

T

here are two ways of narrating the history of an institution: you can tell the story of its corporate life, focusing on the events that occur at a macro level and hoping the reader gains a sense of its development through this broad sweep approach. Alternatively, you can do what Patrick Francis and David Ridgway have done in their brilliant new history of Sherborne School, Old Yet Ever Young, and focus as much on the individuals who have played a part in the institution, illustrating wider themes by reference to the drama of their lives.

30 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

‘I wanted to make my history come alive by telling the stories of the huge variety of people who have contributed to Sherborne’s rich tapestry,’ explains Patrick. ‘Of course, I was helped enormously in that regard by David’s wonderful photography.’

The contribution of David Ridgway to the new book cannot be underestimated. As in his previous collaboration with Patrick – Vivat Shirburnia, which charted the School’s history during the Great War of 1914–1918 – the words and pictures work seamlessly together to establish a clear narrative.

‘When Patrick showed me the first draft of his text, I had a clear vision for what the book should look like,’ says David. ‘We learned some valuable lessons during the production of Vivat and decided to project manage the whole process of designing Old Yet Ever Young ourselves. That gave us complete control over the look and feel of the book, meaning we could create something very special.’

It helps enormously that David and Patrick, who have more than 70 years’ combined service at Sherborne under their belts, know not just their subject intimately, but also their audience. ‘It makes the process of producing a book like this far easier if you have your audience in mind as you write,’ says Patrick. ‘That said, I’ve tried to be as objective as possible, especially about the less glittering episodes in Sherborne’s history.’

It’s true that Patrick doesn’t draw a veil over those periods when Sherborne’s status has wavered. He notes in his introduction that the School has passed through tumultuous times every 40 years or so: periods when Headmasters have been removed from office at the behest of the governors or as a result of a Common Room revolt.

‘I think these blips are an important part of the School’s heritage,’ he explains. ‘One of the functions of history is to attempt to make sense of events that go against the grain of the overall narrative. I hope that I’ve begun to do that by mapping Sherborne’s story from 1550 through to 2010.’

In contrast to the earlier history of Sherborne, written by A. B. Gourlay in 1951 with a revised edition in 1970, Patrick chose to focus on the School’s Victorian revival and the subsequent years, rather than constructing a detailed account of its medieval origins.

Such a premise is underscored by the approach David took to its overall aesthetic. With help from Sherborne’s Archivist, Rachel Hassall (for whom David and Patrick are quick to note their profound gratitude), David sourced the large number of photographs that illustrated the story Patrick was telling. Even so, he shot more than 200 of the 350 images that appear in the book, helping create a consistent visual identity that perfectly complements Patrick’s words.

‘One of the things that Patrick does brilliantly is weave the stories of Sherborne’s illustrious alumni into the wider narrative of the School,’ David reflects. ‘This dovetailed with a project I’ve been working on for the last decade, of photographing Old Shirburnians in their working environment dressed in the modern uniform

"Sherborne is a place where the present, past and future collapse into each other, in so far as one moment in time is always mediated by what has gone before, and what is to come."

of navy blue. A large proportion of these images appear in the book and illustrate its operating motif: that Sherborne is a place where the present, past and future collapse into each other, in so far as one moment in time is always mediated by what has gone before, and what is to come.’

That sentiment is exactly what Patrick hopes to express in the book’s title, borrowed from a James Rhoades poem. As he explains, ‘When you are at Sherborne, you are struck by the weight of all that’s gone before, while living fully in the present and gesturing towards a future that is unfolding. That’s a sentiment I hope to have captured in my writing.’

Old Yet Ever Young certainly unlocks the intimate connection between Sherborne’s past and its present.

And, ending as it does in 2010, on the cusp of the School’s latest revival under the Headmastership of Dominic Luckett, it also hints towards the next chapter for one of England’s most famous boarding schools.

On the basis of what Patrick and David have produced in this beautiful, erudite and thoroughly researched account, it’s a bright future, giving Shirburnians plenty of opportunity to go on making history.

Old Yet Ever Young is available to purchase from sherborne.org/news-andevents/book-launch. All profits will be donated to the school. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 31

Family

HOME FRONT Jemma Dempsey

Rogistok/Shutterstock

I

’m trying to see this pandemic as a blessing in disguise, as the significant birthday I’ve been trying to ignore for the last few months looms ever closer in my rear view mirror. When it comes to celebrating, though not sure if that’s the right word, I never thought I’d be asking Boris Johnson or Matt Hancock if it was OK to have a party. Now, I don’t have to worry about who or who not to invite, how much drink to get in or what food to serve because parties are outlawed, by order of the government. There shall be no fun, unless you live in your own house of fun – and now I can’t get that awful Madness song out of my head along with visions of me dancing round my living room alone with a glass of cheap champagne. Heaven help me; my children will never talk to me again. And you see, that’s all I want to do on my birthday – drink fizz and dance, but preferably with other people.

I retire to my thinking corner and, Blackadder-like, try to come up with a cunning plan. I always thought I was an extrovert but now I’m not so sure. As I get older, I realise I quite like my curmudgeonly old company and I wonder if there’s a mathematical equation for time spent alone equalling more wisdom or just greater grumpiness. Either way, this introspection is not solving my birthday dilemma. I do what I always do when confronted with a problem I can’t solve – I turn to Google. ‘Easy, quick ideas for a lockdown birthday,’ make me shudder and I shut the laptop. I consider booking a table at a pub and inviting friends in groups of fives in hour long sessions, but that would be like having an audience with the Queen and decide it would be hideous. Maybe I should have a birthday week and 32 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

have different groups of friends over for dinner every night, but that would be a lot of cooking and I doubt my commitment to the kitchen. I’ve never been this old before, how do I know what to do? Nothing seems to quite hit the mark and I think I should just stay my current age forever, or at least until this enforced purgatory is over when some real fun can be had. Talk of circuit breakers, no mixing of households and restricted opening hours puts a bit of a dampener on everything and merely encourages my Victor Meldrew to the fore.

What is the point in trying to do anything? I might as well stay in bed with a cup of Horlicks and a book.

The husband wanders over, interrupting my frowning reverie and tries to cheer me up. ‘There’s always Zoom or House Party; you could have a virtual birthday with your friends on one of those?’ I grunt, appreciative of his efforts but grimace at the memories of the national lockdown from earlier in the year. I sigh and wonder if it might be doable - a kitchen disco in all my friends’ houses happening simultaneously. The alternative is to assemble all the patio heaters I can lay my hands on and have an outside boogie with real, live people in my back garden. ‘This is ridiculous!’ I say aloud to no-one in particular, though I suspect the rest of the street can hear my frustration. I go off in a teenage sulk and eventually conclude, as so many others have these past few weeks, that this significant occasion shall have to be a modest affair. Nothing wrong with that; just me and the husband and a weekend away. It’ll be nice. Just the two of us; a break from the kids. I can have a big bash where I can dance my socks off next year. And in the meantime, I’ll stay 49 for a little while longer.

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Wild Dorset

FABULOUS FUNGI Sally Welbourn, Dorset Wildlife Trust

Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria). Image: Guy Edwardes

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his time of year, when we don’t have wildflowers to brighten up the landscape, other colours will pop up, with none more interesting than the colours of various species of fungi.

The fly agaric is one of our most recognisable species of fungus, with the mushroom’s distinctive red cap and white stalk featuring in countless television shows, films and even video games. Fly agaric is found in woodlands, parks and heaths with scattered trees, typically growing beneath birch trees or pines and spruces*. The colourful fruiting bodies can usually be seen between late summer and early winter. Like most fungi, the parts we see are just the fruiting bodies, or mushrooms. These grow up from an unseen network of tiny filaments called ‘hyphae,’ which together form a structure known as the ‘mycelium’. The fruiting bodies produce spores for reproduction, although fungi can also reproduce asexually, by fragmentation. The mycelium of fly agaric often forms a symbiotic relationship with the trees around it, wrapping around the roots and supplying them with nutrients taken from the soil. In exchange, the fungus receives sugars produced by the trees.

In Dorset, the Kingcombe Meadows Nature Reserve 34 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

is an excellent place to see all kinds of fungi, including waxcaps. Waxcaps come in every colour of the rainbow and, not surprisingly, are thought of as the orchids of the fungi kingdom. They are very particular about where they grow: they will only grow on undisturbed, nutrient-poor grasslands like ancient pasture and land that has never been ploughed or fertilised, as well as sand dunes and heathland. You might be lucky and see one pop up in your garden! The parrot waxcap is one of the most common, starting off vivid emerald green and tropical yellow before transitioning through a variety of shades as it matures. The more elusive waxcaps include any which are pink or red in colour. Look out for the rare pink ballerina waxcap, so-called because its conical cap expands and turns upwards at the edges until it resembles a delicate tutu. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk For more information about visiting Kingcombe Meadows Nature Reserve this autumn, visit kingcombe.org. *Fly agarics are highly toxic and should not be eaten.

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Wild Dorset

Image: Gillian M. Constable

SHERBORNE DWT

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Gillian M. Constable, Dorset Wildlife Trust Sherborne Group Committee Member

ll DWT members who have indicated a wish to receive Trust News by email will know that all DWT events have been cancelled until at least 2021. If you do not receive these emails, then please contact DWT to be placed on the mailing list.

Your local committee had already decided that our next meeting should be in February 2021 and that it is to be the Great Bustard talk (cancelled in May this year) and the field meeting associated with the talk will be in April. Our 2021 programme of talks and field meetings is complete.

All of the DWT reserves are still open for walking and, currently, their centres are open. However, since availability of so many things is changing day by day, it is possibly better to check the DWT website for the latest information.

Late September has brought us some excitement in the garden – we have had a visit from a clouded yellow butterfly. I am uncertain as to whether we have seen one previously in our garden; I don’t think so. They are uncommon in the county and people talk of clouded yellow years rather like painted lady years. 1996, 2000 and 2006 are listed as bumper years. I remember walking near Holwell church in 2000, not long after moving here, and seeing a number flitting about an 36 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

unimproved field. This year, quite a number of sighting records of clouded yellows have been submitted; a report will make interesting reading. Their native breeding habitat is around the Mediterranean from which they migrate north. The above picture was taken in September 2011 in western France on a day when a small patch of wild flowers was favoured by about 100 clouded yellows. The strength of the yellow on their upper wing-sides, rarely shown, is, in the paint box, an amazing cadmium yellow.

To add to the general delight of this visit to our garden, this species is a write-on to the garden butterfly list. This list for the Garden Butterfly Survey, constructed some years back, covers all species likely to be seen in a private garden. At that time, the experts did not think we should be so fortunate.

Sorry to be mentioning butterflies so much this year. The garden sightings have been so important to me having been in sheltering and now isolating for imminent hospital treatment. I hope to have the huff and puff to get out walking more next year. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Wishing you a speedy recovery Gillian.

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Wild Dorset

WELL CONNECTED

Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker

‘The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way.’

William Blake

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his autumn, I have been finding time to read the novel The Understory by Richard Powers.

I was given a copy from a gentleman and his children who I had taken on a bee safari. Walking around the Somerset landscape, observing wild and hived bees foraging and coming and going from their hives, I am able to share the stories of the bees as we walk. Seeing the bees in the open, watching them forage, is a great way for us to reconnect with their patterns and understand our impact on their lives. There 38 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

are so many stories to share about bees which describe the dangers they are living with. Earlier on this year, when I launched the ‘Plant 1 Million Trees’ with Ilanga Nature Honey, I learned so much about the importance of ancient trees. As I take someone on a bee safari, we can pass through the history of beekeeping, honey hunters, bees kept in skeps and in trees. Then, how humans have ‘mastered’ the bees.

It’s this very desire of some humans to master nature that initially upset me when I first had a colony of bees.

Being bed- and wheelchair-bound at the time with Ehlers Danlos syndrome, I had found that what I ate and drank had a huge impact on my health and energy levels. I therefore was horrified when I first learned that bees were fed sugar in syrup or fondant form after giving their keepers their honey. I couldn’t imagine how anyone would think that feeding wild insects processed sugar would be anything other than detrimental to their health. It was talking about this, and sharing the criticism I had received when questioning it in conventional bee groups, that prompted this particular bee safari guest to send me a copy of The Understory.

One of the characters is a woman who discovered that trees communicated with one another. Her initial research was done over many years; painstaking observation of trees in woodlands and forests. She had proven the connection and communication, yet there were still gaps in the explanations. When her paper was first published, she was ridiculed, so much so that she went into retreat and worked as a park ranger, cast away from her passionate research. During her ‘retreat’, some inspired by her initial paper continued her research, leading to renewed evidence that her initial findings were, in fact, correct. Her story moved me so much, reminding me when, in real life, ecologist Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, demonstrated through her work that these complex, symbiotic networks in our forests mimic our own neural and social networks.

More recently, German arborist Peter Wohleben’s book The Secret Life of Trees goes into more detail about how the trees in a forest feed and protect each other using the underground network of fungi. In our modern wisdom, we grow our food using fungicides, destroying this communication network. The same fungicides have been shown to reduce the fertility of bees, who feed on the nectar of plants and trees growing in treated soil. So much goes on in this world that we may disagree with, or not understand, and finding ways to share and discuss our beliefs is so important for the advancement of humanity. With current technology, ideas can be shared at rapid speed and so new ways of thinking can be accessible in an instant, leaving no excuse to not move forward.

There is a problem when some ideas are not given a fair hearing. When checking the bees I take care of at The Newt in Somerset, I keep an eye on a wild colony in an ancient lime tree. This tree stands with a couple of sister limes and a huge ancient horse chestnut.

"trees in a forest feed and protect each other using the underground network of fungi. In our modern wisdom, we grow our food using fungicides, destroying this communication network."

When I first saw this horse chestnut, I was brought to tears. I imagined the travellers who have rested beneath its boughs and the wildlife that inhabit the trunk and branches and feed off its fruit.

It breaks my heart to think of trees like this one, which in the summer are literally covered in bees of so many species, being felled in the name of progress. A new high speed railway is clearing land across the country. Compulsory purchases of farms and homes displacing human families, as well as the ancient woodlands they have walked and played in for generations. I mentioned in an earlier piece about the Turin Institute’s research that we are losing too many of the ancient trees around the world. Three trillion trees need to be replaced, and the issue is that it takes 100 years to grow an ancient tree. It would be hypocritical of me to fight for trees to be saved and re-planted in Madagascar, when, right on my doorstep, over 100 ancient woodlands are destined to be removed. Those trees are not only our carbon dioxide absorbers, they are the food source for so many insects and animals.

It’s easy to think that bees only feed on flowers, or pollinate our food, but native trees are one of their main forage sources since we have removed so many hedgerows and wildflower meadows. Ivy takes 15 years to flower, and I wonder how long so many of the other species we take for granted take to mature and blossom?

As our bees go into their winter torpor, I hope that enough of us will stand up and protect the ancient trees we have taken for granted, so that when the bees emerge in the spring, they have a feast of nutritious blossom. Enough of us now know that it is absolutely the only choice we have. After all, just how many are using trains now since the events of this year? paulacarnell.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 39

On Foot

40 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

On Foot

TOLLER FRATRUM AND WYNFORD EAGLE Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 3 ¾ miles Time: Approx 2 hours Park: Please park considerately on the roadside near Toller Fratrum Farm Walk Features: St Basil’s Church and its unique font, Toller Fratrum Farm, chalk valleys surrounding the River Hooke, pretty village of Wynford Eagle with its manor house and St Laurence’s Church Refreshments: The Spyway Inn, Askerswell

E Image: Paul Newman

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 November, we take a gentle walk in the quiet chalk valleys around Wynford Eagle, an area abundant with signs of history and changing land use, studded with a few architectural gems.

It’s a good place to see yellowhammers, blackcaps, ravens and maybe even a little egret along the chalk streams. > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 41

Directions

Start: SY 578 972 The walk starts in Toller Fratrum.

1 Find a spot to park on the road in Toller Fratrum near the rectory, then walk up the road, away from the rectory, farm and church, towards the end of the road where it turns into a track. You will then see a footpath sign on your left for Wynford Eagle ¾ mile. Head up the track, which can be muddy or rough in parts, through metal gateposts following the track to the left up the hill. Go through a metal gate, bearing left onto a grassy track. Down to your left are views of the church and farm. The track soon emerges into a field. Turn slight right, head up and over the middle of this field.

2 As you cross the top of the field, you will then see a signpost in a gap in the hedge ahead of you. At the signpost, head straight on, signed for Wynford Eagle, keeping the hedge on your left. Here, the views open out across the surrounding countryside.

The path ends at a gap in the hedge. Here, go slightly to the right across the flint-strewn field in front of you. Next go through a metal gate, following the footpath sign and keeping a fence on your right, heading down towards Wynford Eagle. Pass through another gateway and follow the footpath sign, down a track towards a row of cottages.

3 As you reach the road, turn left, then go past St Laurence’s church, over a beautiful stream which passes through the grounds of Wynford Eagle Manor House. The village name of Eagle comes from Richard de Aguila, after the Norman conquest. Look out for the large stone eagle at the front of the house.

4 After this, you reach a T-junction. Turn right, towards West Compton, past farm buildings on your left and then up out of Wynford Eagle. At the top of the road, take the track that forks off to the left, then go through a metal gate and carry on up the chalk track. Pass a small burial mound surrounded by ash trees, then go straight through another gate following the Jubilee Trail. As you climb higher you will notice that the track changes from chalk to a mixture of chalk and flint. Keep the hedge on your left. When you reach the next field boundary, follow the bridleway sign which points back down to your right and diagonally across the field, heading down towards the road. Go through a small wooden gate into another field and keep following the bridleway right down to the gate at the bottom, onto the road.

42 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

"St Basil in Toller Fratrum is definitely worth a visit for its beautifully carved and unique font of the late Saxon or early Norman era" 5 At the road, turn right for about 100 yards then, on the left, there is a small wooden gate by a telegraph pole. Enter the field and after a few yards, cross a wooden footbridge over a stream into the next field.

Climb up this field towards a metal gate, crossing a couple of ancient leats. Go through the gate into the next field, keeping the hedge on your right, up towards the brow of the hill. At the top of this field, turn right through a small metal gate, then turn left to follow a bridleway with the hedge now on your left. At the end of this field, pass farm buildings on your left to meet a road.

6 Go straight across the road, over the stile and follow the footpath signs down towards a wood. At the wood, you come to two metal gates with a ‘keep out’ sign; turn right in front of them and then follow the wood boundary. At the corner of the wood, you will see two back-to-back signposts. Take the left path signed for Toller Fratrum, not the one for Toller Porcorum. Head towards a row of beech trees keeping the fence on your right. On your left there are good views over towards Toller Porcorum.

At the end of this path, go through a gateway and cut across the corner of a field, go through another gateway to meet the footpath at the start of the walk in section 2. Retrace your steps to go back along the track to the start of the walk.

7 The small church of St Basil in Toller Fratrum is definitely worth a visit for its beautifully carved and unique font of the late Saxon or early Norman era, surrounded by intriguing figures whose origins and meanings are open to differing theories. Toller Fratrum Farm, a former manor house, is also worth a look and is undergoing restoration after a fire in 2015.

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History

CHANGE AND DECAY Cindy Chant, Blue Badge Guide

duncan1890 /iStock

I

n the early days of railways, public opinion and indeed to a large extent, official railway opinion, was that the railway would handle the freight, but the coaches would continue transportation for passengers. The road lovers declared that they would never go by rail, but when some urgent occasion arose that demanded speed, of course, they went by train, and so by and large everyone became converted.

As passengers transferred to rail, some coaches were immediately withdrawn, others attempted to continue.

This meant a decline in revenue, plus they reduced the cost of fares to try to entice passengers to use their services.

First, there was a reduction from four to three horses and then, to just a pair and a coach. These journeys obviously became much slower, which in turn made the railway even more attractive to the remaining, faithful coach travellers. Gradually, the standard of comfort declined and the coachman and guard (if he was still retained), together with the coach, presented a shabby and uncared-for appearance. There were no longer any ostlers or stable lads and the coachman had to see to his horses as best he could, until, at the end, there were no travellers and the coach made its way down the road 44 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

into oblivion.

Despite the many newspaper comments claiming that the railways were inefficient and their officials were rude and unhelpful, attempts to revive the coaches on certain routes were unsuccessful. It seems that many coach owners were deceived by the newspaper reports, which they believed represented public opinion, when they alleged that there was support for a stage coach revival. But, they might have known better; transport is always judged in terms of the time taken on the journey and on this point, they could not beat the railways, and so many coach owners lost a large amount of money.

Some of the obscure cross country routes continued to survive until the beginning to the 20th century when they were then replaced by the ‘new coach’ – the horseless carriage – charabanc or motorbus and of course, the motor car.

Most of the coaches were just broken up, but a number of mail coaches were shipped out to Spain, running for many years from Malaga in the south to Salamancar in the north.

So what became of the coachmen, innkeepers, ostlers, coach boys and stable helpers? They were all

suddenly without occupation and means of livelihood.

But what of the coachmen? Before the coming of the railways, there were no less than 3,000 and very little is known of the fate of most of them – they just faded into obscurity.

Of course, many found employment with the new railway companies. Others became innkeepers on the roads that they had travelled so regularly in the past, but this was not in general a lucrative occupation, as when the stage coaches vanished from the roads, the inns suffered a disastrous lack of trade as well. Some entered into employment with private stables owned by wealthy families, but these were only the fortunate minority.

Some gloomily drove the omnibuses, hating them, and living in their memories of days gone by. Many were too ingrained in their old routines and could or would not take up new employment and survived just on charity.

But these routines of the coaching days had in no way weakened these former coachmen, and many lived on to ripe old ages. There are many epitaphs to be seen in graveyards up and down the country. The old coachmen had a whimsical way about them and sometimes a little sadness as well. The road was not only their profession, but had been their passion for their whole life.

Sadly, by 1850, the era of coaching was over; its golden age being a short 25 years, so I am now bringing this story to a close too. As I have been writing these monthly extracts, I too have been thinking of these old coaches, now silent, now finished, now gone. I think of all the people that had some connection with this era - the busy bustling people, who rattled about in these old draughty, uncomfortable coaches, the numbers of people who had travelled many long nights, many uncomfortable journeys, through all weathers. The travelling men, the workers, the lover on the way to his lady, the wife, the widow, the mother, the schoolboys - where did they travel to and why? But nothing was to stop progress or the growth of the railways and the networks, which within 100 years covered nearly every village and town in Britain and would do until in the 1960’s when another historical milestone was reached; we started to revert back to roads.

So next month, I shall be finding out what happened to the many horses which were employed within the coaching business. What happened to them when the stage coaches stopped? I will try and tell you!

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AUTOMOBILIA, AERONAUTICA & HISTORIC CYCLING To Be Sold 17th & 18th November 2020 In Partnership with Transport Collector Auctions

Online Valuations Available using the upload tool via our website Alternatively, you can call or email 01460 73041 enquiries@lawrences.co.uk

sherbornewalks.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 45

History

LOST DORSET

NO. 5 HOLWELL

T

David Burnett, The Dovecote Press

he difficulties facing pub landlords today are sadly nothing new, and nearly two-thirds of the country pubs in Dorset open in 1900 have called ‘last orders’. Perhaps, the most unlikely reason for closure is that of the The Fox Inn, whose landlord in 1903 was the aptly-named Walter Fox. In 1883, following the death of an earlier landlady, the villagers petitioned the local magistrates to close it permanently on the grounds that a village with a population of 417 did not require two public houses. Of the 67 men who signed it, 19 were unable to write their names and marked only an ‘X’. The villagers ultimately had their wishes, for it was eventually closed and demolished, though the small barn on the right still stands and its name survives in a modern development called Fox’s Close. Interestingly, at the last census, Holwell’s population of 309 was substantially less than in 1883. dovecotepress.com Lost Dorset: The Villages & Countryside 1880-1920, by David Burnett, is a large format paperback, price £12, and is available locally from Winstone’s Books or directly from the publishers.

46 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

OBJECT OF THE MONTH:

THE VOLUNTARY MEDICAL SERVICE MEDAL Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum

W

ith Remembrance Day in mind and with this year’s backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, what more appropriate image than this medal awarded to a woman from Sherborne, Elizabeth Janet Hyde (1892-1973), honouring her for her long and efficient service to the Red Cross. Elizabeth was Quartermaster for the 2nd Dorset Voluntary Aid Detachment and served at Leweston Hospital during the Second World War. To qualify for this honour, 15 years of continuous service must have accrued, with a minimum of 10 hours field service per year. The collection of her proficiency badges that we hold at the museum attests to the high standard of her training, including dealing with the effects of gas and chemical warfare.

The Red Cross joined forces with the Order of St. John in 1935, delivering extensive services at home and abroad to the sick and wounded soldiers, Prisoners of War and civilians; they also tended to those liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camps in April 1945.

The silver medal is 39mm in diameter and 40g in weight. The obverse (pictured) shows a modernist representation of Florence Nightingale in right profile wearing a nursing cap and carrying a lit lamp; a beautiful, but romanticised, image designed by Percy Metcalfe, whose initials are stamped below her left hand. The edge is engraved with the recipient’s name. On the reverse, the legend reads LONG AND EFFICIENT SERVICE in raised capitals with, centrally, a depiction of the Geneva Cross with the St. Andrew’s saltire superimposed. Metcalfe (18951970) was a British artist, sculptor and designer,

recognised mainly for his coin designs, including the 1935 Crown coin to celebrate George V’s jubilee featuring a striking art deco interpretation of St. George and the Dragon, affectionately known as ‘The Rocking Horse’.

We hold an example in our numismatic collection.

‘The Lady with the Lamp’ is how we traditionally think of Florence Nightingale, in a somewhat passive and supportive feminine image, but she was fiercely intelligent, a social transformer and activist, only unable to go to university because of her gender. She emphasised cleanliness and hygiene above all in combating disease during the Crimean War and threw herself into fundraising for medical supplies when these were inadequate. She strongly criticised politicians for manipulating statistics for their own ends, and used her own statistical findings to drive a restructuring of army medical services and sanitation in the UK and to further develop modern nursing, palliative care and midwifery. In short, she created a bedrock on which a National Health Service could be founded. Her bicentenary was celebrated earlier this year.

This month, in reflecting on those who gave their lives, we also remember all those who worked to bring about peace and healing after war. sherbornemuseum.co.uk Sherborne Museum is closed for the time being. It will open again when it is safe to do so for its visitors and for its tireless volunteers, who are still working behind the scenes to preserve the town’s unique heritage for future generations. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 47

Antiques

PAPERWORK Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

The silver mesh evening bag with its 1917 receipt, estimated at £150-200 in the Charterhouse Silver, Jewellery and Watch auction on Thursday 5th November.

M

ention the word ‘paperwork’ to most adults and there will probably be a rolling of eyes or a look of horror, but for some, there will be a degree of serenity as they have this covered. At home, I am more of a rolling-of-the-eyes chap. At work, I am on the paperwork, otherwise we could not run the business day-to-day with the large number of lots we auction.

Perhaps I get my fix of paperwork in the salerooms but at home, I react in a different way. Unlike many clients we deal with, I am not one to keep receipts and old documents. Many years ago, we cleared a large property in London. The parents built the house in 1952 and for the next 60 years filled it up with receipts, documents and general paperwork – there were even used cheque book stubs dating back to 1952. It took some time to carefully clear the house, making sure anything of a private and personal nature was properly destroyed rather than throwing out in a black bin bag, especially when identity theft is a popular pastime for some.

I think the reason why I do not keep old receipts and documents is because I do not wish to be reminded of what I paid for something. Certainly Mrs B never lets me know what she has been buying and with the absence of any receipts it is hard to keep tabs on her, which is just the way she likes it. Being honest, this is the way I like it too, so it all works out well.

However, there are occasions when I should keep a receipt as this could give history and provenance to the 48 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

items long after I am pushing up the daisies. At a recent silver and jewellery valuation at our Sherborne sale rooms, a client brought in a silver mesh evening bag with a receipt dated 1917. Sadly, there is little use for evening bags during 2020 as nights out at the theatre and cocktail parties are cancelled, but back in 1917, even during the horrors of The First World War, life for many went on back in Blighty.

I found the receipt from the Cardiff jewellers fascinating. Firstly because the evening bag looked to date more towards 1900 rather than the 1917 timeframe it was put into – perhaps, it was ‘old stock’ which sat in the shop until Mr and Mrs Right came in and bought it. Secondly, because of the price of £9 and 10 Shillings.

This felt like a vast sum of money to pay for a silver evening bag at the height of The First World War. Whilst I am not saying you could have bought a house for that sum in 1917, a little research on the old wonder web shows many people’s wages were noted as being in multiples of Shillings rather than multiples of Pounds.

Moving forward to 2020 and the owner of this very pretty silver mesh evening bag has little use for it. It has survived the past 103 years in wonderful condition and surprisingly, it has survived with its original receipt – something which you will not find at the Bromell household! charterhouse-auction.com

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Jewellery, Watches & Silver 5th November Asian Art, Antiques & Interiors 6th November Classic & Vintage Cars 11th November Coins, Medals, Militaria & Stamps 3rd December Model Cars, Trains & Collector’s Items 4th December

A pair of Chinese porcelain vases in our 5th November Asian Art Auction

Contact Richard Bromell for advice and a Covid-19 safe home visit Valuations for Probate and Insurance

The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne DT9 3BS 01935 812277 www.charterhouse-auction.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 49

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Gardening

ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS IN THE GARDEN AND BEYOND Mike Burks, Managing Director, The Gardens Group

E

nvironmental issues seem to have taken a back seat during the current Covid crisis, which is a shame. However, there is evidence to suggest that the reduction in human activity has had a significant beneficial effect on the environment – not that we would have wanted to achieve it in this way! Included in this evidence is the lack of noise in the oceans, which has apparently led, according to an interesting piece on Radio 4, to whale communication being more complex.

The report suggested that their conversations had become shorter, as if they were keeping the dialogue to a minimum because of the background noise and had 52 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

resorted to just shouting the key words!

We experienced the re-colonisation of nature throughout the garden centre in lockdown, with birds in particular nesting in all sorts of unusual places. Our resident hedgehog has had a successful year, meeting and marrying a local hedgehog girl, and they now have twins who are growing up rapidly. To be fair though, it may have been a resident lady hedgehog who found a bloke, because it’s quite tricky to tell the difference!

We see them around quite a lot and the other evening, our rescue dog Joey went out for his late-night constitutional to discover a band of burglars armed to

Chase Dekker/Shutterstock

the teeth with clubs, iron bars and the like… or so it sounded from the commotion Joey was making.

We went out to see what invasion had occurred only to find the intruders to be the hedgehogs who had decided to curl up until Joey got bored – which he did quite soon!

On the plant front though, there is increasing evidence that climate change is having an effect.

Wisteria flowering twice in the year is now almost commonplace, whereas in the past it was unusual. The second flush of flower in the summer is limited and interesting, rather than spectacular.

In our garden, we had magnolia (soulangeana) back in flower during early September, in significant amounts which I have not seen before. In a friend’s garden, we were looking at a Clematis montana, normally flowering in the spring, back in flower again in mid-September, and when I was walking at the back of the garden centre the other day, I couldn’t work out why there was delicate white blossom on the ground.

After some searching, I found a bird cherry in flower again - either 6 months early or 6 months late.

Native primroses have come into flower again in our garden and a number of wallflowers too are already in flower. Wallflowers are biennial plants, which means that they are sown in the early summer and grow through the rest of the year and then flower the following spring.

Flowering is triggered in plants by a number of factors, but one of these can be day length, and climate change obviously won’t impact on that. The mechanism in some flowering plants is that as the length of daylight increases, say, in the spring, plants come into flower.

In other plants, flowering is triggered by temperature or the change in temperature. Sometimes, it’s an accumulation of temperature above a base level.

But, I think the cause of the oddities that I have noticed is almost certainly the temperature change we had between the cool of August and then the burst of warmth in September. It was particularly noticeable this year with parts of August feeling very autumnal and then some of September being like a balmy summer’s day or even a heat wave.

Plants were perhaps kidded into thinking that the cool of August was the winter compared to the extreme heat of September, which they thought was spring. It will be the change in the temperatures which triggered this because while August wasn’t winter-like, mid30’s Celsius in September is unusual and created the temperature difference that triggered the flowering.

And then, as I write, the wind is coming from the North, whereas yesterday it was from the East and it has been raining nonstop for more than 48 hours! Last autumn and winter were incredibly wet, as gardeners and farmers remember only too well. Who knows what this winter will bring.

So environmental matters may not be making headlines at the moment, but the challenges will still be there long after the current crisis is under control. thegardensgroup.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 53

Keep the colour coming As the nights draw in, bold and beautiful blooms in the garden can fill the days with colour.

When pots finish their displays, refresh them with plants that will flower through until Christmas and beyond, such as pansies, violas and cyclamen.

With our social distancing measures in place, you can pick up your seeds, bulbs, pots and plants any day of the week, during our new opening hours: Monday to Saturday: 9am – 6pm Sunday: 10am – 4:30pm For those still stuck at home, you can place your orders by telephone or email, and we’ll deliver free within 25 miles.

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MAT FOLLAS Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

A

t a cottage, not far from Rampisham, set back from a narrow lane, we meet chef Mat Follas and his wife Amanda. It’s a beguiling kind of autumn day. The seasons are changing gear, from bountiful to battening down in preparation for winter, but it’s still warm enough for us to sit outside in Mat’s garden and enjoy the glow of the sun on our faces.

Some of you will already be very familiar with Mat. After winning Masterchef in 2009 he and Amanda opened The Wild Garlic, in Beaminster. It was a hugely respected restaurant that drew crowds and restaurant critics from across the UK but when the Beaminster tunnel collapsed and remained closed for many months, it had a devastating effect on their business and in 2013 The Wild Garlic closed. When Mat speaks of it now you can see that the pain of losing the restaurant still lingers. Following a number of culinary excursions, in 2016 Mat settled in Poundbury where he opened Bramble Cafe and Deli. >

56 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 57

58 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Mat’s relentless love of cooking has now brought him here, to Sherborne, where later this month Mat and Amanda will open Bramble, an intentionally small restaurant of just 12 covers (appropriate social distancing in place), and with the kitchen in full view.

Open Friday and Saturday evenings only, Bramble has the makings of a cosy supper club experience where lucky diners can expect tasting menus brimming with local produce and Mat’s own foraged ingredients.

Mat grew up in New Zealand. It was a ‘rough and tumble kind of childhood. We were outside most of the time as kids,’ he recalls. ‘We used to break-in horses, my mum strapping me onto the horse and off we’d go.

I reckon I have got a few broken bones in my feet from that.’ The rough and tumble gave Mat the confidence to experiment and determination to pick himself up, while the years spent outdoors instilled a fascination and understanding of nature as a bountiful food source.

With that in mind, we head off for a forage in the woods and fields near his home. In no time Mat is picking a stem of hogweed and offers me the seeds.

Warily – given hogweed’s reputation for causing nasty burns – I nibble and am immediately hit by a flavour of cardamom. ‘I use the seeds on breads,’ enthuses Mat. Further along the path we’re chewing on the flowers of wild vetch (part of the pea family; you’d recognise the leaves). Later, it is meadowsweet and then plantain grasses, said to have strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Soon, we come across a hedge covered in sloes.

Our walk has offered a tantalising glimpse and I am disappointed now to have missed the season, which runs between March and September, when Mat runs his foraging courses. The courses start with a walk along Chesil Beach, before exploring fields and hedgerows and then end here at the restaurant, with lunch cooked from the day’s finds. While I make a mental note to book for next year, Mat starts picking sloe berries destined for the restaurant or possibly his other sideline: ‘British Mûre’, a range of liquors which also include Blackberry Gin, Marmalade Whisky and Roast Coffee & Rum. ‘I love Dorset,’ says Mat, ‘the birds, the sea, free seafood to forage at the coast, diving for scallops and the wonderful produce.’ It was the seafood that helped him win Masterchef. ‘I gave the home economist for the show a long list of ingredients for the final,’ recalls Mat, ‘and she rang and said she was dumbfounded and couldn’t find half of them, so I ended riding up to the show [Mat’s ride of choice these days being an arguably just as wild Harley-Davidson Street Bob] with all this produce from down here and two spider crabs strapped on the back.’ Crab Thermidor was his winning recipe.

‘We don’t eat enough spider crab here,’ adds Mat. ‘A lot is caught off the Dorset coast, but most of it goes abroad because the Brits don’t eat it.’

By trade, Mat is an engineer. He and Amanda met while both working at IBM. So, what made him enter Masterchef ? ‘I have always enjoyed cooking,’ says Mat. > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 59

60 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 61

62 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

‘When I was younger, I lived in Thailand while working as a diving instructor, but in the evenings, I cooked in a local cafe using whatever fish I’d caught that day.

I would watch Masterchef and it was one of those moments when I shouted at the television, I could do that! and so, I just decided to enter. I was told to ‘cook from the heart’ by Gregg Wallace.’

The filming took nine months and during that time, Mat became more and more interested in food and flavours to the point of realising his calling. He suggested to Amanda that it would be great to give up work and do it full time. Her reply: ‘If you win that’s what we’ll do.’

‘I have spent 11 years working as a chef and I have to wake up and pinch myself,’ adds Mat. ‘I guess because I am a trained engineer, I like to experiment and come up with flavour combinations; I like being creative, taking classic dishes and bending the rules.’

A sneak preview of the Bramble Restaurant menu reveals seasonal dishes such as rabbit and blackberry terrine, duck breast with Mûre and delicious looking vegetarian options. With Bramble, Mat is liberated to explore new ideas, experiment with flavours and get back to what he loves – cooking for people. So welcome to Sherborne Mat, a little old town that’s becoming quite the foodie destination.

Bramble Restaurant opens 13th November.

For reservations visit bramblerestaurant.com or call 01935 812888

OneMoment/Shutterstock

MAT’S SLOE GIN RECIPE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Pick sloes as soon as they start to pucker Freeze for a minimum of 24 hours Fill 2/3 of a 1 litre jar with sloes Top up with vodka Seal jar well Leave for 2 months Decant (use the berries for making clafoutis) Infuse with a chopped lemon and a tsp of juniper for 2 weeks 9 Finish with 300g of honey or 400g of light brown sugar to taste

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 63

elizabethwatsonillustration.com

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FRUIT & VEG • ECO LIVING • REFILLS • PET FOOD Open 7 days a week • Telephone 01935 812509 For home deliveries email sherbornemarketfruitandveg@aol.co.uk 64 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

1st Birthday Celebration Signature Menu To celebrate our first year we have created a menu featuring seven of Luke’s most exceptional dishes. Available from October 22nd for one month only

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Food and Drink

THE CAKE WHISPERER Val Stones

APPLE AND HONEY CAKE Image: Katharine Davies

W

hen I moved to Somerset, I soon planted apple trees in my garden. What I didn’t realise was that having 5 apple trees cropped a huge number of apples. At this time of year, I spend a lot of time processing apples: I freeze them; include them in chutneys; make apple curd and jellies, as well as adding them to cakes and bakes.

This cake recipe is a little like a Madeira cake in consistency, but the buttery taste makes it even more delicious.

Preparation time: 1 hr 40 mins What you will need

• You can make this cake in two 23cm round tins, or 2 square 25cm deep tins. If you choose to, you might like to make the cake in two 2lb loaf tins and leave undecorated.

• Stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer • For a round cake, you could use a cake turntable when decorating • Wilton 2D nozzle/tip • Off-set palette knife • A cake scraper to decorate the sides of the cake Ingredients (Serves 12-24)

The cake 360g lightly beaten eggs 278g caster sugar 140g softened unsalted butter 220g soft margarine 360g self-raising flour 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 66 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

6g baking powder 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon runny honey 200g apple puree The apple syrup 2-3 medium Bramley apples that when cooked down will give about 450g pureed apples 3 tablespoons water 100g caster sugar 1 rounded dessert spoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Apple Chantilly cream (for decorating the round style cake) 500ml double cream 1 rounded tablespoon skimmed dried milk 4 rounded tablespoons icing sugar 1 tablespoon runny honey 1 tablespoon apple syrup 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract *Loaf tin option* If you are making the loaf tin cakes, sprinkle each cake with 1 tablespoon of demerara sugar; it will give a nice crunchy topping!

To make the cake

1 Set the oven to 160C fan 180-190C, 350-375F, gas 4-5 2 Place the caster sugar, butter, and margarine in a bowl. Mix on low speed for one minute and leave for one minute to allow the sugar to dissolve a little.

Beat until light and fluffy.

3 Gradually add the egg a little at a time and beat in between. Tip – if the mixture curdles a little, add a dessert spoon of the flour.

4 Sift together the flour, cinnamon and baking powder. Then, fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture, and add the vanilla extract.

5 Incorporate the apple puree into the mixture and combine well.

6 Pour the mixture equally between the tins of your choice and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. The cake is baked when it is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Leave in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

To make the apple syrup 1 Peel, core and slice the apples thinly, then place in a pan with water and simmer until the apple is pulped.

2 Push the apple through a sieve and then back into the pan.

3 Add the sugar and cinnamon then simmer for 5 minutes. Cool slightly and place in a sterilised jam jar.

To make the apple and honey Chantilly cream 1 Tip - adding skimmed milk to the cream helps stabilise the mixture naturally, so the cream will hold its shape well and, once prepared, can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.

2 Place the double cream in stand mixer bowl or use a hand-held electric mixer. Stir in the milk powder and allow to stand for a minute to dissolve.

3 Stir in the icing sugar, and beat on medium until the cream begins to thicken. Occasionally, stop and push the thinner cream on the sides of the bowl into the middle.

4 When the cream holds its shape, fold in the honey, apple syrup and vanilla extract. If the cream seems to have thinned, beat a little more to regain a firm hold.

To assemble the cake 1 Using a serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally so that you have four layers.

2 Place a dessert spoon of cream on the display plate – this helps anchor the cake to the plate. Then, lightly spread a layer of apple syrup on the cake, followed by 3 tablespoons of the cream on top of the syrup layer.

3 Repeat this with two more layers and then make sure you leave a flat base for the fourth layer and

place this on top.

4 Spread a final layer of cream evenly on the top of the cake.

5 Either leave the cake showing the layers or place cream around the cake and smooth off the excess cream to create a ‘semi-naked’ finish.

To pipe roses on the top of the cake for decoration Place the remaining cream in a disposable piping bag with a 2D piping nozzle. Hold the nozzle vertically 2cm above the cake and begin to pipe from the centre of the rose in a round movement to form a rose, lift the piping nozzle from the piped rose with a twist of your wrist to leave a clean finish.

To serve Either serve straight away or place in the fridge to firm up for 2 hours, before serving. This cake can be kept in a fridge for up to 3 days, but I would rather serve it on the day it is made.

For the loaf tins, do not decorate but add only demerara sugar to the tops before baking.

If you are having a busy week, bake the cakes when you have some time and either freeze, if needed more than 3 days ahead, or leave in the fridge in an airtight tin until ready to be decorated.

I wanted to make this cake just a little more special, so I added handmade fondant bees and honeycomb, but there is no need to do this as the cake is delicious as it is. bakerval.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 67

Food and Drink

PAN-ROASTED PHEASANT WITH BEETROOT AND APPLE PURÉE Sasha Matkevich, The Green Restaurant Image: Clint Randall

A

delicious, delicate gamey bird – pheasant works so well with the natural sweetness of beetroot and apples roasted this way.

Ingredients (serves 4)

8 pheasant breasts, skin on 6 small beetroots, washed 4 Braeburn apples 140g unsalted butter 2tbsp creme fraiche 3tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1tbsp parsley, finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic 2 sprigs of thyme 2 sprigs of rosemary 100ml white wine Sea salt and finely ground black pepper Method

1 Preheat the oven to 160°C. Put the beetroot in a deep roasting tray and season with salt, pepper, olive oil, crushed garlic cloves, time and rosemary.

Roast the beetroot in the oven for half an hour, occasionally turning and basting.

2 Remove the cores from the apples and add to the roasting tray. Cook for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the apples are very soft. Remove from the oven and allow the beetroot to cool slightly.

3 Remove the skin from the beetroot and apples, then cut the beetroot into rough cubes and place, together with the apples, into the blender.

4 Add 40g of butter and a generous amount of 68 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

black pepper and sea salt. Blend to a really smooth purée (it will be a vibrant colour). Taste and adjust the seasoning.

5 Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. 6 Season the pheasant breasts all over with salt and pepper, then place an ovenproof frying pan over a medium-high heat and add a little olive oil. When the pan is almost smoking, add the pheasant breasts, skin side down and cook for three minutes without moving until the skin is golden brown. Add the remaining butter and transfer the pan to the oven and cook for a further three minutes, without turning the pheasant.

7 Remove the pheasant from the oven and transfer onto a cooling rack. Leave to rest in a warm place for about 10 minutes.

8 Meanwhile, gently reheat the beetroot and apple purée in a saucepan over the low heat, stirring to prevent it from sticking or burning.

9 Deglaze the frying pan with white wine and bring it to the boil. Strain through a fine sieve into a small saucepan.

10 Bring to the boil again and reduce to make a sauce, it should only take a minute or two.

Add the chopped parsley and check the seasoning.

To Serve 11 Divide the warm purée onto four plates and arrange two pheasant breasts on top of each portion. Dress with the parsley sauce and serve immediately. greenrestaurant.co.uk

A MONTH ON THE PIG FARM

I

James Hull, The Story Pig

t’s dark in the mornings now and getting much darker in the evenings too; when the rain comes, it hangs around longer. The seasons are a-changing, the wind blows and dries the soil out again until the next deluge. The ground is so much softer now; easier for the pigs to dig and discover. I have spent the last few weeks fencing our main pig field, which is kneehigh in new grass, in to paddocks ready to move the pigs back up there for the winter. I love it when it’s all set out, straight lines, neat rows of pig arks and carefully placed water troughs. I know it won’t stay like that - the pigs will try and move the water troughs, dig under the fences and generally change things!

Today, I start the big move - one group at a time.

Moving pigs is a skill; they will not be driven like cows or sheep, they will not respond to our dog Blue (although he thinks they do). Pigs only respond to two things, food or being given no option. For the majority, food works; a sprinkle of pig nuts at the ramp of our livestock trailer will entice most of the pen into the trailer without looking back. That can take literally a minute, then close the ramp and deliver to the new allotted pen. Then, back for the stragglers; the more cautious members of the group and inevitably, there are always a couple that will not go in. They will sniff the trailer ramp with their bodies at full stretch, the slightest noise making them run away and then start all over again, sniffing and snortling back again for another go. This is a battle of wits and normally comes down to how much time and patience I have. This is where the no option bit comes in to play: hurdles are gathered, a pen is made by the fence, trough put in the pen opening

and wait – eventually, they will trot in for food. I have to creep up, so they don’t see me, drag the hurdle round and gotcha! Then, open the trailer again and up they trot as if they were going to do it all along. I often wonder if these are actually the cleverest pigs of all.

Back at the farm, we have doubled the number of solar panels high up on our shed roof. As many of you will remember, we run our farm completely on green energy from the sun and since we built our butchery and fridges in the spring, we have needed more power. Today is the day of connection, so looking forward to that.

At last, we have help on the farm, Charlotte’s son, Sten, has come to live with us from Sweden for a year, before he hopefully goes off to Falmouth university to study film and photography next year. He’s going to be a big help to Charlotte and me, as we get ready for Christmas and then with opening our shop and cafe next March.

We are putting our garden to bed now; the lavenders are all trimmed ready for slumber, the beds are covered in a new layer of compost and we still have lots of veg to dig for the hungry winter months. No piglets born at all this month – there are four expectant mums getting ready to drop in the next few weeks though.

Last but certainly not least, as one of the original stands at The Sherborne Market, it is fantastic to see how it is growing and how well it is being supported.

During these horribly unsettling times, it has been a shining star for Sherborne every month. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make it safe for all of us and most importantly, thanks Jules! thestorypig.co.uk

FROM FIELD TO

CHRISTMAS TABLE

Order our homegrown Tamworth ham, sausages, sausage-meat and bacon

The finest quality and flavour for your Christmas table!

See more at www.thestorypig.co.uk

A wide selection of Tamworth meats and meat boxes.

Please email or phone us with your individual requirements.

Also now taking bookings for our amazing Tamworth Hog roasts, you have never had crackling like it!!

The Story Pig, Sandford Orcas, Sherborne

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 69

Food and Drink

SEASON OF MIST AND MELLOW FRUITFULNESS David Copp

Barmalini/Shutterstock

I

never tire of reading John Keats ‘Ode to Autumn’, written after wandering through the water meadows of Winchester. When we lived on Long Street, we often walked in the water meadows of the Yeo. Not quite the same thing, despite the fact we also have a magnificent abbey church as backdrop to our meadows.

Besides, I am not a poet and my thoughts were not so much on golden leaves as golden wines: old sherry 70 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

wines to be more precise. Because autumn is the time when my wife comes into her own with her wonderful homemade soups, and there is no other drink I prefer with soup than sherry. Or sherris sack, as Sir John Falstaff insisted on calling it.

Not the lovely light finos of Gonzalez, Domecq and Hidalgo that made sherry the most popular aperitif in England, until the arrival of ‘dry white wine’. The wines I most like are beautifully blended and balanced, very

fine, older wines.

Wines developed in the solera system. The solera system in Jerez is a gradual blending process of refreshing older wines with younger wines by stacking butts three high. They all start off as fino but each year, a third of the wine from each butt on the bottom row is drawn off for bottling to be replaced by with the maturing wine from the barrels above. The middle row is filled up from the top row and new wine added to the top row.

Such long, slow maturation in good wood adds richness of flavour and character which, in my opinion, makes some of the world’s most remarkable fine wines; they are true classics of their type and probably represent the best value-for-money fine wines in the world. Although they are harder to find, they are still available from about £10 a half bottle.

How did we English become addicted to fortified wine from southern Spain? I put it down to two quite different English characters. Sir Francis Drake had the daring, skill and courage to get into Cadiz harbour and set fire to the newly built Spanish Armada fleet about to set sail for the conquest of England. Having ‘singed the beard of the king of Spain’ he then loaded his holds with 2,900 butts (each containing about 110 litres of wine) which had been set aside to provision the Armada fleet. The wine was auctioned off in London, and because it was unknown, sold at low prices so that before long almost every tavern in England was proud to offer ‘Authentic Cadiz’.

Its popularity was boosted by the up and coming playwright William Shakespeare, who was well into his ‘histories’ and had introduced Sir John Falstaff as a popular character. Falstaff, it appears, had appointed himself ‘taster’ at the Old Boars Head Tavern and went on record as declaring: ‘If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them would be to forswear thin potations and addict themselves to sherris sack.’

Sherris sack - strong and cheap - became so popular English traders set up in business in one of the three wine villages of Jerez de la Fontera, Puerto Santa Maria and Sanlucar de Barremuda. The English were soon followed by the Scots, Irish and Dutch, and within a few decades, they made tiny little Jerez a very prosperous town, now shipping thousands of butts of sherry first to northern Europe, and then to the capital cities of the world.

Popular taste changes regularly, but the taste for

classic wines seems to go on forever and I am pleased to report that although sherry is not as popular as it was in the 1970s, some of the great old sherry houses such as Williams and Humbert and Lustau are still producing them. It is true, they are harder to come by, so it is useful to know what I call proper wine merchants, such as our own Vineyards (if you haven’t already heard, Vineyards was recently named by Harpers Wine & Spirit as one of England’s very best independent wine merchants), Waitrose and Sainsburys have half bottles in the £10 - £12 price range for 10-12 year old wines. I have a half copita (small wine glass) two or three times a week and a half litre each of old Amontillado and old Oloroso see me through the worst of the winter!

Apart from the soup, I can highly recommend both wines with fried mushrooms on toast or with anchovies fried Moorish style with garlic and cumin. Grilled almonds with a glass before dinner is a pleasant change from dry white wine and if you like hard cheeses, try old Oloroso. You will have a pleasant surprise.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Barbadillo ‘Full Dry’ Oloroso £11, (full-sized 75cl btl), Vineyards The Barbadillo family are key players in the sherry trade. From their base in the coastal city of Sanlucar de Barrameda, the family have forged a reputation

as one of the biggest and best sherry producers. Delicious, almost syrupy notes of dried fruits and nuts.

Gonzalez Byass ‘La Concha’ Amontillado £11, (full-sized 75cl btl), Vineyards All the grapes are from vineyards

owned by Gonzalez Byass in the Jerez Superior area. This rich, medium-

dry sherry is packed full of aromatic nuttiness and deep, velvety caramel

flavours. Made from Palomino with a touch of Pedro Ximenez. vineyardofssherborne.co.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 71

elizabethwatsonillustration.com 72 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

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Independent veterinary services for livestock in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire Collection points for livestock medicines and supplies at Sherborne, Sturminster Newton, Blandford and Shaftesbury Please call the office on 01258 472314

www.friarsmoorvets.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 73

Animal Care

HOUSEMATES

Mark Newton-Clarke MAVetMB PhD MRCVS, Newton Clarke Veterinary Surgeon

I

t’s that time of year when I start trying to feel positive about winter. This usually means buying yet more head torches and checking the waterproof walking gear. As this is being written, October’s start has been as wet as spring was dry. Lucky then that Portia, our black Labrador, loves running in the rain and her enthusiasm is infectious. The terriers, however, appear determined to quarantine themselves away from any such affliction. If you are a cat owner, you will be familiar with the seasonal rhythms of feline behaviour.

Prepare to lose the most comfortable part of the sofa to a sleeping puss.

Whether you have a water-loving dog or a semihibernating cat, their presence in the home can be a great comfort for the human occupants. The benefits of sharing our lives with non-humans is well documented and of course, is not limited to dogs and cats. Pet chickens and pigs also make great companions, although their husbandry doesn’t mix well with living in the same space as their owners.

74 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

As we prepare to spend so much more time inside our homes, not just because of the weather, social interactions between occupants become intensified.

If you have a multi-cat household, stress between the members of the ‘pride’ can lead to some anti-social behaviour. If a new kitten or cat has entered the home over the summer, confinement often leads to friction. I wrote about the solitary nature of the domestic cat last month and the way feline stress becomes manifest in physical symptoms. There are several strategies aimed at minimising winter’s effect of closer cat confinement and these include pheromone diffusers and herbal sprays. Giving each cat its own space and litter tray (plus one extra, if you have to use them) is especially important, as is covering the tray if you have a shy kitten. Most of us regard litter trays as a necessary evil, even though kittens seem to need no training in their use. My preference is a micro-chip activated cat flap, programmed to allow only your cat, or cats, access to your home. These clever devices can be set to

Lidia Nayana/Shutterstock

prevent late night outdoor trips, helping to curb the nocturnal instincts of these natural hunters.

From a medical viewpoint, litter trays have some merit. Responsible dog owners are all too aware of their dog’s internal workings and distasteful the subject may be, faecal analysis gives clinicians important information. Like other body fluids and effluents, we can perform a range of tests on faeces looking for parasites and bacteria, undigested food and foreign material. Well, we can if the raw material is available, but outdoor cats are good at hiding the evidence. Sometimes, I will recommend confinement in a cage with a litter tray so that a sample is provided. You will be surprised at how long a determined cat can cross its legs!

Mature cats suffer from IBS-like disorders relatively frequently, but the diagnosis depends on ruling out other causes of diarrhoea. At the other end of the age spectrum, kittens with diarrhoea generally have either a parasitic infestation or a viral infection (I

am determined not to mention the name of the virus, as I am certain you are all sick of hearing about the human form!) One parasite is a tiny bug called Tritrichomonas and under the microscope its movements have been likened to a falling leaf. How seasonal! Unfortunately, this protozoan is actually quite difficult to treat, although diet and probiotics can often help the kitten’s natural resistance to throw off the infection.

Sharing our homes with dogs and cats inevitably brings up the issue of zoonotic disease, the transfer of an infection from animal to human. In our increasingly sanitised Western world, this is quite uncommon but certainly still possible. Modern medicines, when used regularly, have almost abolished the risk of roundworm (Toxocara) infection in humans but we should not be complacent. With all those new puppies and kittens entering homes across the country, a comprehensive worming strategy is as important as ever. All kittens and puppies carry roundworms, the microscopic eggs being passed in faeces, so regular worming is vital to protect all members of the household.

The commonest parasite is the humble flea. Having no respect for social boundaries, fleas have had a field day in the last few decades with the advent of fitted carpets, central heating and double glazing. Most dogs and cats will tolerate the odd flea and you may not even notice their presence, until numbers multiply and humans become targets or pets develop an allergy to the flea bite. I mention this now as we see a spike in demand for flea treatments around November when dormant flea eggs seize the moment, morphing into larvae and young adults as the radiators glow. If you have been a little lax with the flea treatments over the summer, now is the time to turn the screw, hoover like crazy and wash anything that’s not nailed down.

When I sat down to write this piece, I was determined to make it upbeat in an attempt to counter the forces of nature that are gathering to challenge us all. Reading back, it seems I have talked about nothing but poo and parasites! I really don’t know how that happened.

So I want to end on a positive note by reporting that at the surgery this morning we had the pleasure of welcoming in clients one-by-one with their pets, instead of consults under umbrellas in the car park. So that’s another step forward on the road to normality and by working together and taking care of the things we hold dear, the rest will follow. newtonclarkevet.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 75

Animal Care

CUSHING’S DISEASE

D

Dr. Hannah Al-Temimi MRCVS, Kingston Vets

oes your horse seem a little bit ‘flat’ or not himself lately? Has he been slow to lose his winter coat or had a few laminitic episodes in the past? He may have a disease called Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID), colloquially known as ‘Cushing’s Disease’.

PPID is a chronic, progressive age-related disease in horses, ponies and donkeys. It has even been reported in wild ponies and zebras. Every equid has an area of the brain called the pituitary gland which itself is split into several functional sections, one being the pituitary pars intermedia. This section produces hormones and precursor hormones which are responsible for normal body functions. In PPID, the normal mechanism which controls this hormone production is damaged, causing a loss of dopaminergic inhibition and a hyperplasia of cells in the pars intermedia region. This in turn leads to an excess of hormone production by the pituitary gland which then affects the whole body. Furthermore, the hyperplasia can cause compression of other areas of the brain, leading to blindness and seizures.

Outward symptoms of PPID which the owner can look out for are: • The horse looking ‘dull’ and feeling ‘flat’ when ridden (lethargy) • Hirsutism or hypertrichosis (changes in hair coat or a curly coat) • Hyperhydrosis (inappropriate or excessive sweating) • Chronic infections (hoof abscess, respiratory infections, non-healing wounds) • Loss of weight or muscle mass • Pot belly appearance • A wetter bed caused by increased drinking (polydipsia) and increased urination (polyuria) • Laminitis Diagnosis is normally achieved using the history of the horse, clinical signs and a quick bloodtest to measure basal ACTH hormone levels. There are other tests available for this chronic disease, but they are usually secondary and only performed if needed.

To improve quality of life for a PPID horse, the gold standard is a dopamine agonist called pergolide. It restores inhibition in the pars intermedia and decreases production of the hormones causing all of the symptoms. As well as giving a horse this medicine, other PPID management includes monitoring and treating secondary infections, consistent blood-tests to monitor ACTH hormone levels, clipping the horse to prevent over-heating if they cannot shed their winter coats, regular dental work and farriery, and suitable nutrition based on the horse’s body condition score.

Although this chronic disease sounds awful to us, horses have a wonderful quality of life once the disease is managed with the above steps. Recent research has made this possible and PPID is no longer considered a reason to end a horse’s life, if the disease is well-controlled.

Please talk to your vet if you have seen any of the symptoms listed for PPID in your horse. kingstonvets.co.uk

76 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Laura Battiato/Shutterstock

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 77

elizabethwatsonillustration.com

The Coffee Pod at Oxley Sports Centre is open.

Serving hot and cold drinks, snacks and delicious food to suit all tastes and pockets.

www.oxleysc.com

78 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

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Body and Mind

AFTER EFFECTS Sarah Hitch, The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms and The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre

Peppersmint/Shutterstock

I

n the weeks, months and even years of post-summer, many people will notice the appearance of dark spots and patches known as hyperpigmentation. This can be from frequent careless or unexpected exposure, or from a memorable event of sunburn. One of the main reasons for its occurrence is down to UV exposure from the sun which can happen in our younger years and ultimately manifests over time. Some medications also increase your likelihood of developing pigmentation after sun exposure this may be temporary or permanent. Drugs which have associations with pigmentation are antibiotics, antimalarial drugs, anticoagulants, antiarrhythmics etc.

Hormone levels can also play a part and produce masklike dark patches on the face or upper lip. Reactions to perfumed products on the skin and stress can form on the skin in larger patches, often on the chest.

Hyperpigmentation occurs due to the overproduction of melanin: the pigment in our skin. The melanocytes, which make the pigment, go into overdrive and produce too much, usually as a defensive and protective response.

Another commonly seen and suffered type of pigmentation is post inflammatory pigmentation. Post inflammatory pigmentation is the deep purple scarring of the skin which occurs after dermal inflammation as a result of an acne breakout or from a skin wound. This can be difficult to remove, particularly if the damaged tissue has been exposed to sunlight whilst healing, but improvement can usually be made with a combination of products and skincare treatments.

Affecting a wide range of individuals to varying degrees these highly common ‘imperfections’ can be found on the face, neck, arms, hands and chest 80 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

as they are the areas most often exposed to the elements. No doubt many of you will have some form of pigmentation and whilst the condition can affect younger skin, it is often more apparent as skin ages.

You may find your pigmentation fades in the winter, but returns in the summer. To reduce this, protect your skin from the sun 365 days of the year to enable the melanocytes to return to a natural production cycle.

The good news is that there are some effective treatments for hyperpigmentation. Advanced technology-based systems such as laser and light therapies which can tackle these specific skin concerns quickly and mostly effectively. The autumn is a good time to treat pigmentation while exposure to strong sunlight is less. There are also highly active products which can be used in a professional treatment or be recommended for use at home. Some of the most popular options for treating hyperpigmentation involve deep exfoliation of the skin, which increases cell renewal, encouraging it to produce new undamaged skin cells.

Treatments such as microdermabrasion and chemical skin peels can be effective remedies as they remove the top layer of the epidermis, revealing brighter skin and improving its texture as well as helping other issues.

Prevention is better than cure, so it’s essential that you regularly inhibit further damage.

The importance of protecting the skin by wearing a SPF of 30-50 daily is a must. I can’t stress enough the value of year-round protection as opposed to a summer skincare routine. thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk

After a successful 3 years being the proud owner of Pure Hair Sherborne, I am excited to announce that we have added to the family with a new shiny salon in the town of Sturminster Newton. Opening our doors on 13th October 2020, I would like to welcome you, and all new clients, with an unmissable offer:

Special Offer Quote SHERBORNETIMES when booking your first 2 appointments and get

20% off

The team and I at Pure Hair Sturminster Newton look forward to to welcoming you to our new salon, offering a relaxing, safe environment within current government guidelines.

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN 01935 814172

9 Market Place, Sturminster Newton DT10 1AS 01258 475444

www.purehairsherborne.co.uk

Body & Mind

YOUR MONEY AND MENTAL HEALTH Lucy Lewis, Dorset Mind Ambassador

T

his year, most of us have felt the strain on our finances: job losses; insufficient financial support, and fewer career opportunities have left many of us feeling uncertain and overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, money troubles can have a negative effect on our mental health, such as heightened anxiety, stress, or sadness.

However, there is help available for those struggling with their finances, mental health, or a combination of both. Read our 5-step blueprint for coping in a crisis and where you can find further support for money worries.

82 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

1. Reach out to stay safe

Contact a trusted family member, friend or professional and let them know you are struggling to cope with your financial situation or your mental health. Always remember that no one is strong all the time, and it is ok to have moments where you need extra support from those you love. The goal isn’t for them to fix your issues, but to listen to you and support you through your difficulties.

There are many different organisations with resources, expertise, and time to support you through mental health

steps you can take to improve your situation. Ignoring your problems may make you feel better in the short term but in the long run, it will only exacerbate your issues. Although it may feel difficult, making a plan can help you regain a sense of control and help you feel less overwhelmed. If you feel distressed, try making the plan with the help of a loved one.

Alternatively, organisations such as Citizen’s Advice Bureau or Step Change can offer further support with budgeting and debt relief.

3. Prioritise your wellbeing

No matter what, your mental health should come first.

Whilst this doesn’t mean that you should fulfil every material want that crosses your mind in the name of better mental health, you should always make the time to protect your wellbeing. Schedule in self-care, educate yourself on living life mentally healthily and talk to mental health professionals if you need further support. Take a look at the 5 Ways to Wellbeing on our website for small ways to improve your mental health every day.

4. Keep talking

You matter, and in whatever form, and to whoever you feel comfortable, keep talking about how you feel.

The simple act of talking will continue to help you process your feelings and to plan for the future. It will also help you release and dissipate negative, difficult or overwhelming feelings.

5. Be mindful of how your mental health and spending habits influence each other

Fizkes/Shutterstock

or financial difficulties. Visit our website for a database of useful links to organisations supporting people through many common problems, such as gambling addiction, housing, or debt support charities.

Remember, if you need someone to talk to, you can always contact the Samaritans for free by calling 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org for emotional support.

2. Make a simple plan

Even if your financial situation seems inescapable or impossible to fix completely, there may be some

Take note of when you tend to spend or save more.

Do your emotions affect your spending? Which aspects of dealing with money make your mental health worse?

Being aware of how you feel and how it affects your behaviour can help you learn when to prepare for increased stress and take better control of the situation.

Try keeping a diary of your mood and spending to see if you can spot any patterns that you could use to improve your wellbeing and spending habits.

It is always worth reaching out and asking for help.

Remember, if your mental health is affecting your daily life, contact your GP or other mental health professionals to gain further support.

For further mental health information, resources, and local support in Dorset visit dorsetmind.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 83

Body & Mind

A CHAIN OF EVENTS Mike Riley, Riley’s Cycles Serendipity

Perhaps it is how I am wired that I am excited to find links in seemingly random events; it reassures me to think there is some order in the universe. In the same way, I enjoy puns where I make a tenuous link to elicit a groan from those I inflict them on.

Another thing I appreciate is the talent modestly tucked away in Sherborne.

Sustainability

Before I took over the cycle business, I was tasked with improving the environmental management of a large defence engineering company. I brought the philosophy and practices I learned there to the cycle business and am always keen to reduce our environmental impact.

I was off to a good start as cycling is fundamentally green because every journey on a bike displaces a car journey which reduces carbon emissions. At Riley’s Cycles we tried to find uses for by-products of the business such as packaging and worn out items.

• Foam packaging goes to a local school’s Design Technology department.

• Cardboard bike boxes mulch trees in the woods where our logs for the wood-burner come from. The rest is recycled by Dorset Waste Partnership.

• Ferrous scrap metal goes to Dorset Forge at Alweston.

• Aluminium and e-bike batteries are recycled.

• Inner tubes and tyres were not easy, but people find interesting uses such as tree ties. We even had a lady make an evening dress from them! I use them as ties to secure bikes in my van. A note of caution though, they do perish so don’t rely on them to support objects. I found this out the hard way when we opened the shop one morning and found one of my prized classic bikes had fallen off the wall after the tube securing it failed. Recently, I found our main supplier Schwalbe have started a recycling scheme so we can return inner tubes to them.

Cyclists and mechanics enjoy a coffee and the coffee 84 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Image: Katharine Davies

machine cartridges are also recycled.

Bikes which are uneconomical to repair go to Prodigal Bikes who give work to disadvantaged persons and send the repaired bikes to Kenya.

Supply Chain

We may find we have to recycle even more bikes next year because the global cycle business supply chain is in chaos and suppliers are telling us we should start ordering for 2022 because 2021 quotas have been pre-ordered and there are not enough parts being produced to meet demand for bikes. Next year is going to be interesting for the bicycle trade.

Talent Shows

So, you may be wondering where does serendipity come into this? Well, I was watching highlights of

the Giro d’Italia on an obscure channel I would not normally watch, when the inevitable adverts came on and my trigger finger flicked over the channel. I landed on a programme I had never heard of called Scrap Kings. The episode showed a talented sculptor making life-sized archers from scrap metal. As I watched him skilfully adding chainmail using scrap bicycle chains and listened to his colleague describe the process, I thought, I recognise those guys and sure enough it was Chris and Martin from Dorset Forge who collect our scrap metal, so they were probably our discarded bicycle chains which were being repurposed!

On a much smaller scale, Martin made a trophy for our cycle club from bicycle parts and I had a chance to visit the workshop and also their studio at Alweston.

I was blown away by the clever use of the material and the imagination applied to capture complex

and dynamic subjects in a medium you would not associate with beauty.

A few months earlier a similar thing happened when I bought a camper van in poor condition as a lockdown project. I was searching YouTube for information about restoring the van and found an episode of a programme showing how a similar van was restored. As I watched the show, I recognised a character being interviewed and it was Ian from Ace Mouldings here in Sherborne; he and his team help us with carbon fibre bicycle frame repairs, among other things, and they have worked on fascinating projects and probably know more than some aerospace designers about composites.

It is great to see local businesses achieving national recognition on TV. rileyscycles.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 85

Body & Mind

BOOTCAMPS

Image: Stuart Brill

Craig Hardaker, BSc (Hons), Communifit

W

e always train safe and train smart. One of our strict Covid-19 measures is to train outdoors as much as possible for our bootcamp exercise classes. Fresh air and plenty of space helps to create such a wonderful refreshing environment.

But, what is a bootcamp and how can it help?

Why are they called bootcamps? The term ‘boot’ originates from US Navy and Marine recruits in the Spanish American War (1898) who wore leggings called boots. These recruits were trained in boot camps and involved challenging tasks. Thankfully, our bootcamps aren’t so serious and cater for all age groups and abilities! We cover all areas and here are some: We train the heart and lungs to improve our aerobic fitness: a person’s ability to deliver oxygen to the working muscle. This could be through walking/ running drills or simpler exercises such as a star jump.

If you get out of breath quickly and easily, then you need to improve your cardiovascular (CV) fitness! The recommended amount of time spent on CV fitness is 150-300 minutes per week of moderately intense exercise. It is best to choose exercises that use large muscle groups in a rhythmical 86 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Bootcamps are renowned for the exercises that incorporate strength conditioning. This could be advanced exercises such as a tyre flip, or an easier alternative such as a bodyweight squat. Each session is planned to incorporate all the major muscle groups of the body. Some exercises will seem easier than others; this all depends on your strengths and weaknesses – we are all different! Regular attendance is proven to improve strength.

A strong core helps keep a more upright and erect posture whether you’re being active or just sitting at a desk. Bootcamp exercise classes incorporate core strength and core stability from start to finish, whether this be on a mat or through multifunctional movement patterns. Having a strong core is hugely important in everything we do.

So there you have it. You now know why they’re called bootcamps, what is involved and how they can help you. A very popular exercise class tailored to all!

We hope to see you soon at one of our four-weekly bootcamp sessions. communifit.co.uk

White Feather Care is a unique heartfelt care support service, providing practical and emotional support to the individual and their families.

Exercise classes in Dorset and Somerset

Emily Spearing 07737 496617 emily@whitefeathercare.com www.whitefeathercare.com

WE ARE BACK WITH NEW CLASSES

DORCHESTER PODIATRY AND WELLBEING Podiatry Services HCPC registered • Routine nail cutting • Corn and callus removal • Ingrowing nails • Insoles and Gait analysis • Diabetic / arthritic foot care • Verrucae treatments • Nail surgery • Shockwave therapy • Fungal infections

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YogaSherborne Small classes and 1-1’s • Hatha Yoga • Relaxation and guided meditation Contact Dawn for more details 07817 624081 @yogasherborne hello@yogasherborne.co.uk Yoga Alliance qualified teacher

Sit & Strengthen

A chair-based exercise class aiming to increase your strength, flexibility, joint mobility, balance & functional independence - all while having fun!

Monday 1pm & Friday 12.30pm, Tinneys Lane Wednesday 2.15pm, West End Hall 45mins

Stand & Strengthen

Same objectives as Sit & Strengthen, but you are standing! Targets all major muscle groups. You must be able to stand for the whole duration.

Monday 12pm & Friday 1.30pm, Tinneys Lane Wednesday 3.15pm, West End Hall 45mins

Don’t Lose It, Move It!

An active circuit-based class improving muscle strength, aerobic fitness & core stability. Be proactive, not reactive, towards your health & fitness!

Monday 11pm & Friday 2.30pm, Tinneys Lane Wednesday 4.15pm, West End Hall 45mins We are continuing to follow government guidelines but are determined to keep you strong, physically and mentally

CONTACT T: 07791 308773 E: info@communifit.co.uk Muntanya is an independent trekking and outdoors shop offering clothing and equipment from major suppliers.

7 Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PT david@muntanya.co.uk 01935 389484 • 07875 465218 www.muntanya.co.uk

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 87

Body & Mind

RESISTANCE BAND TRAINING

T

Simon Partridge BSc (Sports Science), Personal Trainer, SPFit

he pandemic has meant changes for many of us, including our exercise habits. There has never been a better time to stray outside your comfort zone and try something new. Training with a band involves pulling or pushing against the tension contained within the band. It has numerous benefits and some important advantages over weight lifting. Ideally, use them alongside barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells. We now coach their use in specific group training sessions which have developed into being online and also having members in our gym training at the same time. It is great fun for all our team to train together with the same equipment, whether at home or in the gym.

Working out with a band is different from traditional gym workouts, adding weight to each exercise. So, rather than assigning a repetition range with bands, it is better to think of ‘time under tension’ (TUT). Slowing down your reps will increase your TUT and keep continuous tension in the muscles you are targeting.

Rules of resistance band training

Do • Start light • Slow down • Anchor the band to something secure • Use a strong grip Don’t • Use poor quality or old and frayed bands • Let go; we recommend chalk to help you grip • Close your mind – bands are used by some of the world’s strongest athletes • Underestimate how much you can tone up and build muscle with band training 88 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

There are two principal ways the body builds muscle. Firstly, mechanical tension occurs when muscles contract strongly if loaded with heavy weight, this is less applicable for band training.

Secondly, metabolic stress; this is very effective with band training and is based on the burn you feel when a muscle is working hard for a long time. Resistance bands therefore work particularly well for higher repetitions. However, rather than concentrating on the number of repetitions, we focus on the length of time the muscle is contracting for each rep and the TUT for the set of repetitions, typically 60 seconds or more of work.

But the key to progression and achieving the results you want is to design a structured programme that progressively overloads your muscles whilst providing sufficient variation to challenge new growth. This will also make it fun and not only stop the body from reaching a plateau, it will also help to make you come back and train again, and again, and again.

In terms of structuring band workouts, simply apply the same theory to a regular workout. Choose to work out your whole body or divide them into upper and lower body workouts. Our preference is to use resistance bands for upper body workouts and incorporate different systems such as preexhaust and supersets. But, what you do is entirely up to you. We would love to hear from anyone who is using resistance bands successfully in their own training plans or would like to start to incorporate them into a training programme. spfit-sherborne.co.uk

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Body & Mind

HEART DISEASE PREVENTION

T

Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom GP & Complementary Practitioner

he term ‘heart disease’ is used to cover a number of conditions, namely angina, heart failure and irregular heartbeat such as atrial fibrillation.

Angina chest pain is due to narrowed coronary arteries that carry oxygenated blood to the heart muscle.

Atrial fibrillation is due to abnormal conduction of nerve impulses to the heart muscle and leads to blood clot formation and stroke. Heart failure is due to weak or stretched heart muscle, leading to shortness of breath and ankle swelling. All three conditions can unfortunately lead to heart attack and death. Any of the symptoms or signs should prompt you to seek advice from your GP. In order to prevent these conditions, there are a number of measures to take. Try to reduce your saturated fat intake that is mostly found in dairy products. Cook with monosaturate fat such as olive or flax seed oil – these will increase your ‘healthy’ HLD cholesterol level. Try to avoid partially hydrogenated Trans ‘funny’ fats contained in processed foods and margarine – these are harmful to cell walls. Try to eat two portions of fish each week, specifically salmon, mackerel or sardines that contain omega 3 fatty acids, as they are anti-inflammatory and cardio-protective.

Whilst focussing on dietary intake, try to avoid excess carbohydrate and sugar-based foods. This leads to obesity and type 2 diabetes, both of which are significant risk factors for the development of heart disease. Try to eat low glycaemic index carbohydrate in which the sugar rise in the circulation is delayed and sustained. A rapid rise in blood sugar causes an insulin spike and subsequent dip in blood sugar levels that manifests as weakness and fatigue.

Another risk factor of heart disease is lack of exercise. The British Heart Foundation recommends regular aerobic exercise, 5 sessions per week for 30 90 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

minutes. A sedentary dog walk is better than nothing but you need to get out of breath for it to count as true aerobic exercise. You should consider swimming, cycling or jogging - ‘Park Run’ or ‘Couch to 3 km’ programmes are popular and achievable.

Smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease and must be eliminated. Nicotine replacement in the form of patches, spray and gum can be bought at the pharmacy or provided on prescription by your GP with ‘Smoke Stop’ guidance.

Stress is another major risk factor that should be addressed to prevent heart disease. To do this it is important to identify and target those stressors – try to address the root cause and prioritise. Think about work-life balance. Try to build a protected time into your week to do something you enjoy. Consider mindbody techniques that will relax and calm – such as yoga or Pilates. Also consider mindfulness meditation – the practice of conscious awareness in the ‘now’. Download the app Headspace or Calm onto your mobile, and try 15-20 minutes of mindfulness daily. Studies have shown that it brings rebalancing and correction of brain nerve pathways; the phenomenon known as neuroplasticity change. Try to build something that you enjoy into your life: a hobby or pastime – join a book club, art class, take golf lessons, learn a musical instrument. Get a cat or dog – studies have shown that having a pet reduces your stress levels.

In summary, choose your de-stress strategy, think about diet, exercise and risk factor elimination – the end result is that you will successfully reduce your chance of developing heart disease – an excellent result! doctortwrobinson.com glencairnhouse.co.uk

Brister&Son Independent Family Funeral Directors

When your family suffers the loss of a loved one, we are here to support, guide and reassure you – every step of the way Call Teresa or Daniel on 01935 812647 100 Lenthay Road, Sherborne DT9 6AG Email: info@wsbrister.com www.wsbrister.com

A J Wakely& Sons Independent Family Funeral Directors and Monumental Masons – 24 Hour Service –

Private Chapels of Rest Website www.ajwakely.com

Independent Family Directors and Monumental Mason 33 SparrowFuneral Road, Yeovil BA21 4BT Tel: 01935 479913 16 Newland, Sherborne, DorsetService DT9 3JQ -Tel: 01935 816817 - 24 Hour Please contact Clive Wakely, or a member of our dedicated team for any advice or guidance.

Private Chapels of Rest

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 91

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Affordable interior fabrics thefabricbarn.co.uk 92 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

01935 851025

3 Higher Cheap Street Sherborne 01935 815 657

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TAKING CARE Andy Foster, Raise Architects

Images: Benjamin Manley and Ole Witt

I

’ve worked as an architect for many friends over the years. Each time a new project has come up, others have said that it’s the best way to lose friends and that I shouldn’t do it. So far, I haven’t listened and so far, I haven’t lost any friends.

Recently, an old friend and his wife came to me with a plan to build a new family home on land adjacent to their existing house. I sensed that they’d walked the land many times, dreaming of how building their 94 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

perfect house would benefit them as they brought up their growing family. Having lived in the area for many years, they’d become rooted to their place and couldn’t face moving elsewhere.

When I visited them, I was on the receiving end of an outpouring of their dreams and at times like that I never under-estimate the privileged position in which I find myself. There can’t be many roles where a couple openly set out their ambitions for domestic life in such

an intimate way. A privileged position, yes, but also a tricky one. If I respond with too much enthusiasm for their ideas, I will be setting myself up for a fall if things turn out differently than envisioned. Too negative, and I risk being dismissed as unhelpful.

You’ll excuse me then, when I say that I take a slightly cautious approach in such circumstances!

Within a few moments, and armed with significantly less than all of the information that I need, I will have to give judgement on whether I think their ideas are workable or not. I will be asked to comment on their chances of success through the planning system and I will be asked to provide support for their project. In response, I have to strike a balance, behaving as both the excited designer with a potential new project and the pragmatic advisor who knows there will be many obstacles to overcome. I have to be simultaneously optimistic and sceptical.

But, it is hard not to be swept up by the enthusiasm of clients with a dream project. I know they will have seen many inspirational projects in magazines and on television, and they will be aware of the tenacity that is required to realise them. What they won’t have seen are the projects that never make it to the press or the screen because they were refused at the planning stage or they turned out to be too expensive or because of some other story that caused the project to fail. Abandoned projects don’t sell magazines and don’t make for good TV. What people expect is the classic plot line of ambition, challenge (but not too much), perseverance and, ultimately, a happy ending.

So, the first thing to do in such circumstances is investigate the ‘show-stoppers’; those issues that might bring the project to an abrupt end. These could include things such as issues of ownership, access, covenants, wildlife or unknown features in the ground.

In this particular case, some quick homework revealed that difficulties with planning policy would be the main obstacle. The context of the site meant that it fell between what might be permitted by two policies. The situation was open to interpretation and impossible to predict. I judged that they had less than a 50:50 chance of success.

In light of this, I didn’t want to see my friends spend too much time and money on their project. I didn’t want them to become too emotionally attached to an idea that might not work. I didn’t want them to pour over the design, finessing every detail, choosing every fixture and finish in their mind’s eye, without greater

"people expect the classic plot line of ambition, challenge, perseverance and, ultimately, a happy ending." confidence that it could become a reality. Of course, their argument that ‘if we don’t try, we’ll never know’ was hard to counter and when put on the spot, I had to concede that there was a chance worth exploring, even if it wasn’t a very big or a very likely one. The thing was, the issues at stake couldn’t be tested with a minimal outline application, we’d need to submit all the detail of a full application.

To minimise time and cost, and to limit our collective involvement, I persuaded my friends that at this point in time we shouldn’t design their ultimate family home. They agreed to put on hold what they really wanted to do while I quickly came up with a rough approximation of what they wanted so that it could be tested through the planning system. If consent was granted, we could then spend time carefully amending the design to suit their detailed requirements.

It was hard for them to work with me on a scheme that they didn’t really want, however short the design period.

I know they understood the reasons why, but I also know how frustrating it was for them.

As I write, the planning application has been submitted and validated and we await the various responses that will emerge over the coming weeks.

I don’t know whether we will be successful. If permission is granted, I’m sure we will share a bottle of something and look forward to designing the dream house. If it isn’t granted, no doubt we will be deflated and will be forced to regroup. More than anything though, I hope that my contribution isn’t judged on the basis of us ‘winning’ or ‘losing’, but by the way in which I looked after my friends through the process. In saying that, there’s an obvious lesson for how I work with all of my clients.

‘I’d rather have friends who care than friends who agree with me.’ Arlo Guthrie raisearchitects.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 95

Home

MAKING AN ENTRANCE

‘I

Eleanor Milton, Colour Consultant

want my hallway to make my heart sing as I walk through the door.’ As 2020 progresses, this is a recurring theme in my ‘at home consultations’. We all feel the need, now more than ever, to retreat not only to a calm, safe space, but also a space which brings joy and lifts the spirits.

Your hallway is the ‘first impressions’ area, which sets the tone for the rest of your home and is a reflection of your personal style. It also takes the knocks and scrapes of everything and everyone passing through it. And is a drop-off point for Stuff.

Often the first sight to greet us as we walk in through the door is a jumble of wilting coats and snaggled scarves on hooks against an off-white wall. To minimise the impact of this thicket of clothing and to lose the ‘locker-room’ look, inject some cheer and humour with wallpaper from ceiling to skirting immediately behind the hanging space. Choose wallpaper which reflects the family’s interests – to encourage music practice, there is ‘Concert’, which comes in four great mid-century colours from Mini Moderns minimoderns.com or for the keen gardener, Rapture & Wright’s raptureandwright.co.uk beautiful ‘Walled Garden’ is available by the metre in nine different colourways.

Using a darker colour below the dado or chair rail can help to reduce the impact of wear and tear, and Farrow & Ball ‘Tessella’ wallpaper above this can trick the eye into extending the boundaries of the space.

Storage baskets are great for containing the ebb and flow of footwear and discarded gloves and scarves. When we lived by the sea, my family’s extensive flip-flop collection was very satisfactorily contained in wicker baskets - until the introduction of a springer spaniel. I had to be peeled off the ceiling after discovering her with half-shut eyes blissfully chewing neat chunks out of one of each pair. Trying to replace them, the seasons had moved on and the only pair available in my size was flesh-coloured and encrusted with bling. The dog also thought they were dreadful; she refused to have anything to do with them.

Good lighting is essential to bring to life all the elements that combine to make this an interesting and welcoming space. Samarkand has some beautiful lamps and dreamy silk and cotton shades – perfect for a pretty hall table painted in an eggshell or gloss to complement the walls. If you are updating your lighting, then contact Claire Pendarves at luxplan.co.uk.

She enthusiastically promotes British-made lighting and provides an excellent and extensive business and residential lighting design service.

And finally, let us take a look at the floor. Painted floor boards will reflect light back up into the space and both Black Blue and Shadow White from Farrow & Ball will provide a satisfyingly traditional look but why not seize the moment to really make the entrance area yours – I'll start the ball rolling for you with Inchyra Blue and Pale Hound. Welcome home!

Turn the music up and let your heart sing. eleanormilton.co.uk @Eleanor.gloriouspaint

96 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

Concert wallpaper by Mini Moderns sherbornetimes.co.uk | 97

Home

NEW TRENDS FOR COUNTRY HOUSES Cath Rapley, Lodestone Property

Y

ou don’t need us to tell you that COVID-19 has had a major impact on what people want from their homes right now – there can’t be a year in living memory where we spent so much time chez nous. Plus, unless you’ve been living in 2019, you’ll know that there’s something of a mass exodus from city to country, as people yearn for a better quality of life.

‘Buyers are looking for more space, ideally a detached house with a garden and to get away for built-up areas – a certain amount of seclusion,’ confirms our Shaftesbury manager, Simon Neville-Jones. But how exactly have the past nine months influenced tastes and needs of country homeowners – and are these new trends here to stay? We spoke to several property experts working in the South West, for their insider opinion on how we’ll be living in 2021 and beyond.

Connectivity

‘The single biggest factor now is internet access,’ says George Wade, from Property Vision, an independent buyers’ advisor which sources homes for clients in the South of England. ‘People still want a nice house in a nice spot with a nice garden, but now they’ve got to have good bandwidth.’ According to George, most 98 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

buyers won’t even view a house if the internet is weak and if they do visit, they’ll test the connection on their phones. ‘I’ve had clients that have contacted the internet provider and made sure they can upgrade it, if necessary,’ says George. It used to be a good excuse to get away from it all if the mobile signal was patchy, now it’s a dealbreaker if tech isn’t up-to-speed. Country house connectivity has arrived.

Multi-functional Rooms

Another consequence of spending more time at home is the need for your space to work hard. ‘Some households had a shock about how many desks they have to squeeze in,’ says Tamzin Newby of Heliotrope Design Ltd. ‘Now every space has to work harder and be multifunctional. If you live in the country,’ she says, ‘you’ll be going for long walks and ideally need a utility room and a boot room, but might not have that luxury. So you need clever thinking – by organising communal spaces carefully, you can keep the mud and the clean apart.

Another example is how reception rooms are used.

These days, you want to incorporate an uncluttered table with a good backdrop so that someone can set up a screen and be on a video call from a living room,

rather than it just being a place that the family goes into in the evening to watch TV or light the fire.’

Home-cinemas, offices and gyms

‘I know it sounds a bit over-the-top,’ says Simon Charles from RSJ Project Management, which offers bespoke upgrades to houses owners across the South of England, ‘but because cyber has come to the countryside, my clients are putting cinemas, offices and gyms into their properties.’ They are also converting outbuildings and seeing the benefit of providing Airbnb space, whether in the form of annexe extensions or adding shepherd’s huts, seeing the potential of extra income streams through staycations.

Japandi

As lockdown drove home the importance of functionality, it also spotlighted our yearning for wellbeing — a combination which is now being amplified in design. According to interiors expert Tamzin Newby, the biggest trend is ‘Japandi’ which places an emphasis on creating calm and feeling good, combining uncluttered, elegant Japanese style with the Scandinavian Hygge ‘cosy-and-comfortable’ movement.

‘It’s about clean lines, nature, plants, natural materials, using texture more than colour, earthy tones and soft edges – all combined with minimalism,’ she explains. ‘It’s easily achievable, because it’s sleek, but also incorporates throws, feel-good fabrics and natural materials.’

Lisa Lewis, a Sherborne-based interior designer offering a virtual design service, backs up the benefits of Japandi style with scientific research: ‘Academics in the 1980s researched the link between health and workspaces and discovered the concept of biophyilia, which is the innate human need to be connected to nature.’ She says we will be using increasingly more natural materials and nature motifs in our country home interiors, for example, by using landscape pieces of art and tree images.

Reuse not refurbish

Japandi also incorporates the Japanese concept of ‘wabi sabi,’ explains Tamzin Newby from Heliotrope: ‘it’s about how it’s ok for a home not to be perfect, which has a nice countryside-feel to it, because I think there is something quite imperfect about living in the country. I mean, you come in and kick off your shoes and it’s difficult to keep things pristine like in a London apartment.’ It’s a look that places an emphasis on using

what you already have and not being too contrived.

So, to be on trend, you can keep your old squishy sofa, succulents and favourite rug but declutter your space and add calming colours – although Tamzin does recommend adding splashes of bright colour (rather than block bold hues) at this time of year.

Lisa Lewis agrees that there’s a massive movement towards using what you already have. ‘It’s about being clever and adapting where you can to create the scheme and image you want for your own home. Be mindful when you are doing any amendments to your home to look at any environmental impacts. So, if you are in an old property, you look at how you can improve the insulation, making the most of the natural light which will help make the spaces warmer.’ Which is what everyone wants this winter. lodestoneproperty.co.uk propertyvision.com lisalewis.co.uk rsjprojectmanagement.co.uk heliotropedesign.co.uk

Country-House Checklist IN

Greens, blues, and warm greys Splashes of bright colour Scallop shapes and tiles Superfast broadband Japanese minimalism Hygge textures and colours Using every room to its full potential Outbuildings for home offices or Airbnb Houseplants Natural motifs Bronze OUT

Cool greys Brick Dodgy internet Geometrics Clashing colours and patterns Chrome Clutter Unused rooms

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 99

YOU WILL BE MOST WELCOME AT

The Curtain Circuit Secondhand Curtains

NEW OPENING HOURS Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am to 1.00pm We also have first class curtain alteration, making-up, loose cover and Roman blind services.

The Old Cycle Shop, Long Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3BS Call 01935 815155

Competitively Priced, High Quality Carpets, Vinyls, Woods & Rugs SHERBORNE SHOWROOM NOW OPEN Unit 12, Old Yarn Mills, Westbury, Sherborne, DT9 3RQ A family run business established in 1998, we promise a highly professional level of service Tel: 07733 101064 or 01935 817885 www.lsflooring.co.uk

Wayne Timmins Painter and Decorator • • • • •

Interior & Exterior Fully Qualified 20 Years Experience Wallpapering & Lining Residential & Commercial

01935 872007 / 07715 867145 waynesbusiness@aol.com

100 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

lodestoneproperty.co.uk

Where home happens

Shaftesbury £585,000

Our new Dorset office has had a fabulous start and we have a number of new instructions. If you would like some property advice please contact Simon or Ali.

Sherborne £1,350,000

Go to our website to find out more about us and why we are different.

Wincanton

Fontmell Magna £475,000

bruton@lodestoneproperty.co.uk 01749 605099

Lettings & Property Management

Independent Letting Agent representing town and country property throughout Somerset and Dorset

1 Horsecastles, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3FB T: 01935 816209 E: info@stockwoodlettings.co.uk

£650,000

shaftesbury@lodestoneproperty.co.uk 01747 442577

wells@lodestoneproperty.co.uk 01749 605088

Coming to the market this month Sherborne

Corscombe

Winterborne Whitchurch

Sherborne

Town centre ground floor apartment, one double bedroom, very well-presented, paved terrace, parking for one car.

Period cottage, tucked away, two reception rooms, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, parking, cottage garden.

Rimpton

Detached farmhouse in rural setting, sitting room with fire, large kitchen/dining room with AGA, utility, four double bedrooms, two new bathrooms, large garden and ample parking.

Two double bedroom apartment, both with ensuite shower rooms, presented in very good order, parking for one car, would suit professional sharers.

Mid-terrace cottage in excellent order, sitting room, dining room, modern kitchen, conservatory, two double bedrooms, large garden.

www.stockwoodlettings.co.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 101

Legal

A LASTING LEGACY

L

Anne-Marie Worth & Emma Batstone, Wills, Trusts & Probate Team, Mogers Drewett

eaving a legacy is more important than ever.

Without gifts in wills, many charities in the UK would struggle to survive and with many anticipating a third of their total income to be lost as a result of Covid-19, charities have never needed our support more.

Last year, people left more than £3 billion in their wills to good causes, making up about a third of a charity’s voluntary income*. With little or no government funding, many charities rely heavily on donations and legacy payments under individual’s wills as their main source of income.

Tax benefits of leaving a charitable gift

Aside from the fact that you are going to make a big difference to your chosen charity, when it comes to tax planning for your own estate, leaving a charitable legacy in your will can also offer many benefits.

Charitable donations pass free of inheritance tax and so reduce the value of your estate chargeable to 102 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

inheritance tax, and (if the necessary criteria are met) can also reduce the rate of any inheritance tax payable on assets passing to non-exempt beneficiaries (such as friends and families) from 40% to 36%.

Make it personal

Many individuals choose to nominate a specific purpose for the legacy, or a wish of how the monies should be used. Although stipulating a use for the legacy is possible, care should be taken when drafting such a condition. It is important to ensure that this is not too restrictive on the charity, but that the funds will still be used in accordance with your wishes. We work closely with many local and national charities regarding the wording of legacies, ensuring that your legacy supports the work of that charity in the areas you most wish to benefit. mogersdrewett.com *Smee & Ford

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mogersdrewett.com | 01935 813 691 | enquiries@mogersdrewett.com

Finance

POUND COST AVERAGING

I

Andrew Fort B.A. (Econ.) CFPcm Chartered MCSI APFS, Certified and Chartered Financial Planner, Fort Financial Planning

n last month’s article, I explained an alternative method of making investments into the stock market where fear of a possible downturn is at the forefront of an investor’s mind.

Rather than investing all their money on one specific date, the money could be ‘phased’ into the market over a period of time (12 months in the example) – an approach called Pound Cost Averaging (PCA). Which of these two approaches offers the best return?

Forward Period 1 Year After New Market Highs

S&P 500 One month US Treasury Bills

After Market Decline of More than 10%

S&P 500 One month US Treasury Bills

3 Years

5 Years

13.9%

10.5%

9.9%

3.9%

4.1%

4.1%

11.3%

10.2%

9.6%

1.9%

2.0%

2.0%

The above table puts those fears in a broader context. It shows the average annualised compound returns of the S&P 500 from 1926–2019. After the index has hit all-time highs, the subsequent one, three, and five-year returns are positive, on average. After the S&P 500 has fallen more than 10%, the subsequent one, three, and five-year returns are also positive, on average. Both data sets show returns that outperform those of one-month Treasury bills (a technical expression for cash). Overall, the data do not support that recent market performance should influence the timing of investing in stocks.

Both theory and data suggest that lump-sum investing is the more efficient and logical approach to building wealth over time. But pound-cost averaging may be a reasonable strategy for investors who might otherwise decide to stay out of the market altogether due to fears of a large downturn after investing a lump sum. Fear is a powerful emotion, so anything that can reduce fear, without significant detrimental effect, would appear to be a sensible approach for some.

The stock market has offered a high average return historically, and it can be an important ally in helping investors reach their goals. Getting capital into stocks, whether gradually or all at once, puts the holder in position to reap the potential benefits. A trusted financial advisor can help investors decide which approach – lump-sum investing or pound-cost averaging – is better for them. What’s clear is that markets have rewarded investors over time. Whichever method one pursues, the goal is the same: developing a plan and sticking with it. ffp.org.uk

104 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 105

Tech

WI-FI

James Flynn, Milborne Port Computers

P

eople generally recognise Wi-Fi as the internet as a whole e.g. The Wi-Fi is down, or we don’t have any Wi-Fi! Half of the time this is actually due to having no, or a poor, internet connection from the telephone line to your router. Your router still sends out its wireless signal (which is strong) but with zero or poor internet strength. The rest of the times it is that devices are too far away from the router, or something is in the way (thick stone walls or new reflective insulation). With most of us connecting to the internet wirelessly and now working from home, this is increasingly becoming more of a problem.

So, what is Wi-Fi? A facility allowing computers, smartphones, or other devices to connect to the internet or communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area.

Most of the time your router will emit a Wi-Fi signal whether it has an internet connection or not.

When connected to the Wi-Fi, you are connected to your router’s network and then the internet is fed into that network when it’s available.

I describe it to people like the piping system in a house. Cold water is always in the pipes, which is the network, and the boiler comes on and heats the water which is added to the system. When your boiler breaks down, you still have cold water, and when the internet goes down, you still have an internal network, but 106 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

without any internet.

People always ask us ‘Can you provide a router with a stronger Wi-Fi signal?’ The honest answer is: no.

Indoor routers generally have a limit on the strength of signal strength omitted from them. To achieve a stronger Wi-Fi signal, you either need to move your router to a more central location of the building or increase the signal with Wi-Fi-enhancing products such as Powerline adaptors or a Mesh system.

Powerline adaptors are where the network/internet is sent via your mains cabling, from adaptor to adaptor, plugged into your house power sockets. These work well for houses all on the same ring main. These are very popular at Milborne Port Computers.

Mesh systems have slowly become more popular over the years. They’re a series of Wi-Fi pillars or discs which are placed around the building and bounce the signal off each other to give a seamless connection.

We generally don’t recommend Wi-Fi extenders, as these devices can only re-transmit the Wi-Fi signal that they can see, so the further away from router they are, the weaker signal they transmit. You also sometimes need more of these in a daisy chain format to get the signal further.

If you have any Wi-Fi questions, you know where to come. computing-mp.co.uk

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Short Story

THE VISIT TO VIENNA

I

Bill Bennette, Sherborne Scribblers

was surprised to find a distinguished looking envelope, with my name and address in calligraphy, on my hall door mat. The letter on superb headed paper, beautifully typed and topped and tailed in the same fine writing, had been hand delivered.

It was from a firm of solicitors in Vienna, which sounded as grand as their fine stationery.

If the presentation wasn’t impressive enough, the message certainly alarmed me. I was invited to Vienna on a delicate and personal matter under the instruction of their late gracious client, Graf von Breunner-Asparn. I would be required to take a DNA test, the result of which would be disclosed to me. It was signed ‘Your obedient servant, Emanuel Frieden’. I was confused and frustrated that I could not discuss this with my parents, who had both been killed in a car accident some years earlier.

I replied the next day and before I could change my mind, found myself in a superb suite at the Sacher Hotel Wien. They were not cutting any corners. There was a welcome letter for me advising that I would be collected the next morning at 10am. I had just sat down in the lobby when a young attendant appeared with a blackboard on a gilded pole, ringing a bell. I looked up and saw my name. My car had arrived.

A sparkling, black Mercedes, driven by a uniformed chauffeur, wound its way through the elegant streets to deliver me to a maison particulierè. The rooms were beautifully furnished as a private home, rather than a place of work. I figured their clients preferred it that way.

I was shown into a fine drawing room on the first floor where I gave permission for the test. A nurse arrived, took a blood sample and neatly and painlessly removed a few hairs. She curtsied sweetly and then walked backwards out of the room. Rather quaint, I thought.

The next day, I was invited to visit their client’s country seat outside the city. We arrived at an 18th century manor house in light stone with exquisite fountains playing. They really had laid on the works for my visit. A smart butler, with a twinkle in his eye, greeted me kindly and led us into a library where Herr Frieden handed me two envelopes.

The first was my DNA result. It recorded that I was the indisputable son of the Graf. I went white with shock and was speechless. It felt like another nail in the coffin of my heritage, never previously doubted, to see a portrait of the count painted around the age that I was then. The likeness was uncanny; it could have been me on that canvas. I was overcome with emotion as I found the handwritten letter from my father. I needed a while to gather myself before reading it. That was a serious life-changing moment in so many ways, for a 42-year-old architect.

My Dearest William, I prepared this letter, having promised your mother that I would never approach you whilst she and I were still alive. We met in Paris, during the war, when we both worked tirelessly for the French resistance.

I was married and she was engaged to your father. I fell deeply in love with her and I was thrilled when my feelings were reciprocated. We became inseparable until the end of the war, when we had to return to our respective homes. When we made our tearful farewells, I was not aware that she was pregnant with you, our love child.

108 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

My wife died shortly after the war, of diphtheria. Ours had been an arranged marriage. We were never in love, in the full sense, but each respected the other a great deal. I never remarried. Your mother was the only woman I had ever truly loved. We kept up a clandestine relationship through correspondence and telephone calls to her office at the university. She kept me abreast of everything you did and sent photographs of important stages of your life but made me swear that I would never interfere in any way.

She was content with your father and being such a proud person, would never accept any support I offered for you. Alas, you will not be able to inherit my title, since your mother and I were not married.

However, I bequeath to you my entire estate and portfolio. My lawyers will elaborate.

I was told you would have to take a DNA test. I apologise for that, but it was a legal requirement.

I have always known you were my only son. After all, the family likeness is clear. I have loved you as much as I have adored your mother. Never think badly of her; she was a remarkable woman. I would have been so happy to have known you and, although I followed your progression with pride, I never had the opportunity to express what I felt. I hope you spend happy times in this much-loved home, which will allow you to understand more about me and our family.

Much love, Papa

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Free registration appointment for new clients when accompanied by this advertisement Kingston House Veterinary Clinic Long Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3DB Mon-Fri 9.00-10.30, 16.30-18.00 Sat 9.00-10.30 T: 01935 813288 (24 hours) E: sherborne@kingstonvets.co.uk kingstonvets.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 109

Literature

THOMAS HARDY'S WOMEN A World of Contradiction Peter Tait

T

homas Hardy’s portrayal of women as victims of circumstance and social convention is one of the distinctive features that sets him apart from other nineteenth century novelists. His novels deal with a wide range of issues either implicitly or explicitly, including lesbianism, rape, illegitimacy, divorce, adultery and incest, each linked to the wider vulnerability of women who were trapped by marriage or society. By raising women’s issues, Hardy helped expose the hypocrisy of society in its attitudes to women the way few other writers dared. He became, belatedly, an advocate of women’s suffrage and counted among his closest friends several women with feminist interests and aspirations. His criticism of the divorce laws, in particular, was a theme in many of his novels, although when it came to marriage, Hardy was full of contradictions as many lines of his novels attest.

One such line in Far from the Madding Crowd, (‘All romances end at marriage’) suggests something of the ambivalence of Hardy’s own life. His first marriage to Emma Gifford in 1872 was largely unhappy and by the time of her death in 1912, at which time she was living in her garret at the top of Max Gate, they were estranged.

And yet, after marrying Florence Dugdale in 1914, one of the first trials she had to endure was the outpouring of elegies for Emma. No wonder that Emma commented ‘Thomas understands only the women he invents – the others not at all.’ or that Florence, who was later unable to escape from the shadow of the rehabilitated Emma, wrote, ‘You have to be dead to be acknowledged.’

In his private life, Hardy enjoyed the company 110 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

of women usually well-connected, and with a spirit and interests not unlike his own, although only his friendship with Florence Henniker stood the test of time. There is ample evidence that he used even his briefest dalliances as fuel for his writing. That is not to say that the attachments he formed or his two marriages were without emotion or feeling, but that the idea of marriage, perhaps, appealed more than its actuality.

He was a romantic, who espoused the idea of love, but seemed unconvinced by its durability. He had a love of women no doubt, and of beauty, in particular, and all his writing is suffused with a repressed sense of desire and longing, but always with an eye to the inevitability of fate, of time passing, however well-dressed it might appear. Moreover, he was mindful of human foibles, many of which he exposed in the person of his heroines. He did so often by attributing specific traits to womankind, which upset many feminists then and now.

Hardy’s friends and family knew a different Hardy than that presented in his writings. He was not particularly kind to his sisters and many of his heroines had miserable lives.

Even his female friends could appear as mere infatuations.

Of all the women in his life, it was his mother, Jemima, whose home-spun philosophy and pessimism had the greatest influence on Hardy as a child and adult. And it was she, and possibly Tess, that were arguably the only two women he loved without reservation.

Thomas Hardy's Women in Life and Literature by Peter Tait is available to purchase online at petertait.org or from Winstone’s Books. £14.99

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OCTOBER SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. Unproven (8) 5. Moved through water (4) 9. Relinquish (5) 10. Gelatin products (7) 11. Act of going back in (2-5) 12. Eighth Greek letter (5) 13. Items of cutlery (6) 14. Respiratory condition (6) 17. Long poems derived from ancient tradition (5) 19. Share; portion (7) 20. Floating; cheerful (7) 21. Rub out (5) 22. Freedom from difficulty (4) 23. Safety restraint in a car (4,4) 112 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

DOWN 1. Incapable of being anticipated (13) 2. Underwater projectile (7) 3. Small meteor (8,4) 4. Relishes (6) 6. Produce a literary work (5) 7. Ineptitude in running a business (13) 8. First part of the Bible (3,9) 15. Unit of square measure (7) 16. Sculptured figure (6) 18. Effigies (5)

Literature

LITERARY REVIEW Malcolm Cockburn, Sherborne Literary Society

V2, Robert Harris, (Penguin Random House UK, 2020) £20

M

Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £18 from Winstone's Books

ost of the characters in Robert Harris’ latest book are fictional, the action takes place almost eighty years ago, and yet I cannot describe V2 as ‘Historical Fiction’. The technical accuracy and immediacy of the book make compelling reading, as though these frightening events had happened very recently.

The two principals are Kay CatonWalsh, a Cambridge graduate and Officer of the WAAF (Womens Auxiliary Air Force) and Dr Rudi Graf, German technical engineer and rocket scientist. Throughout the book, the work of each opposes the patriotic endeavour of the other in the final stages of war. They will meet in London in September 1945.

Wernher von Braun, the real life éminence grise in the novel was, from his early teenage in the 1930’s, obsessed with the science of rockets and the vision of space flight. This obsession overruled any objection he might have had against Hitler and the Nazi ambition to dominate Europe; indeed it opened to von Braun the vision of limitless finance for the development of rocketry. A vast complex at Peenemunde Island in the German Baltic was built with the approval of Hitler and overseen by Himmler and his SS troops. Here, von Braun’s experimental rocket was to be transformed into the fearsome V2 bomb.

British Intelligence became aware of the groundwork and strange complex of buildings at Peenemunde in 1942; high altitude photographs were analysed by experts including fictional WAAF Officer

'Independent Bookseller of the Year 2016’ 8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX www.winstonebooks.co.uk Tel: 01935 816 128

Kay Caton-Walsh. The result of her acute interpretation of the photographs in 1943, led to severe damage to the site by RAF bombing. Thereafter, manufacture of the missile was transferred to an underground complex in the middle of Germany beyond reach of the RAF at that time. There, thousands of scientists and engineers were employed, along with slave labourers whose living and working conditions were brutal.

The book starts, and for the most part continues, in November 1944. A firing site for the V2 was on the Dutch coast at Scheveningen, close to The Hague. The allied invasion had by now reached into Belgium, barely fifty miles from the V2 launch site hidden in forest by the North Sea. Chapters alternate between the preparation, fuelling and firing of the V2, supervised by Rudi Graf in Holland, and the surreal fear and destruction in London from up to a dozen bomb attacks a day. It is Kay’s task to locate the firing site from photo reconnaissance, but the camouflage is so effective that crucial days pass without success.

A scheme to plot the launch site by calculating the missile’s flight path back from its site of impact involves Kay and a dozen WAAFs setting up a radar tracking system in Belgium, which enables the RAF to bomb the launch site. There is consternation among the German crew, accusations and recrimination from the ever present and interfering SS; they plan a ‘final solution’.

The author builds up terrific tension, human and military, in the final chapters of this outstanding book. sherborneliterarysociety.com

YOU CAN NOW ORDER ONLINE AT www.shop.winstonebooks.co.uk Collect in-store, kerbside, or at nearest car park. Free home delivery within a reasonable distance of the shop. Nationwide delivery also available at cost.

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STAY WELL. STAY WELL-READ

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

T

Nathan Cracknell, ReBorne Community Church, (formerly Sherborne Community Church)

his year has not unfolded in a way that many of us expected. We are probably bored of hearing such sentiments. However, even though this is the case, I’m sure there are moments when even the most relaxed among us are, at the very least, a little frustrated about the uncertainty that still lies ahead.

Jesus once told a story about two differing approaches to the uncertainties of life. In his story, two people decided to build a house. The first of these made sure that their house would have adequate foundations and built the house upon a foundation of rock. The second builder was not as diligent as the first, and built their house on a foundation of sand.

Even if you do not work in the building industry, you can probably guess what happens in Jesus’ story, and the point that he is going to make when these houses were subject to the stresses and strains of weather and time – namely, in Jesus’ story: ‘torrents of rain, rising flood waters and storm winds.’ The house that was built on the foundation of rock stood firm.

Whereas, the house that was built upon the foundation of sand collapsed.

Jesus called the second builder foolish. This is an indictment that we probably agree with. After all, which of us would be interested in building or buying a house without solid foundations? But Jesus isn’t trying to teach about the importance of good house design or thorough building regulations. He is warning us to prepare foundations for our lives that will withstand the inevitable uncertainties that life will bring. The wisdom of the first builder lies not simply in the choice of material for the foundation, but in the thinking behind the choice.

The builder knew that the house would face stresses and strains. The timing of these may have been unknown, but the certainty of facing them at some point was sure.

The parallels are clear for us. There will certainly be stresses and strains that come into our lives. This could be the impact of the current pandemic. But, the reality is that stresses and strains take many forms and can enter our lives at any time. One of the questions Jesus is asking through this story is: how have we prepared for them?

In some of Jesus’ parables, he left his audience to work out the answers for themselves.

Fortunately, for us, this is not one of those stories. Jesus told his listeners that wise builders are those people that hear his words and act on them. The implication of this claim is worth consideration. Jesus claimed that his words have the power to preserve lives through the fiercest stresses and strains. If this is the case, it would seem prudent for us to find out what Jesus said. rebornechurch.org

114 | Sherborne Times | November 2020

ED IT S E M IE L LI P AB COAIL AV

A new fully-illustrated history of Sherborne School.

“Sherborne seeps into the soul of those who have crunched the gravel of the Courts. Patrick Francis sensitively captures the School’s grace and grandeur, and occasional grapples with misfortune, through this soulful and evocative book.”

Robert Hands (Abbey House, 1987-92), Former Executive Managing Editor, Times Newspapers Ltd

To order your copy of Old Yet Ever Young please visit www.sherborne.org/newsand-events/book-launch All net proceeds will go to Sherborne School

Green by name and nature

NIGHTLY 3 COURSE PRIX FIXE DINNER MENU

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