Sherborne Times April 2021

APR IL 2021 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

A LIGHTER NOTE

with Rebecca Anderson-Deas and Charlotte Steel

sherbornetimes.co.uk

WELCOME

8

years ago this spring, we bought a dog – a wire-haired vizsla named Jeff. In those early days of puppyhood, Jeff would wake at 5am and quietly whimper. This was too much for a softy like me to bear, so I would come downstairs and sit with him on my lap by the open back door and enjoy the dawn chorus. I say ‘enjoy’ but there isn’t really a word that does justice to the emotion of watching the sunrise with a warm puppy on your lap while swathed in the most impossibly beautiful song you have ever heard.

Many pages have been dedicated to the exhaustive efforts of writers attempting to articulate the majesty of birdsong. Even at our most poetic however, human language, crude by comparison, falls short. Only in music have we attained comparable heights.

Sadly Jeff, is now very ill and unlikely to see another spring, so this morning I got up early for no other reason than to sit with him (he’s too big for a lap these days), watch the sunrise and listen again to the dawn chorus.

There are no words.

Take care.

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

CONTRIBUTORS Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editor Sadie Wilkins Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury Editorial assistant Helen Brown 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 Mark and Miranda Pender Claire Pilley Ionas Tsetikas

Laurence Belbin laurencebelbin.com David Birley

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

Elisabeth Bletsoe Sherborne Museum @SherborneMuseum sherbornemuseum.co.uk

Annabelle Hunt Bridport Timber @BridportTimber bridporttimber.co.uk

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

Bev Jones Co. of Landscapers co-landscapers.co.uk

Mike Burks The Gardens Group @TheGardensGroup thegardensgroup.co.uk David Burnett The Dovecote Press dovecotepress.com Rob Bygrave Sherborne Science Cafe @SherborneSciCaf sherbornesciencecafe.com Jenny Campbell Sherborne Scribblers Cllr Jane Carling Sherborne Town Council sherborne-tc.gov.uk Paula Carnell @paula.carnell paulacarnell.com Cindy Chant & John Drabik David Copp Sir Christopher Coville Sherborne & District Society CPRE @DorsetCPRE dorset-cpre.org.uk Rosie Cunningham Dorset Waste Partnership @DorsetCouncilUK dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

1 Bretts Yard Digby Road Sherborne Dorset DT9 3NL 01935 315556 @sherbornetimes info@homegrown-media.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk Sherborne Times is printed on an FSC® 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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4 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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 Revd Duncan Goldie Cheap Street United Church cheapstreetchurch.co.uk

Vanessa Lee Mindfulness Sherborne mindfulnessherborne.com Lucy Lewis Dorset Mind @DorsetMind dorsetmind.uk Peter Littlewood Young People’s Trust for the Environment @YPTE ypte.org.uk Liz Mangles Ewenique Furniture eweniquefurniture.co.uk Sasha Matkevitch & Jack Smith The Green Restaurant @greensherborne greenrestaurant.co.uk Mark Newton-Clarke MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Partnership @swanhousevet newtonclarkevet.com Simon Partridge SPFit @spfitsherborne spfit-sherborne.co.uk Richard Pyman Sherborne Preparatory School @Sherborneprep sherborneprep.org Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom Glencairn House Clinic glencairnhouse.co.uk doctortwrobinson.com Pauline Rook Pauline Rook Photography @ROOKPhotos rookphoto.co.uk Val Stones @valstones bakerval.com

David Grey

Emma Tabor & Paul Newman @paulnewmanart paulnewmanartist.com

Craig Hardaker Communifit @communifit communifit.co.uk

Jo Thomson Clayesmore School @Clayesmore clayesmore.com

Andy Hastie Cinematheque cinematheque.org.uk

Simon Walker Mogers Drewett Solicitors @mogersdrewett md-solicitors.co.uk

Alex Hennessy Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Richard Hopton Sherborne Literary Society @Sherlitfest sherborneliterarysociety.com

John Walsh BVSc Cert AVP DBR MRCVS Friars Moor Vets @FriarsMoorVets friarsmoorvets.co.uk Kevin & Val Waterfall Sherborne Group @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

76 8

Art & Culture

APRIL 2021 68 Gardening

120 Finance

18 Community

76 THE BIRD ORCHESTRA

122 Tech

28 Family

86 Food & Drink

124 In Conversation

42 Science & Nature

94 Animal Care

126 Short Story

58 On Foot

100 Body & Mind

128 Crossword

62 History

112 Home

129 Literature

66 Antiques

118 Legal

130 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.

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

THE DORSET HOMEWARE COMPANY

ANNA STILES POTTERY

COMMUNIFIT Exercise for all age groups and abilities.

Gift vouchers for lessons and clay kits available.

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

One-off lessons with a finish and glaze service.

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

Online workouts and personal training.

07742 408528 annastilespottery.com

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

GLENHOLME HERBS

GODDEN & CURTIS

We are a family-run business located in Sandford Orcas, specialising in growing a huge range of herbs, pelargoniums, salvias and wildflowers.

Home accessories and gifts, supplying those perfect finishing touches.

Penmore Corner Bungalow, Sandford Orcas, Sherborne, DT9 4SE

dorsethomeware@gmail.com @dorsethomewarecompany dorsethomeware.co.uk

01963 220302 / 07855 279072 @glenholmeherbs glenholmeherbs.co.uk

@shoplocalinsherborne #shoplocalinsherborne

Television and audio, sales and repairs.

Greenhill, Sherborne DT9 4EW 07718 253309 / 01935 813451 simon@goddenandcurtis.co.uk goddenandcurtis.co.uk

KAFE FONTANA We are open 7 days a week.

Offering a delivery service for hot and cold food.

Birthday cakes and buffets.

Selection of gifts, mini hampers, tea time treats and Body Shop gifts.

82 Cheap Street, Sherborne DT9 3BJ 01935 812180 kafefontana@hotmail.com @kafefontana kafefontana.co.uk

MELBURY GALLERY We are so excited to be opening our doors again to our wonderful customers. The shop will be vibrant and adorned with our beautiful new Summer Clothing Collections from your favourite brands. Great cards, amazing jewellery and scarves, unique ceramics and gifts and lots of scrumptious furnishing.

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN @Melbury Gallery melburygallery.co.uk

THE PLUME OF FEATHERS

OLIVER’S

THE PEAR TREE DELI

Open 7 days a week for takeaway.

Delivery service available for birthday cakes and buffet lunches.

Easter treats available to order including simnel cake, cupcakes and Easter egg brownies.

Delicatessen Open 9am - 2.30pm, Monday - Saturday Delivery & take away service for sandwiches, coffees and cakes plus many more deli items.

19 Cheap St, Sherborne DT9 3PU

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LS

01935 815005 @oliverssherbs @oliverscoffeehouse oliverscoffeehouse.co.uk

01935 812828 @ThePearTreeDeli @thepeartreedeli peartreedeli.co.uk

PURE HAIR

SHERBORNE WEB DESIGN

Pure Hair is the perfect place to relax and be pampered.

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

Established salon of 17 years.

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN

01935 389709 theplumesherborne.co.uk

01935 814172 @purehairsherborne

Hair and Beauty Finalist 2019 & 2020.

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

118 Yeovil Road, Sherborne DT9 4BB 01935 813241 info@sherbornewebdesign.co.uk sherbornewebdesign.co.uk

@shoplocalinsherborne #shoplocalinsherborne

Art & Culture

ARTIST AT WORK

No.29: Pauline Rook, By the Backdoor,

photographic print, 36 x 28 cm, £70 (mounted)

P

hotography has been my lifelong passion.

I have always found my inspiration in the people, landscapes and occupations of rural South West England.

This photograph is a still-life created over many years by the backdoor of a farmhouse. It was limited in tones and not in good light but by using the digital technique of High Dynamic Range, which involves the sandwiching of three different exposures, a wonderful pencil drawing-type effect is created. There is much to look at in the picture, from a very old yoke used to carry buckets, to rat poison!

I became an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society after completing a high-level course in applied photography, which was very much darkroom-based. I have now embraced all that the new digital technology 8 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

has to offer, including the above technique.

I spend a lot of time wandering in the Blackdown Hills where, hidden away, there are lots of small farms with things to interest a photographer. The majority of the farms and their buildings are all built from a locallygathered stone – called Churt – and are mostly small scale by today’s farming standards but are quite charming and belong to the landscape. My By the Backdoor photograph was taken on one of these old farms. rookphoto.co.uk By the Backdoor is available mounted or framed from the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen Gallery in Wells. Pauline will be showing many of her pictures for Somerset Open Studios in September at her studio in Lopen.

Art & Culture

ON FILM

Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque

W

riting about the Cinema Museum in this column last month set me off on a memory stroll around my London cinema-going days in the 50s, 60s and 70s. It wasn’t just the number but the size of so many cinemas then.

The Regal in West Norwood, where I grew up, had 2000 seats and was always packed. We also had the Royal – not as big – but just as popular. As a child, I saw most of the Disney fare at the Regal, including, in 1961, The Absent-Minded Professor, a huge influence on a young Steven Spielberg apparently, who copied imagery for his blockbuster ET. Just down the road 10 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

in Streatham were the ABC, the Odeon and the Gaumont, only a walking distance apart, but together seating almost 7500 people. I remember the queue for the ABC going down one side to the back of the cinema, through the car park, back to the front again on the other side, then off down Streatham High Road. One didn’t mind joining on at the end, as you always knew you would get in eventually.

Later, into my teens, and with a copy of Time Out, the listings magazine, in my hand, I would seek out films at other London venues. The Hammersmith Odeon, now the Apollo where Live at the Apollo on

Chrispictures/Shutterstock

"The Electric, with its curved roof, would start to fill up with smoke about halfway into the show, as one watched the films through a thickening smog and itchy eyes."

BBC2 is filmed, holds 3000, whilst the Finsbury Park Astoria was a 4000-seater – one of the largest cinemas in the world. In 1971, it was converted into the Rainbow Theatre, a unique music venue, where incidentally, in 1977, I saw New York’s finest, The Ramones. The Astoria, built in 1930, still has a fabulous Moorish–themed Art Deco interior, complete with working fountain in the foyer. This design was replicated at the Brixton Astoria, another 4000-seater, but unfortunately too many patrons ended up in the fountain there, so it was dismantled and removed. I would go to the Scala at Kings Cross, an art house cinema famous for its inventive double-bill programming. The one I remember most fondly was Groundhog Day followed by... Groundhog Day! The Electric Cinema in Portobello Road held all-nighters at the weekend, back-to-back films from 11pm to early morning. With no extraction systems or smoking bans in those days, the Electric, with its curved roof, would start to fill up with smoke about halfway into the show, as one watched the films through a thickening smog and itchy eyes. It wasn’t cigarettes being smoked there mostly either.

The Biograph in Pimlico, now demolished, was one of the first cinemas in the country, and another nonmainstream venue. It also doubled as the 70s version of Grindr in London. It was managed by Henry Cooper’s identical twin brother George. Because of its notoriety, there were bouncers in the auditorium, the house lights were never turned off completely, and the usherettes had searchlights for torches. If one ignored all this, and the constantly moving patrons, it was a great venue, showing great films.

Those days of cinema-going will never be repeated.

Cinemas were vibrant, exciting, sometimes dangerous places, and, as I write, I remember more stories; being soaked at the ABC Camberwell when someone in the balcony turned the fire hose on the people below, and some lads at a cinema I was at in Nottingham collecting all the discarded rubbish and starting a bonfire in the stalls.

When we do eventually emerge from lockdown, don’t forget to support our local cinemas in Dorchester and Yeovil, Moviola, and may I say, Cinematheque, as Netflix et al will never replace sitting in an auditorium with like-minded people, watching a great film. cinematheque.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 11

Art & Culture

CONFESSIONS OF A THEATRE ADDICT Rosie Cunningham

Vanessa Kirby and Eric Kofi Abrefa, in Julie at the National Theatre

A

s theatres begin to dust off their props and steam the costumes in preparation for opening their doors to live audiences, here are some offerings.

Jermyn Street Theatre, the West End’s smallest producing theatre and winner of the 2021 Fringe Theatre of the Year, is running the classic comedy Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn from 5th May – 5th June. Do visit their website. They have a wonderful schedule of plays coming up. jermynstreettheatre.co.uk The Grey Area Theatre Company are presenting You Are Here at the Southwark Playhouse - the UK premiere of an intimate, hilarious and heart-breaking tour-de-force musical about the resilience of the human spirit. This is a live performance running from 29th April, with a livestream performance on 7th May. Tickets are £27.50. Covid restrictions are in place. southwarkplayhouse.co.uk National Theatre at Home are streaming Julie, starring the immensely talented Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret in The Crown, as the main 12 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

character. She is wild, free and single and throws a huge party in her luxurious London house only to find things rapidly unravelling. Not for the faint hearted. Pay a monthly fee of £8.32 or £83.32 per annum. There are lots of productions to watch. ntathome.com Theatre Royal Bath have been innovative whilst theatres have been closed and I can only applaud them for that. They are joining with one of the world’s greatest dance companies, Rambert, to livestream their latest work, Rooms. 17 dancers, 35 scenes and 100 characters. Available from 8th-11th April. What an absolute treat! theatreroyal.org.uk I was lucky enough to watch a RADA Talk chaired by Pamela Jikiemi, Head of Film, TV and Radio, between Ralph Fiennes and Kenneth Branagh. Ralph admitted that he had wanted to go to art school but that his father persuaded him to think again. They both spoke highly about their time at RADA. These RADA Talks are very special and give us a unique insight into how actors craft their roles. You can access them and various productions from students for a small donation. rada.ac.uk

VANESSA BOWMAN LYNNE CARTLIDGE EMMA HAGGAS 23rd April – 12th May LANDSCAPES and STILL LIFE www.jerramgallery.com The artists will be present on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th April

Image: Richard H Smith LYNNE CARTLIDGE

There is a lot going on at the Barbican with online talks and workshops including a six-week online evening course called The Artist Speaks from 27th April which explores how artists in the UK and US have written about their own work in the modern period.

This course is aimed at anyone with a passion for art and the tutor is Dr Matthew James Holman, who is world renowned. There is also an exhibition celebrating the provocative modern art of the French artist Jean Dubuffet opening in May. He rebelled against the conventional ideas of beauty and tried to capture everyday life in a gritty, authentic way. barbican.org.uk Lastly, I have signed up for an online course with Historic Decoration. They are doing a series of talks called ‘Renaissance to Regency’, exploring the evolution of the decorative arts and architecture in Britain from the Tudors to the Regency era, hosted

by Caroline Percy and Oliver Gerrish. They also offer four-day foundation courses and a lecture programme throughout the year. Fascinating and thoughtprovoking. historicdecoration.com

VANESSA BOWMAN

ROSES IN A JUG

VEGETABLE PATCH

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

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 13

Art & Culture

AN ARTIST’S VIEW Laurence Belbin

I had a day drawing in the town recently. As we are still under strict distancing regulations, I walked down using the ‘back ways’. I didn’t need to go far to find a good spot; it was quiet with just a few people to nod to. A little street quite forgotten, but very close to Cheap Street, George Street is where I perched myself for a while. Although there are some newish houses, the bulk is very old. I have, in the past, drawn the front of The George pub, but this time I focused on the back.

Looking towards The Julian (home until recently to The Slipped Stitch) and the archway which leads into Higher Cheap Street, you could, with some imagination, go back a couple of hundred years. Very small windows and roofs tiled with stone slabs gave me my subject.

I remember that to the left of my drawing was a hall, now a house, but for the life of me what it was used for I can’t recall; I’m sure there is someone in the town who will know. I find the backs of buildings are as interesting as the fronts. Here are the things the owners want to hide away – the ‘unsightly’ stuff: in this case, empty beer barrels, traffic cones and extractor fans. We all know these things are somewhere and that they are the norm for a working environment. They are a treasure for the artist - you can’t beat a bit of clutter! I used an ink pen

14 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

on A4 cartridge paper and went straight in.

I chatted to the landlord when he poked his head out, keen to be open again. I miss seeing the customers outside on the benches enjoying a beer of a lunchtime. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we can socialise again.

My next little sketch was done by standing in the same place but turning about 105 degrees to my left. Another pen and ink. The gap between the house and the end of the wall leads you into the car park. I liked looking up to the row of houses. It would have been so easy not to include the cars on the left, but I really feel that they help describe the sort of street it is, where parking is a premium and as long as you are not blocking anything, every bit of space is fair game. Just out of view, on the left, are some old outbuildings (a subject for another time) belonging to The George. I imagine at one time they may very well have been stables. It was an enjoyable hour or so and I passed the time of day to the occasional passer by. I know the gentleman who lives in the end house and he waved when he checked to see if the bins had been collected or not.

Later on in the day, I sat in Newland Gardens opposite the old Newland Doctors Surgery – now that’s going back a bit! I did a little drawing there and had a chat to a few friends that walked by.

Sherborne is a bit like that, you can’t really go to town and not have a natter. laurencebelbin.com

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 15

THE DORSET OPERA

MMXXI

The home of Country House opera in South West England featuring renowned soloists and orchestra Marquee bar | Picnics | Formal Dining

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

DON GIOVANNI 19, 22, 24 July at 19:00 | Matinée 21 July at 14:00 Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

COSI FAN TUTTE 20, 21 July at 19:00 | Matinée 24 July at 14:00 Sung in Italian with English surtitles

George Frideric Händel

ACIS & GALATEA

Concert, in the Mozart orchestration | Friday 23 July at 19:00 Sung in English with surtitles

Coade Theatre, Bryanston, Blandford Forum

Box Office: dorsetopera.com Priority booking from 6 April Public booking from 18 May

Community

WALK FOR A CAUSE David Grey

M

any years ago, I lived in a lovely village in the South Hams of Devon just outside Totnes. Most afternoons, you would spot a lady resident, armed with a bag in one hand and a litter picker in the other, scouring the verges and hedgerows for litter that motorists, and indeed pedestrians, had very selfishly just thrown away. Many people regarded her as mildly eccentric, but I personally always had a very strong admiration for her cause.

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted one of my neighbours walking towards Waitrose armed with her bag and litter picker. When I asked her if she was worried that people might consider her to be slightly batty, she replied, ‘David, I honestly do not care what anyone thinks.’ When I saw her later in the week, I asked her if she would mind if I joined her - immediately she said that she would be delighted.

She even supplied me with a litter picker, courtesy of 18 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

her friend and long-time Sherborne litter campaigner, Anthony Vosper.

So, the next day, feeling a bit apprehensive as to what sort of reaction I would get, we set off. Honestly, I had no need to worry whatsoever. The words of encouragement and thanks we received were simply uplifting. Having walked for well over an hour and collected four bags of rubbish between us, I went home feeling so incredibly positive. Important to note that we use bags that we can empty during our walk into one of the dozens, maybe hundreds, of litter bins that are in Sherborne. I then simply take my empty bag home and rinse it out to be used again. This saves just yet another bag going into landfill.

My eight-year-old son Charlie spotted my litter picker. Unbeknown to me he had persuaded his mum to buy him one last year. Probably, knowing Charlie, not to pick up litter, but rather as a robot arm for one

Image: Katharine Davies

of his space rockets taking him on another trip to the International Space Station that seem to regularly depart from the confines of his bedroom. However, I do him a disservice as he immediately asked me if we could go ‘picking’ together. This we did on the following weekend. We only took one bag, which I held, but he was keen to ‘out collect’ Daddy and then, we had a competition for the most unusual piece of litter. I thought I had won, when discovering the decaying remnants of a firework rocket (possibly one of Charlie’s from last bonfire night). However, Charlie won the day when he discovered part of a car’s bumper in Coldharbour car park. I claimed that this was not in fact litter only to be told that if someone knocked a bit off their car and did not bother to pick it up then they were, in Charlie’s opinion, a ‘dimpty stick’ (one of his favourite terms when Daddy does something that he considers head-shakingly embarrassing).

As someone who has done voluntary work in Sherborne for over 10 years, my latest voluntary post is helping cook for the RVS at our fortnightly lunch club.

Very sadly, due to lockdown, we have not met now for nearly a year. We do, however, keep in contact by phone with all our members. Sometimes, it is very difficult to sound positive on the phone during these difficult times. There are so often no rays of hope coming out of the media and, in the main, the mood is gloomy.

However, I contacted my team leader at RVS and suggested that I try and motivate both volunteers and members to go out for a walk using my cause as a reason. It’s far, far too difficult these days to motivate yourself to get out of the chair and take that all important exercise. It is just so easy to look at the weather outside and the rain coming down at an almost horizontal angle or a biting easterly penetrating the hardiest of thermal jackets. The thought of getting your cold weather gear on when everything is telling you to pick up the sudoku that you have been struggling with or grab the remote in the hope that there may be something actually worth watching on afternoon television better than the repeat of Homes Under The Hammer that you have seen at least three times before.

So, fellow residents of Sherborne and beyond, put down that remote and sudoku, get on the wet weather gear, but, more importantly, give yourself the greatest incentive for going on that walk, which is a very simple litter picker and a plastic bag.

I absolutely guarantee you will return from that walk exhilarated and inspired as well as exercised. You will have an enormous feeling worth and purpose. You will have received many words of encouragement from people you have never met before. When we eventually come out of lockdown, you will be able to spend time talking to these people who are encouraging you.

We have seen in recent months the huge importance of individuals inspiring a nation with their actions.

Voluntary work is one of the best ways I know to meet people and gain new friends, but litter picking is a voluntary job you can do on your own without being part of an organisation. Or, do it with a friend or relative as I do. Even if you only go for the shortest of walks and only pick up one piece of litter then that is one piece of litter whose absence is making our town cleaner and a safer place for our wildlife and a far nicer place for the generations to come to enjoy.

You can make a difference so please do it and ‘walk for a cause’. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 19

TRENDLE YARD

Bespoke, contemporary furniture, made to order using timber sourced directly from local estates

Trendle Yard, Trendle Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3NT Tel 07900 645450 www.trendleyard.com

Affordable interior fabrics thefabricbarn.co.uk 20 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

01935 851025

Another world on your doorstep THE EASTBURY HOTEL Long Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3BY Tel: 01935 813131 Email: relax@theeastburyhotel.co.uk www.theeastburyhotel.co.uk

Community

MARKET KNOWLEDGE

LIZ MANGLES, EWENIQUE FURNITURE

Welcome to The Sherborne Market!

What brings you here?

The pandemic! I usually take my Ewenique Furniture to several large craft shows around London and the South East. Last year, all but one event was cancelled and more have gone this year too, so I decided to look for more local, open-air options. I have exhibited at the lovely Stock Gaylard Oak Fair since it began over 15 years ago, so I was excited to be offered the chance to attend Sherborne Market.

Where have you travelled from?

My small seaside workshop on Portland.

Tell us about what you’re selling?

The Ewenique Furniture Flock: a range of sheepshaped footstools with carved wooden heads and upholstered, sheepskin-covered bodies. I’ll also have sheepskin seat pads, hand-sewn sheep greeting cards and sheep-shaped lavender bags.

Where and when did it all begin?

A pony-mad little girl – if I couldn’t have a horse, I would make one! My school was alarmed at my career choice of rocking horse maker.

In ’84, I moved to Crewkerne, where Margaret Spencer was making rocking horses. She bravely took me on as her apprentice and was a total star. I was with her for five years making almost 200 horses.

Then, in ’90, I moved to carving carousel animals; creating large elaborate horses, decorated with secondary animals, from dragons to piglets and my first lamb. Other rides had reindeer, sea creatures and Easter 22 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

animals. The large ride is currently at Crealy World of Adventure, near Exeter.

Around ’96, I was asked to make a sheep-shaped display stand for a beautiful Wensleydale sheepskin. I had a young family, so it took years to finish, and I lost touch with the customer. Loath to waste it, I tacked a woolly bathmat over it all and … Ethel was born!

Further progress with the flock was sporadic until 2010, when I teamed up with Mark Matthews, a sailmaker willing to wrestle sewing real sheepskin coats. The amazingly soft sheepskin with the hand-carved heads proved a winning combination.

What do you enjoy most about selling at markets?

Meeting people! I love seeing people’s reactions to the flock. Often, I have folk line up a row of Mirabelle sheep to choose their favourite; they are all Ewenique!

It’s fun and rewarding because I design them to be furniture that makes people smile. Even after selling at shows for years, there is a real buzz and excitement at every sale.

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

All the food stalls! During the past year, I’ve only shopped from our small local supermarket, so the idea of buying wonderful cheeses is a particular dream. Mark and I will be taking time off the stand to taste our way around!

Where can people find you on market day?

We’ll be on Cheap Street. eweniquefurniture.co.uk

Flying the flag for local

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

2021 dates

April 18th May 16th June 20th July 18th

August 15th September 19th October 17th November 21st

Community

A GREENER, CLEANER SHERBORNE Cllr Jane Carling, Sherborne Town Council

B

y nature, I am sceptical and impatient, although I am heartened by the forward movement of environment enrichment activity here. Although there is never a sufficient sense of ‘emergency’ for me, I see the STC’s unanimous recognition of the ‘climate emergency’ upgraded to ‘climate and environment emergency’, and the climate working party promoted to a ‘committee’, as a reflection of the council’s genuine and accelerating commitment to improve our environment. But what we can, and do, achieve is not as great as the groundswell of activity from the wider community of Sherborne and outlying villages - and the potential from Dorset Council’s Local Plan which we must use to our advantage.

Looking back at the 2019-2024 STC Forward Plan with its ‘Green Sherborne’ appendix, I know twelve of the issues have been discussed, eight have been accomplished or bettered and four are work in progress. Significantly, what was an ‘appendix’ eighteen months ago is now the body of most discussions and projects. When we lose a tree, almost by definition old and beloved, we plant more. Sadly, saplings are not immediately as glorious as the trees they replace - we need faith in ‘mighty oaks’.

Have you seen our new Electric Vehicle Charging Points (EVCPs)? STC cannot claim more than encouraging the innovation and applauding their installation, but those EVCPs in both the Old Market and Coldharbour car parks are indicative of the direction in which we are moving. Our thanks to Dorset councillors for delivering this initiative. Our pedestrianised electric road sweeper is about to spring into action with its new operator soon to be appointed, making for greener cleaning.

Our website will soon have its very own community page with links to green issues.

We have various initiatives from within the council, and externally, which is really encouraging.

Many people in Sherborne are working towards green, from those local artists who are no longer selling their cards in non-biodegradable packaging, to shops and markets where the purchaser uses their own containers and bags for transporting food.

Snowdrops, given by long-term Sherborne inhabitants, have been planted in the Quarr. The snowdrops were planted as we approach one year since the start of the first national lockdown; a floral thank you to all those in and around Sherborne who have helped the community over the past year. Snowdrops have long symbolised hope, showing that the long winter is slowly transforming into spring.

We are on our way to installing one or two community fridges, reducing food waste and providing free fresh produce to those who want or need it, and we are in the planning stages of a community orchard, which is surely cause for rejoicing.

Another potential project for Sherborne, much needed and long wanted, is a viable network of cycleways, for which we have received grant funding for a feasibility study to be carried out.

Then there are those whose vision goes beyond Sherborne. A young resident and Gryphon School pupil, Josh Tregale, soon to be heading off to university, has been invited onto a panel advising the Italian Government ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in November this year. Josh will certainly be one to watch. sherborne-tc.gov.uk @SherborneTownCl

24 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

TAKING A STAND Sir Christopher Coville, Acting Chairman, Sherborne and District Society CPRE

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he Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) believes in considerate planning and development, with surrounding countryside that is an optimal mix of farming and accessible landscapes that balances food production with wildlife conservation. We stand for green spaces in towns, a countryside that enriches all of our lives – regenerating our wellbeing, and that we, in turn, regenerate, protect and celebrate. We’ve worked for almost a century to support and promote the countryside, but we have never faced such challenges as we do today.

There are many forces at work as we begin a recovery from the pandemic: we need more houses, and ones that are affordable, especially to our young people; farmers are struggling to make ends meet as we transition from the EU to national arrangements; town centres are in decline as Covid and changing consumer behaviour take their toll and on top of all this, we face a climate emergency that if not addressed could cause lasting damage to the planet. This is why we at Sherborne CPRE are increasingly active. We are blessed with living in a beautiful part of Dorset, with a delightful Abbey town at its centre; so why are we so concerned?

As part of the Government’s housing initiative, Dorset has been set a target, adhering to Government guidelines, of nearly 40,000 new homes in the county; this would mean thousands of additional homes being built every year for the foreseeable future. Just think about that, and its potential impact on the county.

CPRE don’t recognise these figures, and believe they are about 50% higher than what is actually needed, and twice what has actually been achieved over the past

few years. Backed up by an independent report, we are pressing at county level to have these numbers revisited.

So, let’s talk about the Sherborne area. I don’t want to throw stones, but we’ve already seen a lot of imperfect developments west of the town. The current local plan identifies a need for 1,200 plus new homes in Sherborne, all of which would be constructed to the west and north west, around the current A30. With the houses already built or in the process of being built, by the end of the proposed local plan period, up to 2,000 new homes could have been completed. This would amount to a 40% increase in dwellings, with massive pressure on roads, health services, schools and leisure facilities – not to mention the loss of landscapes and farming land.

This is why CPRE Sherborne are actively engaging on the new local plan with the major landowner and the town council. We are encouraged by their concerns.

Sherborne Castle Estates have told CPRE that whatever developments result - they will be built with the right infrastructure and the right overall design.

But we cannot be complacent where local authorities are under such pressure from Government. Along with these endeavours, we intend to work with our town council to ensure that when we emerge from these dark days of Covid 19, we together strive to regenerate the town centre, with a rebalancing of its cultural, commercial, domestic and residential core. It will not be easy, and it will need leadership and bold planning decisions; CPRE Sherborne intend to be part of the solution. dorset-cpre.org.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 25

Community

REDUCE YOUR FOOD WASTE, HELP COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND SAVE MONEY! Dorset Council Waste Team

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t a time when we’re all trying to play our part in tackling climate change, there’s one easy action we can take – and it will also save us money!

The edible food we throw away contributes to climate change. We are wasting not only the food but the valuable resources that have gone into creating it too – from fertilisers, and water that was used for growing it, to the greenhouse gases created from its production and transportation.

Here are some handy tips on how to reduce your food waste: Make a list – Before you go shopping, plan your meals ahead and make a list. It will help you to only buy what you need.

Get your portions right – It’s very easy to cook too much pasta and rice. Obviously appetites differ, but a quarter of a standard mug of uncooked rice or two generous handfuls of uncooked pasta per person are a good rule of thumb when estimating quantities required.

Store food correctly – Food lasts longer if stored in the right places. Bread is best stored in its original packaging in a cupboard or in a bread bin, not the fridge. Potatoes should be kept in a breathable bag/sack (not plastic packaging) and stored in a cool, dark place.

Get the best use out of your fridge/freezer – Setting your fridge down to 5 degrees will keep food fresher for 26 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

longer. Freezing what you won’t eat is like pressing the pause button. All kinds of foods can be frozen, right up to the ‘use-by’ date, including milk and bread.

Keep an eye on your labels – Making sense of the various dates on your food packets can help save your food from being wasted. ‘Best before’ refers to quality: your food will be at its best before the date given. After this date, it might not be at its best, but it will still be safe to eat. ‘Use by’ refers to safety: you must not eat food past the ‘use by’ date. ‘Display until’ and ‘sell by’ dates are just for the retailers; you don’t need to worry about these.

Eat everything that’s edible – Use up every edible part of your fruit and vegetables, including potato skins and broccoli stalks. You’ll get the best value as well as the most of your food’s nutrients. It will also save you the hassle of peeling!

Use up all your leftovers – Leftovers could be used for a lunchtime snack e.g. for fillings in sandwiches or baked potatoes. It can be fun to get creative and use up leftovers to make an evening meal – and could also save you time as you won’t have to cook from scratch.

For more hints and tips, plus lots of tasty recipes for using up leftovers, visit lovefoodhatewaste.com dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/recycle

elizabethwatsonillustration.com 28 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

HANFORD

TWITTER AT HANFORD traditionally modern

Independent Boarding and Day School for Girls Aged 7 to 13 visit hanfordschool.co.uk or call Karen on 01258 860219

UNEARTHED William Loughlin, aged 18 Sherborne School

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illiam is a shining example of a Shirburnian who has made the most of all that Sherborne has to offer and is always keen to get ‘stuck in’. He is recognised as a key member of the Sherborne community and, for his many achievements and character, has recently been made Head of School – a well-deserved honour. William is a valued member of his boarding house, Harper House, and when the house undertook the ‘Harper Hike’ to raise money for Help for Heroes, William was a key player. He has also been recently involved in the very successful Harper House radio play.

In the Fourth Form, William showed great determination and grit to undertake the training and go on to complete the Ten Tors challenge. His passion for co-curricular activities has also seen him play golf with a handicap of 3, playing in a number of national competitions.

However, it is in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) where he has excelled to incredible heights. He was the first ever cadet from Sherborne to be a Master Cadet; William is our Cadet RSM (Head Boy) and Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant’s Cadet for Dorset. On a recent trip to Canada with the Cadet Force, William impressed the military staff to such a level that he was asked back the following year to be the staff cadet – sadly, COVID got in the way. William has been involved in helping the younger cadets in the CCF and, more recently, in introducing the CCF to Sherborne Girls.

Alongside all these amazing successes, in the boarding house, the youngest years look up to him because he is kind and thoughtful. They will seek him out because they find him approachable and feel they can trust him. William is a true Shirburnian and will be a credit to the School as he fulfils his latest role as Head of School. sherborne.org

KATHARINE DAVIES PHOTOGRAPHY Portrait, lifestyle, PR and editorial commissions 07808 400083 info@katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk www.katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk

30 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

VIRTUAL OPEN DOORS 29 April Prep 10.00 am Senior 11.00 am

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Children’s Book Review

by Jack Davis, Year 6, Leweston Prep

The Day the Screens Went Blank, by Danny Wallace, illustrated by Gemma Correll (Simon & Schuster Children’s) £7.99 Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £6.99 from Winstone’s Books

T

he Day the Screens Went Blank by Danny Wallace is an exciting book, asking the reader to imagine what life would be like without screens. The central character, called Stella, describes her life – which seemed like mine in many ways – when, suddenly, all the technology stops working.

The family then go on an adventure to visit their grandmother who lives miles away.

The journey is not like any I could imagine with no iPads, sat nav or mobile phones! The family meet all sorts of interesting people on their travels. They become close as a family, learning more about each other and the people they meet – who are all living alone.

I really enjoyed the story, which was brought to life with brilliant illustrations by Gemma Correll. I really recommend this book, for children aged 8-13. After the last year, which has been so dominated by screens as we all stayed at home, a book showing us what life would be like with no technology is really refreshing and made me think a holiday from screens would be an adventure.

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PREP • SENIOR • SIXTH FORM

Family

IN SEARCH OF INSPIRATION Richard Pyman, Sherborne Prep

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utside my family, my first inspirations were Somerset cricketers. Maybe, I was ten. By ‘inspiration’, I mean that I felt compelled by Joel Garner’s yorkers to spend hours bowling in the garden, dreaming of playing at the County Ground.

By senior school, writers were jostling cricketers for supremacy, but I was also becoming aware of the power of the example of others, examples of humility, selfsacrifice and kindness, seen at least partly in those who taught me. As Joe Biden said at his inauguration: ‘Show me not an example of your power, but the power of your example.’ I also began to become aware that the single most satisfying feeling is that of having tried your level best: ‘labor omnia vincit’.

Thus far, no news, you say. True. However, have the past twelve months not underlined the need for inspiration? I was not alone in having sporting role models, nor were musicians, painters or actors unusual in taking inspiration from the joy of production and performance. So much of this has been denied to children and young adults of the Covid era. What have we done, and what will we do, to make up ground?

Art has been a constant source of joy; at Sherborne Prep, we have one of the town’s real inspirers: he leads, teaches, waits, reflects, supports, encourages…but, much more than that, he does. He is not a mere commentator, one of Roosevelt’s ‘cold and timid souls’…he’s a man in the arena, an artist of international acclaim and equal modesty and humility. Not all of us have that talent, but encouragement goes a long way. We have music teachers who play solos at the Last Night of the Proms, drama teachers with illustrious achievements behind them, sports teachers who have played for their countries and made centuries against Malcolm Marshall…I could go on. These examples, in encouragement and accomplishment, may be one form of inspiration.

Another is the determination not to be beaten: last summer, we had the great fun of making a film of Romeo and Juliet, with a performance before an

34 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

audience being impossible. Scenes were captured for our production in unusual locations! Cheap St churchyard became the Capulet vault; one beautiful garden witnessed Romeo killing Tybalt with a rapier thrown at his heart, on a zip wire; another had a wonderful tree house turned into Juliet’s balcony; a third saw a mounted Prince and his page gallop to part the warring families, and a fourth had the chorus in a medieval rose arch. Capulet was stuck in Spain, but his combination of paternal need and misguidedness were beautifully portrayed from the public gardens of Barcelona. All in all, it was an exercise in trying to find joy and beauty against the background of largely enforced solitude.

Indeed, for much of lockdown, I have had the last words of The Great Gatsby swimming round my head: ‘And so we beat on, boats against the current…’ We may indeed have been rowing upstream, but with enthusiasm and energy. Will this dogged determination not to yield inspire the young? I hope so. I hope that they will remember lockdown not for the increased solitude, the dreaded PlayStation, but for the chances they took to stand up to it, to paint and play and sing and act and study…

A final thought: as I write this, spring is coming.

Simon Armitage wrote a beautiful poem last year about nature’s battle against the human race. Ark deals with the ambitions of the polar research vessel the ‘Sir David Attenborough’ to tackle the warming oceans. It is seen as a dove from biblical times, searching for the olive branch, ‘the leaf ’, the sign that all may, after all, be well. The children at Sherborne Prep have taken this to their hearts. Just as the vessel may help the Arctic, so the poem may inspire the young readers; what is more, the spring, like the dove, will ‘bring back the leaf ’; the inspired young will improve the world, and the age of the flood, the age of lockdown, will fade in the memory.

Please make it so. sherborneprep.org

Image: Katharine Davies sherbornetimes.co.uk | 35

Family

THE ANNUAL SHERBORNE TIMES EASTER EGG HUNT It's that time again! Hidden among the pages of this month’s Sherborne Times are 20 delicious Easter eggs.

Find them all for your chance to win your very own chocolate bunny courtesy of The Chocolate Society.

Email your answers to helen@homegrown-media.co.uk Strictly no grown-ups (you can buy your own).

Terms & Conditions: Correct answers require the page number of each hidden Easter egg. Entrants must be UK residents, aged 12 years or under. No purchase is necessary. One entry allowed per person. There are ten prizes to be won. All prizes are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-exchangeable and there is no cash alternative offered. The prize will be sent via recorded delivery to the address supplied within two weeks of notification. The promoter is Homegrown Media Ltd, 1 Brett’s Yard, Digby Road, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3NL. Closing date: Tuesday 20th April 2021. Ten names will be drawn from a hat on Friday 23rd April 2021.

36 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Image: Katharine Davies

Alasdair, Head Chocolatier sherbornetimes.co.uk | 37

Family

BRAVE NEW WORLD Jo Thomson, Head, Clayesmore School

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s we emerge from what we hope will be the last lockdown, we face a new world where things have changed forever. Who would have imagined that elderly care home residents would be Zooming their loved ones; that businesses could change their entire operations in a matter of weeks, or that whole families would be working and schooling from the kitchen table?

All this would have been unimaginable just a few months ago, however, what the pandemic has shown us is that when the pressure is on, we can rise to meet almost any challenge. It has forced humankind to move forward; it has accelerated the way we use technology to connect, learn and work, and much of what we have learned, however hard it has sometimes felt, will bring us lasting benefits.

School life and teaching has changed beyond recognition too, and many lessons learnt during lockdown are shaping a whole new way of educating our children. At Clayesmore, in Iwerne Minster, Dorset, 38 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

the senior leadership teams of the Prep and Senior schools have taken this unique moment in time to review every aspect of school life, evaluating the lessons learned from lockdown, and analysing what children need in order to be able navigate the new world that has opened up ahead of them.

It has become abundantly clear that alongside a strong core academic curriculum, young people need more than ever to be outdoors, developing an appreciation and a passion for the environment with all the opportunities for physical fitness, exhilaration, adventure and sheer good fun that includes! We now understand the luxury that is fresh, clean air, and outdoor spaces.

The pandemic became about what we could give to, rather than take from, our communities. We were humbled in the face of the incredible generosity of spirit and optimism of Sir Captain Tom. The academics at Oxford University and AstraZeneca made a real difference to our lives, but so too did the NHS and other key workers: ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

It became clearer than ever that we all have the power to change the world in our own small way... we just need to care enough to take those first difficult steps.

So, we have changed and our perspectives have too, and our education system needs to reflect that paradigm shift. We seem to have become less phased by change and uncertainty, and we are ready now to embrace opportunities to learn new practical skills.

It would seem that lockdown has given us a renewed appreciation not just of our own capacity to adapt, but greater empathy for other people and concern for the world around us.

So, how do you harness this new outlook and shake up a traditional education to incorporate all these vital life lessons? Well, lessons for the future can often be learned from the past so we looked back to the founder’s original vision for Clayesmore.

125 years ago, Lex Devine’s guiding principle was to offer ‘an all-round education’, a brave departure from the traditional educational offering of the day, and

pioneering thinking well ahead of his time. Devine understood the importance of a traditional academic education, but he also recognised that without a strong foundation of values and attitudes, it was nothing. He railed against ‘teaching to the test’ – yes, even back then!

– and firmly believed that his radical new approach would give every single pupil what they needed to flourish into confident, capable and resilient young people, ready to meet head-on the challenges that life would throw at them. Those core values remain at the heart of a Clayesmore education today.

So, Clayesmore has always been a reflective school and an innovative one, too: never resting on its laurels, but always seeking to ensure that it delivers educational excellence that is at the same time relevant and fit for purpose. So, it is with that spirit of innovation and relevance that the LEX programme is being launched in Autumn 2021.

A root and branch curriculum review has resulted in a radical overhaul of the timetable. Academic lessons at the weekend will be replaced by transformative and memorable trips, training courses and experiences, predominantly in the outdoors, and all designed to challenge, excite and thrill. This innovative programme will run across the entire weekend, at the same time giving greater flexibility for day pupils alongside a broader range of opportunities and experiences for boarders. At its heart, the LEX programme will enable all pupils to acquire and embed those essential skills that will give them the confidence, ambition and compassion that they will need to live their lives well.

For parents, it’s never been more important for the school educating their child to also be developing and equipping them with the soft skills, confidence and resilience to succeed in an ever-changing global landscape. LEX aims to provide this bridge to adulthood and give pupils the edge they need to prosper in this increasingly challenging world.

It’s astonishing that something as difficult as a global pandemic can have had such a profoundly positive impact on our thinking. Maybe these times of difficulty and strife are needed to turn thinking on its head and see life from a new perspective. It has certainly expedited the thinking of our Prep and Senior school leadership team, and LEX should be the most fulfilling experience for our pupils as they get back to a more normal school life post-pandemic. clayesmore.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 39

Our Pupils, seizing the opportunity www.sherborneprep.org

Follow our story

www.yeovil.razzamataz.co.uk

A local charitable group working hard to

#EndChildFoodPoverty Supporting free school meal (FSM) families from Sherborne area schools with vouchers for food supplies and providing hot meals during the school holidays. A helping hand in a difficult time makes a big difference.

As well as performing arts lessons for ages 2-18, we’re a great place to make friends, boost confidence and have fun!

To find out more information and make a donation, visit our Facebook page:

Contact Claire at Razzamataz Yeovil to book a place or for more information 07856 273166 yeovil@razzamataz.co.uk

www.facebook.com/ stoptherumblesherborne Stop The Rumble is supported by The Fabulous Foundation, a local registered charity RCN: 1164111

40 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

elizabethwatsonillustration.com 42 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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

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

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

Celebrate your wedding day...

Bright times ahead...

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+44 (0)1308 424116 symondsburyestate.co.uk Symondsbury Estate, Bridport, Dorset DT6 6HG

Science & Nature

TOOTHPASTE, CUSTARD AND CHOCOLATE MATHS GETS MESSY

This article explores the maths behind the behaviour of three very useful substances. Millions use them but few understand how they work. Here, Bob Barber recounts a fascinating Science Café meeting lead by Prof. Helen J. Wilson, Professor of Applied Mathematics, UCL. Rob Bygrave, Chair, Sherborne Science Café

Float Motion/Shutterstock

44 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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t our April 2018 meeting, Prof. Helen J. Wilson introduced us to the weird and wonderful world of viscoelastic fluids, and the complex problem of attempting to understand their behaviour through mathematical modelling. Toothpaste, custard, chocolate and some paints all exhibit behaviour different from a simple liquid like water. Water, a Newtonian fluid, has a single coefficient of viscosity (at a given temperature). Viscosity is the ratio of the stress applied to a fluid divided by the rate of strain applied to it.

For many fluids and ‘soft solids’, the viscosity is not constant and changes with the strain rate. For example, ketchup can have its viscosity reduced by shaking, or other forms of mechanical agitation, and is termed a shear-thinning material. Yoghurt, nail varnish and thixotropic paints exhibit the same effect.

Other materials display the opposite effect and are called shear-thickening materials, for example custard (and other preparations of corn starch). Thus custard, when subject to a sharp force, becomes resistant to the force. It is possible to run across a lake of custard (evidence of this can be found on YouTube). This property has been used to advantage to make Kevlar body armour more protective by incorporating a shear-thickening material like corn starch.

Bingham fluids require a finite yield stress before they deform and will hold under their own weight. A typical example is toothpaste, a mixture of a polymetric fluid matrix with silica particles for abrasion and to control the flow properties, together with flavourings and other active ingredients. Control of the production process can be very difficult.

The main body of Prof Wilson’s talk was concerned with modelling the behaviour of chocolate, another very complex material. It is a dense suspension of sugar and cocoa solids in a cocoa butter liquid phase, complicated by variations in the cocoa butter with source and harvest conditions. Chocolate is essentially a shear-thinning substance, but whose properties change radically at different temperatures. We were treated to the complex mathematics developed as part of a research project on a chocolate fountain.

The process was considered in three stages: firstly, the flow up the delivery pipe; secondly, the flow around the dome, and finally, the fall of the chocolate from the edge of the dome. Two models were considered, as a Newtonian fluid, and by a power-law function.

The complex partial differential equations were successively simplified by a series of realistic assumptions which led to reasonable descriptions of measured behaviour. The falling sheet was a particularly difficult problem as surface tension and gravity needed to be considered, as was the ‘tea pot’ effect, where liquid emerges from a sharp boundary like a spout.

The work was published in the European Journal of Physics (Adam K Townsend and Helen J Wilson, Eur J Phys, vol 37, no.1, Nov 2016), and was picked up by the popular press world-wide. sherbornesciencecafe.com ucl.ac.uk As the vaccines roll out we hope to be able to return to our monthly lectures soon. Our visit to Ryewater Farm with its butterflies and wildflowers is a very real possibility (in small groups) this summer, so watch this space. RB

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 45

Science & Nature

THE FIRST SWALLOW OF THE YEAR

T

Alex Hennessy, Dorset Wildlife Trust

he silhouette of a barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) in flight is a thing of beauty. At a glance, it might be mistaken for a swift or house martin, but when perched on a branch or telegraph wire its two slim tail streamers make a swallow unmistakable. Iridescent blue-black feathers cover most of the small bird’s body, with a white belly and brickred forehead and throat helping with identification.

These migratory birds herald the arrival of warm weather on our shores, visiting the UK for summer, generally between April and September. They spend the rest of their time in Africa, making an astonishing journey of around six weeks, covering 200 miles each day to get here in late spring, and then return to Africa in autumn. On their way, they feed on the wing, catching and devouring flying insects without the need to stop to eat. At night, they rest in reed-beds at key points along their way.

On arrival here in Dorset, swallows often nest in farm buildings, outhouses and in the eaves of houses. They gather mud and straw for their cup-shaped nests, built high in dark corners of buildings. Here, they can feel safe, tucked away from predators such as sparrowhawks. However, swallows are fast and agile enough to escape most predators and can also gather together to ‘mob’ predators and threats including cats and even humans, enjoying safety in their numbers.

When autumn arrives in September, swallows prepare to migrate, with the younger birds being the first to leave. Their journey traverses western France, eastern Spain, Morocco and the Sahara Desert, through the Congo rainforest. At the end of this magnificent trip, they finally settle in South Africa and Namibia until next March or April.

When will you see your first swallow of 2021 in Dorset, signalling that summer is on its way? Find out more about how to attract birds to your garden and other wildlife-friendly activities on the Dorset Wildlife Trust website at dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/actions.

SWALLOW FACTS: • Swallows lay four to five eggs in their nest.

• They typically live for 2 years but the longest recorded lifespan from a ringed bird was 11 years and 1 month.

• Swallow tattoos were common for 19th and 20th century sailors, representing 5,000 nautical miles travelled.

46 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Image: Mark Hamblin sherbornetimes.co.uk | 47

TAKE YOUR TIME

AVAILABLE ONLINE sherbornetimes.co.uk

48 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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Science & Nature

DRIVING DOWN OUR EMISSIONS Peter Littlewood, Young People’s Trust for the Environment

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ave you found yourself using the car less during lockdowns? My family has certainly noticed the difference. For those of us living in the villages around Sherborne, a car is pretty much an essential. In 2018 (the last year for which we have published data), more than a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions came from transport. That percentage must have fallen in a locked down 2020.

New car sales dropped considerably as a result of Covid, but of those that were sold here last year, an amazing 10% were either pure electric or plug-in hybrids.

That’s more than double the electric vehicle (EV) sales of 2019. With a ban on sales of new non-electric vehicles set to come into force here in 2030 (hybrids can still be sold until 2035), and with manufacturers like Jaguar pledging to be making only electric vehicles from 2025, Volvo by 2030 and Ford by 2035, a path to lower emission transport is already set out for us.

Anyone who has driven an electric car knows what 50 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

an enjoyable experience it can be; it’s quiet, the torque is huge and there are no gears to change. The acceleration can be delivered at supercar levels and the motor just keeps spinning faster, giving the feeling of piloting an overgrown Scalextric car. Apart from anxiety induced by the need to find a charging point before the batteries run out on a longer journey, EVs are a blast to drive.

And there are clear environmental benefits reaching far beyond zero emissions too. A 2021 report, published

by Transport and Environment, shows that when an electric car comes to the end of its life and is recycled, only about 30kg of raw materials are unrecoverable.

Compare that to the 17,000 litres of oil irrecoverably burned by a petrol or diesel car by the time it is recycled.

But EVs aren’t a perfect solution. Making a car, whether it’s electric or fuel-burning, requires a complex series of industrial processes – each of which has environmental impacts. And, if we’re going to be able to adopt electric cars en masse, we’re going to need a lot

Phaustov/Shutterstock

more charging points, which in turn means generating a lot more electricity. That electricity needs to come from renewable sources for our journeys to be truly zero-emissions. As we make the rapid transition to electric transport, more and more metals like lithium, cobalt and nickel are needed to make the batteries and other components.

Cobalt is rare, with around 70% of it found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a politically unstable country recovering from civil war. It’s so abundant in the DRC that it can be dug out of the ground by hand in ‘artisanal’ mines, where women and children are often employed to do the digging.

But cobalt is highly toxic and exposure to it can cause lung and liver failure. Working with no protective equipment in unregulated mines, the DRC’s cobalt miners are extremely vulnerable. Global demand for cobalt is growing rapidly, with around 10kg of it needed for every EV. In 2017, battery makers globally

used 41,000 tonnes of cobalt. By 2025, this is expected to rise to 117,000 tonnes. If we are to avoid human and environmental disaster we need better regulation of cobalt production.

Lithium mining creates environmental hazards too.

South American miners drill holes into salt flats and inject water to pump mineral-rich brine to the surface, before leaving it until the water has all evaporated off.

In Salar de Atacama, Chile, some 65% of the region’s water has been used by its lithium mines, causing massive problems for local farmers. It takes around half a million litres of water to produce every tonne of metallic lithium.

Other toxic chemicals have to be used in the processing of lithium salts, and incidents of water pollution and water depletion are on the increase, as are soil damage and air pollution. In Australia and the US, where lithium is mined more conventionally from rock, chemicals still need to be used to extract it in a useful form. A study in Nevada found that fish had been contaminated some 150 miles away from a lithium processing operation.

So, whilst EVs are definitely better, they’re certainly not a perfect solution and if we’re not careful, they will create new environmental crises for future generations to deal with. When I talk to young people about being more environmentally friendly, I always say that the best we can do is our best. I haven’t seen a new green technology that doesn’t have some kind of an environmental cost.

However, their impacts are normally considerably lower than those of the technologies they’re replacing.

Electric vehicles are our current best answer to reducing our emissions from transport. That doesn’t necessarily mean we should all dash out and buy EVs straight away though. Government grants that are available for purchasers of EVs were reduced from £3,000 to £2,500 on 18th March and they’re now only available on cars costing less than £35,000 to buy. Apart from the expense of going electric, which for many is prohibitive at the moment, making any type of car still has serious environmental impacts, so if your oil-burning car still has some life left in it, it’s likely to be better to keep it going for a few more years than to dive straight into an EV purchase. But when the time comes for the old car to go, an EV will be your best choice of transport for helping to tackle climate change. ypte.org.uk The opinions expressed here are Peter’s own and don’t represent those of YPTE. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 51

Science & Nature

HOLNEST CHURCHYARD WILDFLOWERS

H

Kevin & Val Waterfall, Dorset Wildlife Trust, Sherborne Group Members

olnest churchyard is part of the Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) Living Churchyards project which involved surveying the 48 plant species, excluding trees and shrubs, on site. These plants included 13 species ‘Dorset Notables’ which are characteristic to Dorset.

We have shrugged off the heavy frosts of February and felt the warmth of March. We are now in the early spring flush of yellow flowers with lots of celandines and primroses, and the hedgerows are dripping with golden catkins on the hazel bushes. The cowslips will soon be showing through with their bright faces.

Smaller splashes of other colours like the blue of 52 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

speedwell and the red deadnettle are there in clumps and the maroon of the new blackthorn shoots fringe the hedge. All manner of plants are shooting up, including the umbellifers such as the pignut and the corky-fruit water dropwort.

Don’t plants have wonderful common names? The pignut, which is a relative of the carrot, gets its name from the edible swollen root brown tubers which have a pleasantly nutty flavour when eaten raw or cooked. They were popular amongst country children in the days when sweets were scarce and as the name implies, pigs were very fond of them too.

As the churchyard has a stream on two sides,

which, after heavy rain, can flood badly, it has resulted in water ingress to the church in the past. However, it also means that plants that like wet conditions can thrive. These include the devil’s-bit scabious and the meadowsweet, which perhaps surprisingly is a member of the rose family.

The solitary bees have been busy for weeks working every flower that comes out and they were followed by the brimstone butterflies, whose bright yellowish green cheer any dull day. It will be some time though before our meadow browns appear, as the larva that have overwintered need to feed off the grasses, eventually pupating and hatching to give us a flush of the adult butterflies. These enjoy the knapweed when it flowers, as do the common blue butterflies that flutter across the tall stems.

The churchyard has a large area that is not mowed over the summer, except for paths through it. This means that the main colours for July and August

are purples, blues and whites of common knapweed, scabious, betony, burnet saxifrage, red and white clover and the eye-catching oxeye daisies. These are interspersed by the yellows of birdsfoot trefoil, catsear and hawkbit.

There are lots of grasses and some of these are Dorset Notables as well, such as quaking grass which trembles in the wind; the little spikelets emitting a distinctive rattling sound as their papery scales jostle together. Yellow oat grass and false oat grasses grow amongst the meadow grass. Both the grass and knapweed seed heads form an attractive meal for the goldfinches that drop in during late summer, before the churchyard is given its autumn cut.

You can find out more by visiting the Facebook page for ‘Friends of Holnest Church’ or the church website friendsofholnestchurch.wordpress.com Images courtesy of Friends of Holnest Church sherbornetimes.co.uk | 53

Science & Nature

WILL BEES MOVE INTO MY GARDEN? Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker Todor Stoyanov/Shutterstock

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pril is the time when we really start to see spring in full spring. It’s also when most people approach me asking about getting beehives and keeping bees. Now I have moved into my new ‘Hive’ in Galhampton, my large window frontage of my dream workshop has attracted more enquiries. It was important to me that I would be more accessible, whilst also having more room to run my business. Honey production, packing book orders and 54 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

wax processing had become too much from my home.

Live webinars disrupted by domestic intrusions and intermittent broadband connection! Graduates of my naturopathic beekeeping courses are now able to collect their bee suits, gloves and hive equipment from me.

Eventually, I will be offering bee ‘experience days’ and honey tasting sessions, as well as having space to store my ever-increasing honey collection.

The question for this time of year is: when is the best

time to get your own bees, and should you anyway?

When asked about starting beekeeping, my first question is why? Many people have a belief that the best way to ‘save the bees’ is to have their own beehive.

Although in an indirect way, an increased interest in the wellbeing of nature and bees does evolve from having your own hive, initially, introducing a colony of bees can actually be very detrimental to the natural balance of your garden or countryside. We have 270 species of bees in the UK, but only one of them is a honeybee. 24 of these species of bees are bumblebees, often nesting in the ground. We could have many species of solitary bees living in our walls and wild areas. Sadly, it is these native species that have seen the most devastating decline – many even becoming extinct.

As spring begins, the queens and female bees emerge from hibernation and are looking for a new nest site. They are also looking for nectar and pollen from whatever blooming plants are around. Imagine a queen bumble waking up from her winter sleep to find that 10-50,000 honeybees have moved into her patch!

The first question, therefore, is: do you have sufficient forage to feed your native bees, as well as any newcomers?

‘Newcomers’ is my next point. There has been a growing habit of purchasing bees when we take the fancy to start beekeeping. My own first colony came from a package from Cyprus. Ten years ago, I was naïve to the practices of beekeeping and was happy to follow the guidance of my mentor, as well as what was common practice from the British Beekeeping Association (BBKA). Brexit has highlighted this practice; at last, I am grateful that the discussion is now public, as non-beekeepers were alerted to this practice of shipping live bees around the world. New regulations now complicate the transportation of living bees, and the conversation has opened up as to whether or not we should continue such a practice.

Killing a queen and replacing her each year with a freshly mated Mediterranean queen is neither sustainable, kind or safe.

Diseases and pathogens are often transported with the bees, not to mention the fact that these bees are far from accustomed to our climate or forage sources.

Imagine a human practice of killing young mothers and replacing them with imported ones with differing cultures, language and behaviours! We are living in a time when understanding that nature deserves similar rights and respects to humans has become paramount to our future survival.

Should you still be thinking you’d like to have ‘your own’ bees, then I recommend baiting a hive providing a suitable home for the native bees. During late April and early May, they will be looking for new homes through the natural and essential, swarming season. An empty hive, with some old beeswax, lemongrass oil and propolis will prove irresistible to a local swarm. The bees will then choose to be with you, resilient in your area, happy and familiar with their location, and with the highest chances of survival – as well as being free!

If you get to the end of May with no swarm, then perhaps speak to a local beekeeper who may have a spare colony to sell to you. Some parts of the UK have become so filled with colonies of bees that they are starving as insufficient forage is available for the increased population. That doesn’t even address the native solitary and bumblebees that quietly disappear, taking many plants with them directly connected for their pollination.

We can all help to protect bees by improving the available forage to feed the bees in our area. More ‘beefriendly’ towns and villages are committing to reducing mowing and most importantly, chemical usage in their gardens and community areas. I am particularly excited by the Bumble Conservation Trust’s initiative to help encourage golf courses to be more wildlife-friendly.

As we see them reopening for use this week, can we celebrate more wildlife in these often ‘very green’ areas?

There are over 3000 golf courses in the UK providing over 126,000 ha of green space. These areas, often in an urban environment, offer a fantastic opportunity to not only flower-rich passageways, or ‘stepping stones’ across the countryside, but also to engage golfers about the plight of many endangered bumblebee species across the UK. England Golf has predicted that, through using a greener practice, a typical club could save £30,000 a year by reducing mowing frequency, use of chemicals and creating flower rich habitats in the long rough and out of play areas. A golf player survey also found that 70% of golfers want to see more wildlife on the course as well as wanting their clubs to have initiatives that are environmentally friendly. As the country opens up again to human activity, wouldn’t it be wonderful to be hand in hand with our wildlife. There is no need to own our personal colony or hive, when we could be surrounded by the wild bees, grateful for us feeding them! paulacarnell.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 55

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On Foot

58 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

On Foot

HOOKE AND TOLLER WHELME Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 5 miles Time: Approx. 3 hours Park: On the road outside St Giles church, Hooke Walk Features: A fairly gentle walk from Hooke to Toller Whelme which then climbs Toller Down before returning via Westcombe Coppice and Burnt Bottom.

The route takes in Hooke Court and the Manor House at Toller Whelme, passing various ponds and lakes. The return section from Toller Down has good views across the former transmitting station site at Rampisham Down and beyond.

Refreshments: There are plenty of eateries and pubs to choose from in Beaminster.

E

ach month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar. For April, we follow the River Hooke to its source at Toller Whelme (Whelme is Anglo-Saxon for spring), in a beautifully secluded valley, before heading out onto Toller Down.

For two of the smallest settlements in the area, there is a wealth of fine architecture to admire including Hooke Court, built around the time of the English Civil War, and the Manor House and church at Toller Whelme. > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 59

Directions

Start: SY 535 001 St Giles church, Hooke 1 With the entrance to St Giles church on your right, walk along Higher Street Lane towards Hooke Court. After a few minutes, the road bends sharp left; pass a lake on your right and in 250 yards, you will see Hooke Court on your left.

After 150 yards, look for a signpost on your right for Toller Whelme 1¼. Go through the gate here, following a fence on your left across a field. You soon pass through another small gate; follow the right-hand edge of a field next to a copse. Once the wood thins out, look for a large metal gate in the right-hand corner and side of the field. Go through this into the next field then aim for a gate in the left-hand corner across the field. There are reed beds and a marshy area to the right.

2 Through the gate, emerge onto a road, turn right and, after a short uphill stretch, turn right onto a tarmac track; look for a cul-de-sac sign. After 600 yards you will see a Dorset Wildlife Trust reserve, Michael’s Peace, on the left and a pond, which is worth visiting. This is a lovely section of quiet road, lined with hazel hedge and small outcrops of chalk 60 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

in the surrounding fields. Pass a small lake, looking out for heron and cormorant and, after Lake Farm/ East Farm, the surface of the road turns into an unsurfaced track. Here, look for a bridleway sign on the left, signed right for the B3153 - you’ll come back to this in a short while. Continue downhill along the track, through a wooded section - listen out for wrens, chiff-chaffs and green woodpeckers along here. You soon reach Toller Whelme; take time to look at the Manor House then follow the track up and round to the right to visit the church.

3 Turn around and retrace your steps to the bridleway sign for the B3153 by West Farm Cottages.

Now turn left to go up a drive. After a few yards, continue straight on through a large metal gate, up into a field. Keep a ditch and hedge on your right, leaving Toller Whelme behind you. In the top right-hand corner of the field, go through a small metal gate into a larger field. Follow the hedge on your left, aiming for a large metal gate in the lefthand corner of the field. Great views across Hooke Park now open up behind you and you can also see Westcombe Coppice on your right, which you will pass though shortly. Keep the hedge on your left

through the next field and aim for a small metal gate in the left-hand corner. Go through this gate and turn immediately right.

4 Follow the hedge on your right to soon pass through a small wooden gate and then turn immediately right again, to follow the outer edge of the previous field. Note the old quarry in the valley ahead and the remains of Rampisham Transmitting Station, which was one of the main transmitters of the BBC World Service until closure in 2011. Rampisham Down is notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its large area of lowland acid grassland. Keep walking along the right-hand side of this field and pass through two large metal gates, towards Westcombe Coppice just to your left. New hedges have been planted across the field which may differ from some of the boundaries indicated on Ordnance Survey maps. Follow the hedge on your right to meet Westcombe Coppice, with the edge of the wood and a bank now on your right-hand side. In a few yards, at a small dip in the field, turn right into the wood. Westcombe Coppice has a special feel to it; oak and ash glow with green mossy coats

in a space singing with light. Follow a rough track to soon emerge on the other side of the coppice.

5 Leave the coppice through a gate and cross a track, to go through a small wooden gate into Burnt Bottom. Walk down a shallow valley and pass through another small wooden gate, then through another two small gates either side of a track. Go through these, continuing with woodland on your right and ahead. Follow the edge of the wood, keeping it on your right. As the path follows the contours of the hill, and continues round to the left, start to head away and slightly uphill from the field edge. You will soon see a large metal gate, just up from the corner of the field. Go through this into a small field and aim for a large metal gate on your left, now keeping level. Through this gate, head downhill to a small wooden gate, past a large red-brick house. Pass through another small wooden gate, into a boggy dell. The bottom part of this path turns into a stream and soon meets a bridge; cross this and turn left onto the road to take you back to the start. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 61

History

OLD TALES OF DORSET Cindy Chant and John Drabik

Statue of the poet Willam Barnes, St Peter's Church Dorchester.

D

orset has a huge variety of fascinating legends, tales and yarns, and I’ve been listening to these ever since I first came to live in Dorset, over fifty years ago. They are well documented in story form, poetry and song, and, with the help of my dear friend and colleague, John Drabik, a local retired teacher, we shall be presenting them here in our own style.

When the old folk in the past had something worth remembering, they would turn it into prose, a song, a story, or a mummers’ play. These are the old ways of doing things and predate the tools we now use to preserve these intriguing stories - the written word.

They are all varied, and some go back a thousand years.

Some will have moral lessons, while others are intended as prophecies, or to insure productivity of the land.

Whatever their purpose, they have been handed down 62 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Image: Andrew Wood/Alamy

through the generations, retold over many centuries, and are rooted in the essence of this county.

These are simple straightforward stories, with no confusion between right and wrong. No doubt, some have been added to over the years and, sometimes, the harshness of people’s lives has evolved and mellowed with time. We can be in touch with our roots through stories and performances such as these, for they stir memories, and dreams, which have stayed alive in our minds and the minds of our forebears.

Legend and folklore can offer explanations or guidance for the locals. Questions such as: why is that stone standing there? It was thrown there by a giant.

What is that hole in the ground? The Devil made it. Why is that man behaving that way? He is bewitched. Why has the church been re-sited? The faeries were riled. Whose is that effigy in the church? He was a brave knight of old.

Dorset’s stories and legends link us with the psychology of the past, a fascinating insight for us – for when these stories were first told, even in ancient times, they conjured up memories of great heroes and villains.

And then again, some tales tell of simple things: fertility, healings, or matters which can only be solved by divine intervention, or with the help of saints or faeries, in times of difficulty when the necessity arises.

Although some now lost in the passage of time, almost every village or town will have boasted some form of custom, tradition, legend, apparition, curse, witch, faerie, sacrifice, saint, miracle or holy spring.

All these tales and traditions, these legends and fables, rooted long ago – sung by minstrels, written about in the monastery, re-enacted by storytellers, practised by some, half-dismissed by antiquary, passed from parents to children through the many generations and enthusiastically recorded in the modern writings of the folklorist.

We can attribute some of our folklore knowledge to important figures who have recorded Dorset’s past.

There was William Barnes (1801-1886), who was born the son of a farmer and spent his early life near Sturminster Newton. Barnes became headmaster of a local school and helped to establish the Dorset County Museum. He later studied divinity and was ordained a priest. His expertise was in the Dorset dialect, with which he wrote much of his poetry and stories.

And then there was Thomas Hardy (1846-1928), whose fictional characters and place names refer to his beloved Dorset and its customs and folklore. Hardy’s first wife, Emma, was involved with folklore traditions, and we know that his grandmother told him stories which remained alive in his memory.

This is not to forget John Symonds Udal (18491925), whose book Dorsetshire Folklore contains so many treasures. And of course, the county historian of Dorset, the Reverend John Hutchins (1698-1773).

We must bear in mind that these stories are just that – told and retold – and although some may be based on factual accounts, they may not have happened in exactly the way they are recounted. Intriguing legends, irate witches, unusual customs, healing waters, mischievous fairies and ghoulish apparitions - we shall be writing about all of these.

We both have a deep love of the heritage and magic of Dorset, so follow us in our exploration of these rich, mystical folklore traditions, and we hope that our future articles will help you to feel this too.

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THOMAS EDWIN MOSTYN (1864-1930) The Lake Estimate: £1500-2000 to be sold 23rd April

Welcoming Consignments for our Spring & Summer Sales ONLINE VALUATIONS AVAILABLE

using the upload tool via our website Alternatively, you can call or email 01460 73041 enquiries@lawrences.co.uk Professional Valuations Available for Probate & Insurance Complete House Contents & Attic Clearances Arranged

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 63

History

LOST DORSET

NO. 10 PIDDLETRENTHIDE

N

David Burnett, The Dovecote Press

ow that spring is in the air, those fortunate enough to have a garden or allotment might be leafing through seed catalogues. A century ago, they would perhaps have come locally from the seed merchants in Piddletrenthide, Groves & Son. Here, in about 1912, Charles Grove is standing in the doorway of the aptly named Ivy House, with the post office and village shop on the left. Charles started a plant nursery on the steep ground behind his house. As well as seeds, the family had a market garden growing fresh flowers and vegetables. Local deliveries were made by pony and trap, and later a Bullnose Morris. The seeds were sold nationally, and an 1895 advertisement offered ‘new, genuine and well tested’ ounce packets of two varieties of cabbage and broccoli, parsnip, onion, radish, and turnip, as well as lettuce, marrow and cucumber seeds and six packets of various flowers – all for a princely 8p, including postage. The man in the lane was a local tramp known as ‘Budgen’. dovecotepress.com Lost Dorset: The Villages and Countryside 1880-1920, by David Burnett, is a large format paperback, £12, and is available locally from Winstone’s Books or directly from the publishers.

64 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

OBJECT OF THE MONTH

THE BULLET PENCIL Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum

T

his small, seemingly everyday object, just over 8cm long and 14g, carries a weighty significance. In the first instance, it is not simply a pencil, but one fashioned from a First World War bullet with a brass round-headed point 303 cartridge casing and copper primer. It is monogrammed on the side with an ‘M’ for Princess Mary with the crown above, and marked KII and VI on its base, indicating that it is a Mark VI made by Kynoch of Birmingham in 1911. It fits a plain nickel silver bullet tip holding a lead pencil. Clearly, the pencil has been used, which affords it a particular poignancy.

In November 1914, the Soldiers & Sailors Christmas Fund was formed by Princess Mary, daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, to provide overseas service personnel with a gift from the nation at Christmas 1914. This took the form of an embossed brass box containing a pipe, lighter, 1oz of tobacco and 20 cigarettes; non-smokers and boys received a bullet pencil and a packet of sweets.

Pencils given to officers were tipped with sterling silver, whereas other ranks and NCOs received the nickel silver type. All boxes contained a Christmas card and a picture of the Princess.

It is believed that the pencil belonged to Alfred Percy Hatt, MC (1894-1970), who settled in Sherborne shortly after the First World War. He was born in Wandsworth in Surrey, to Alfred Henry Hatt, a butcher’s salesman, and Emily Mary Blanche Webber; the 1911 census records him as a builder’s clerk. He served as a Regimental Sergeant-Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1918, he was awarded the Military Cross for his heroic efforts at Passchendaele

Ridge on 17th August 1917, as a supplement to the London Gazette on the 9th January 1918 recorded: ‘for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During heavy fighting he continued to lead stretcher squads to collect the wounded from exposed and heavily shelled positions and when many of his bearers had become casualties, he himself assisted to carry the wounded and continued until the battlefield was cleared. His untiring energy and splendid devotion to duty were beyond all praise.’ Alfred was also present at the landing in Gallipoli and served in Mesopotamia.

In 1921, the Electoral Roll shows Alfred Percy and his wife Mary living at Kelmscott, King’s Road in Sherborne. During this period, he was Secretary to Sherborne Town Football Club and Hon. Secretary of the British Legion Sick and Benefit Society, Sherborne branch. When the Prince of Wales visited the town in 1923, he noticed amongst the crowd that SergeantMajor Hatt was wearing his MC and singled him out; on learning in which battle he had been engaged, the Prince commented on its ‘terrific’ nature and sincerely congratulated him on the honour he had received.

During the Second World War, Alfred Percy served in Italy, where he was also mentioned in despatches, and North Africa. His collections of papers and other war souvenirs are held at the Wellcome Library (Ref: RAMC/1012). sherbornemuseum.co.uk Sherborne Museum is currently closed and looks forward to welcoming back volunteers and visitors when it is safe to do so. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 65

Antiques

Les Grands Boulevards, Theatre du Vaudeville in the Winter Antoine Blanchard (1910-1988), oil on canvas, 31.5 cm x 44.5 cm

PARIS IN WINTER

B

Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

ack in 1985, when I started working for Phillips Auctioneers in Long Street, Sherborne, there were seasonal variations in the auction market. You generally did not conduct auctions in the summer or December.

Moving forward to the 21st century, this has changed. The change has primarily been due to the arrival of the internet, resulting in dealers, collectors, museums and institutions being able to surf through online auction catalogues 24/7, as the Americans like to call it.

And this is a good thing. With the volume of business we carry out each month, if we were not to hold auctions in two months of the year, we would soon run out of space!

With a broad range of specialist auctions and departments, we do not just enter any lots into any auctions. A good example of this would be the gardenalia auctions – rather like kitchenalia relates to items from the kitchen, gardenalia relates to items from the garden. Back in November, we cleared a large country property which included a great range of garden statuary and benches. The next available auction was in December, but having discussed their sale with the owner, we stored them until our March gardenalia auction where the days are longer, the grass is growing, the bulbs are out, and we are all spending time in the garden feeling the joys of spring and not counting down to the shortest day.

66 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

However, sometimes there are exceptions to seasonal variations.

Recently, we cleared a large house in Bournemouth. The gentleman who passed away had lived a long and good life. During his career, he was a linguist and lecturer in Russian. As an academic, he amassed somewhere in the region of 10,000 books in Russian or about Russia.

Needless to say, a small library wing was added onto the home to accomodate them. Much to the relief of our chaps, who would have had to remove all the books, they were bequeathed in his will to a former student, and we were not involved in their removal.

The family had lived in the property for two generations or some 70 years. Not much had changed during this time. In many ways, it was quite captivating. As a small child, the owner had his bedroom wallpapered. I’m guessing this was in the 1950s and yes, in 2021, it was still there – never having been decorated over!

Walking around this 1950s time-warp house, dotted about with bronze busts of Lenin, and row upon row of books, there was one painting which stood out to me. The picture was painted

by Antoine Blanchard. Marcel Masson was born on the banks of the Loire in 1910 and painted under the pseudonym Antoine Blanchard. He was best known for his Parisian scenes in bygone days and the oil painting by him we are selling is of the Theatre du Vaudeville. In addition to Antoine painting his Parisian scenes, he also painted the same picture in the different seasons – our picture being painted with snow in winter.

Whether this will put anyone off at auction in April… I suspect not. charterhouse-auction.com

CHARTERHOUSE Auctioneers & Valuers

Forthcoming Auction Programme

Pictures, Books & Maps Thursday 8th April Sporting, Hunting, Shooting & Fishing Items Thursday 8th April Asian Ceramics & Art Friday 9th April Ceramics, Antiques & Interiors Friday 9th April Classic & Vintage Motorcycles Wednesday 30th June Classic & Vintage Cars Wednesday 14th July

Cricket memorabilia including a bat signed by England & Australia 1938 Ashes Teams in our April Sporting Sale

Contact Richard Bromell for advice on single items and complete collections Valuations for Probate and Insurance

The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne DT9 3BS 01935 812277 www.charterhouse-auction.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 67

elizabethwatsonillustration.com

White Hart Garden and Property Maintenance Marcus Smith 68 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Mobile - 07762 798473 | Home - 01963 23692

Co.ofLandscapers GARDEN DESIGN STUDIO

Spring into action

As the seasons change, the longer and brighter days provide an increasing range of gardening tasks.

Now is the time to plant shrubs, herbaceous plants, soft fruit and vegetables, as well as sowing seeds for summer bedding plants and potting up plants for tubs and hanging baskets. Keep those little visitors in mind to create a wildlife friendly haven along the way and make sure to put some time aside to give your lawn some love.

With our social distancing measures in place, you can pick up your trees, shrubs, seeds and pots 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 via our brand-new Online Store and we’ll deliver free within 25 miles.

Castle Gardens, New Road, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 5NR www.thegardensgroup.co.uk

thegardensgroup

01935 814633 store.thegardensgroup.co.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 69

Gardening

F-Focus by Mati Kose/Shutterstock

70 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

PEAT-FREE APRIL

D

Mike Burks, Managing Director, The Gardens Group

uring April, we will be supporting the #PeatFreeApril Campaign. You might recall that we had this planned for last April, but something else got in the way! Peat Free April is a month of action to raise awareness around peat and its continued use in the garden.

Peat is important for three reasons; firstly, it plays a crucial role in that peat bogs are sinks for carbon, so by extracting it, this rereleases the carbon back into the atmosphere; secondly, peatland habitats are environmentally sensitive and are home to a unique population of plants and animals, and thirdly, with flooding a hot issue at the moment (and for many years to come for that matter), peatlands slow the flow of water off the moors, helping to reduce flooding downstream.

Most gardeners are interested in the environment and many are committed to actively promoting the environmental benefits of gardening. Some, though, won’t be aware that they are using peat and others will want to stop using it, but have been brought up on it. There are good alternatives out there, but they require some different skills and techniques.

Peat has been used for soil improvement and for mulching, but this shouldn’t stop us going peat-free as there are many useful alternatives that are just as effective, or even more so, such as Bloomin’ Amazing, Composted Bark, Happy Soil Improver and the like, plus, of course, the well-rotted material from your own compost bin.

Peat usage in gardens is a relatively new phenomena, arriving in a big way since the Second World War. Gardening has changed though and many of us now garden in pots and containers, as we don’t have the luxury of a large outdoor space.

Modern housing density means that gardens are much smaller than they used to be and so growing in containers - and therefore the potting compost we use - is much more important than it was.

But we’ve done this all before; I’m of a vintage where I remember customers saying that they couldn’t bear peat-based composts and found that the John Innes composts (loam or soil-based) that they had been brought up on were so much easier to use. There aren’t many of those gardeners left and they eventually did learn to use peat-based compost. So, I am confident that we’ll all be able to get to the brave new world of peat-free, but we may need a little bit of help.

We are committed to supporting this campaign throughout April and far beyond. To kick things off, we’ll be talking about potting composts. As I said earlier, for soil improvement or mulching or planting compost, there are lots of excellent peat-free options – in fact, we haven’t had peat in any of these products for years.

Having trialled various alternatives in previous years, we are now successfully peat-free in our own nursery and a number of our growers are already growing for us in peat-free composts.

So, look out for peat-free compost and see it as a positive, ask for our help and guidance, continue to keep your own patch looking good and, at the same time, do an extra little bit for the environment as a whole.

Gardening is great for your physical and mental health and it also can be really good for the environment around you. thegardensgroup.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 71

Gardening

WILDLIFE-FRIENDLY GARDENS Bev Jones, Garden Designer, Co. of Landscapers

H

aving a garden that is welcoming to wildlife does not necessarily mean that you can down tools, abandon the lawn mower and any thoughts of weeding, and allow your garden to run wild and unkempt - however tempting that would be just to sit back and do nothing! Instead, if we all did more to encourage wildlife, we could individually contribute to the wider well-being of all creatures and eco-systems.

Re-establishing your garden’s eco-system will also pay dividends in reducing, or eliminating, the need to reach for pesticides or slug pellets. Even the smallest space can nurture nature in some form. There are three key elements essential to creating a more wildlife-friendly garden: ensuring diverse habitats; giving somewhere safe to breed and shelter; and providing a variety of places for the different animals to forage and feed from.

One of the simplest things to do is to allow an area 72 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

of grass to grow longer. Lawns provide a surprisingly rich source of food for a wide range of animals. Foxes, badgers, birds and hedgehogs appreciate shorter grass to forage for grubs and worms, whilst longer areas of grass will provide invaluable cover for invertebrates and slow worms who, in turn, will feed on slugs. You might be surprised what else pops up in your wilder edges of lawn – I was thrilled a couple of years ago to find a pyramidal orchid appearing in the strip of long grass down the side of my garden. As there were cowslips in this area of the garden when we moved here 11 years ago, I encouraged their spread by treating it as a wildflower meadow and only cutting in August once they set seed. I’m still hoping for some oxeye daisies and field scabious one day! If you can bear it, it is well worth leaving dandelion seed heads in these areas too as the birds love them, particularly finches. I have

Fewerton/Shutterstock

been fortunate in the past to find a nesting pair of bullfinches helping themselves.

Filling your garden with nectar-rich flowering plants and shrubs will provide food for bees, butterflies and moths, as well as all sorts of other insects and beetles. Try and have something in flower every month – even in winter. Almost anything you plant that flowers between September and March will be particularly valuable to bees. Shrubs such as Mahonia ‘Charity’, Virburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ and Lonicera fragrantissima (winter honeysuckle), which flower in the depths of winter, will also fill your garden with the loveliest scent. The winter-flowering Clematis cirrhosa ‘Jingle Bells’ is not only a useful evergreen climber but also has a lemony fragrance and flowers from Christmas through to March. It is best planted in a sheltered spot near a path or gateway

where you can enjoy the fragrance. Hellebores, grape hyacinths, winter aconites and crocuses also provide essential nectar and pollen when not much else is in flower in late winter/early spring.

If you have a boundary to define, ask yourself if you really need to put up that fence. Instead, it’s much better to plant hedges to provide shelter, habitat and nesting sites for birds, plus cover for small mammals and wildlife corridors. If there is a wire fence in addition to a hedge, don’t forget to ensure that you make gaps to enable wildlife to move around and link habitats. Planting climbers can also provide nesting sites for smaller birds like wrens and robins high up away from predators. Small trees like Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree) or crab apple Malus ‘Evereste’ will give you wonderful all year-round interest as well as being great for bees, and blackbirds will appreciate the little fruits in autumn and through winter.

A compost bin, no matter how small, is essential as it is environmentally friendly, turning your garden waste into compost to mulch and enrich your garden soil, as well as providing a habitat for a wide range of insects, invertebrates and slowworms. Last summer, bumblebees were nesting in my compost bin and I seem to have a permanent colony of slowworms living in there. Ensure that you are not too hasty in tidying and clearing your garden in autumn and, instead, leave dried leaves for insects – and maybe even hedgehogs – to overwinter in until late spring. Making bug hotels, buying readymade ones to put up on a south-facing wall for masonry bees or leaving a pile of sticks somewhere are also small ways to help in any size of garden. Leaving seed heads over winter also helps small birds like goldfinches – they love the seeds of Verbena bonariensis!

If you can find the space, a pond is invaluable for wildlife and it is amazing how quickly a new pond is colonised by pond skaters, newts, frogs, dragonfly and damselfly larvae. It doesn’t have to be huge, and waterlilies can help prevent it from becoming stagnant. It is a good idea to include a shallower shelf for marginal plants and make sure you include stones, branches or a small wooden ramp so wildlife can get in and out.

Go on, make your garden more wildlife-friendly and challenge yourself not to use any pesticides or slug pellets ever again. Hold your nerve and let nature do the work! co-landscapers.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 73

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THE BIRD ORCHESTRA Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

A

s we emerge from another lockdown this month, many of us I hope will, on reflection, be able to find some good amongst the trauma of it all. For violinist, Rebecca Anderson-Deas and artist, Charlotte Steel, it was the chance for two old friends to collaborate on The Bird Orchestra, a book project that they were unlikely to have considered otherwise. ‘I may not have the orchestra, but I have birdsong,’ says Rebecca.

In March 2020 Rebecca was about to begin practising for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony with the Dorset Chamber Orchestra. Then came the first lockdown and the cancelling of many such an event. ‘I was feeling sad and missing playing, as I tend to practise most when I am working towards a performance, so, as compensation, I began a fierce walking regime. While I walked, I began to notice the bird song and discovered there are lots of crossovers between birds and orchestras. I thought about it further and realised that when I listen to a symphony, I can distinguish the instruments and I wanted to be able to do that with bird song.’ >

76 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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78 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Rebecca set about learning birdsong and before long, on her long walks around Sherborne’s surrounding countryside, she began to form her ‘orchestra’ and the idea for what became the book developed in her mind – although she hadn’t thought of it as a book initially.

‘I wrote about the birds and their songs but it was my daughter, Rachel, who said Mum, why don’t you make it into a book? So, I sent the foreword that I had written to Charlotte and when she replied with a series of illustrations for the birds; I knew I had got to do it.’

Rebecca and Charlotte became friends in London, where they both grew up. They attended the same Notting Hill primary school known as Fox. The school had a reputation for being creative and diverse. In the 70s when they attended, Notting Hill was a shabby, bohemian neighbourhood, full of artists, musicians and antique dealers. Both Rebecca and Charlotte reminisce about the school’s focus on creativity and life experience – not prescriptive learning and passing exams. ‘I learned the violin because the lessons were free,’ says Rebecca. ‘I

think it was because violins are made of wood and were so much cheaper than brass instruments.’

‘It was only when I went to my senior school that I realised that Fox was known for producing people who couldn’t spell,’ laughs Charlotte.

They were taught by the likes of poet, artist and musician, Ivor Cutler, who would visit to take weekly lessons. ‘We would do dance, story-making, drumming, rhythm and jazz; we all thought it was completely normal,’ says Rebecca. ‘I just wish we could go back to it, as so many children are anxious nowadays and I am not surprised. Our Fox education hasn’t done us any harm. In fact, we are very lucky that during this last year we could fall back on skills that we had learned there.’ Rebecca went on to read French at Oxford University while Charlotte joined the Royal Academy and became a painter. Later, as a teacher at the Academy Education Department of over 30 years, she helped form the RA Outreach Programme which brought life drawing into the classroom in towns around the country, including Sherborne. >

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Their friendship was rekindled when Charlotte rented a hut to live and work in at Roche Court, near Salisbury, and Rebecca moved to Hilfield, Dorset in 1994, with her Dorset-born husband Bill Anderson, and worked at Mathew Price publishers in Marston Magna. ‘It has been so nice to collaborate with someone I know so well,’ says Charlotte of working with Rebecca. ‘We have always kept in touch and I am passionate about painting birds and landscapes. Rebecca had seen the Hansel and Gretel book that I illustrated, and I liked the idea of her book,’ she says. ‘We had a laugh doing it together; you forget how nice it is to have those moments.’ Charlotte’s bird illustrations are exquisite with an element of the macabre, reminiscent of German artist Anselm Kiefer. ‘I think I am a dark person,’ says Charlotte, her wicked humour shining through in the book’s personification of the birds.

As Rebecca walked and listened, one by one the birds joined her imagined orchestra: the dazzling goldfinch on trumpet, the serenade of the blackbird on clarinet. The soloists? Well, it had to be the skylark for one - it’s soaring improvisation, so free and high, that it lifts the heart. And the evening performance?

The nightingale, so rare, so melancholic and so close to Rebecca’s heart.

In October 2017, her eldest son Tom died. We chat for a while about how so many of us find solace in birds.

She tells me of a moment when, not long after her son’s passing, she was at The Perch (a pub close to the river Cherwell in Oxfordshire). Grief rose in her throat and she stepped outside to get some air. ‘There was a heron standing, quietly, watching me,’ she says, and Rebecca felt a connection. On encountering a heron, you might feel the otherworldly presence of this noble bird. It’s not surprising they are considered totems of tranquillity and persistence.

‘Birds were there when Tom died,’ says Rebecca.

‘You want to stop but you can’t stop,’ she says of that period of her life. ‘Like the birds, you can’t take a day off; like the birds, you have to keep going. Birds keep going. They are constantly busy, and life is about keeping going.’ Rebecca talks of one of her favourite routes – it is part of the Macmillan Way, that takes her over the hill close to Honeycombe Woods; she calls the stretch of field that faces towards Lenthay Common her ‘skylark field’ because it is here that she often catches their song. ‘There was a day when I didn’t hear it. Instead, I saw two red kites and of course I should be pleased to see them, but I found myself anxious for the

skylarks. It is a harsh world.’

Happily, Rebecca’s skylarks returned – nature has a habit of rebalancing itself. I ask Rebecca if her walks have become a pilgrimage of sorts? While she has suffered great sadness, the joy of discovering birds and their song over the last year, has focussed her mind and sharpened her eye. I know for myself that certain walking routes bring expectation of bird activity: the lark at the top of the hill, and the particular place on a familiar track where blue tits busy themselves by the hedge. As the year progresses, it’s a joy to see nature flourish in the glow of the sun. ‘I tend to walk the same route a lot and then become bored with it,’ says Rebecca, but throughout she listens for the birds and is never without her binoculars and notebook – although, she is keen to stress that she is still very much an amateur.

‘Birds you notice. You hear birds; you see them. They really are quite therapeutic,’ agrees Charlotte, who, on her daily constitutional, frequently pounds the turf of the park that lies behind Wormwood Scrubs prison in west London. Before lockdown, this was largely the preserve of joggers and dog walkers but has since become a mecca for experiencing nature’s wild beauty.

‘Whitethroats have always nested there,’ she says, ‘but now the HS2 has cut right through their nesting site, which is worrying.’

‘Listening to the birds is an essential part of wellbeing,’ agrees Rebecca. ‘Getting outside and exercising, as people have discovered during lockdown, improves one’s mood.’ We are well-versed in the benefits of exercise, diet and adherence to our circadian rhythms, why not try adding bird song to the mix?

‘The real test will be spring,’ says Rebecca, ‘will I be able to hear the full orchestra?’ The season tends not to disappoint. The arrival of the chiffchaff and the whitethroat bring welcome additions to the woodwind section and the great spotted woodpecker takes his place on percussion. The bird song this spring will be a symphony to remember and arrive heavy with hopeful symbolism. As Anselm Kiefer once said, ‘A ruin is not a catastrophe. It is the moment when things start again.’ thebirdorchestra.co.uk charlottesteel.com The Bird Orchestra, by Rebecca AndersonDeas and illustrated by Charlotte Steel is available from Winstone’s Books, £10.99. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 83

Watch barn owls LIVE

Photo © Paul Williams

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elizabethwatsonillustration.com 86 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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07854 163869 | help@sherbornefoodbank.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 87

Food and Drink

THE CAKE WHISPERER Val Stones

SIMNEL CAKE

M

y mum-in-law taught me how to make this fruit cake and, when I first married, it was the weekly cake that was used for packed lunches, afternoon teas and always with a cuppa! I like to make the cake in a loaf tin as it’s easy to portion up for packed lunches. It also makes an excellent round cake for a celebration cake.

Over the years, I have developed it into the fruit cake it is today – but a cake can always be improved! For the everyday loaf and round cake, I don’t soak in port, but rather in either two cups of freshly squeezed orange juice or one cup of orange juice and one cup of cider.

I decorate a simnel cake with marzipan and eleven marzipan balls: one for each of Christ’s disciples – the missing one being Judas. The tradition of making this cake comes from the 4th century and was made popular from the 1700s onwards, when a simnel cake was given to mothers on Mother’s Day. This cake was made at the end of Lent, when eggs, flour, and dried fruits were once freer to eat.

Today’s recipe is a twist on the traditional simnel cake; instead of putting a layer of marzipan in the middle of the cake, which often affects the way the cake 88 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

rises, I cube up a quantity of marzipan and fold it into the mixture with the flour. When the cake is cut, you will see these delicious chunks of marzipan.

What you will need

• A large microwaveable bowl, if you are using the microwave method, or a large pan if you are going to boil the ingredients.

• A 15-18cm round cake tin – line and grease the cake tin (I buy grease-proof cake liners, which save a lot of time). If you decide to use double the recipe use a 20cm deep round tin.

Tip - you may wish to invest in a silicone round liner and sides.

Ingredients

300g mixed dried fruit (I use equal quantities of sultanas, raisins and currants) 2 cups of port, for soaking the dried fruit 140ml water 100g light soft brown sugar 100g unsalted butter/soft tub margarine 50g glacé cherries, chopped into quarters

2 tablespoons of apricot jam, warmed to glaze the cake 2 tablespoons of whisky or brandy (optional) 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten Zest of half an orange 200g self-raising flour, sifted 150g marzipan, cut into cm cubes 1 rounded teaspoon of mixed spice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon For the marzipan topping

800g golden or white marzipan 2 tablespoons of sieved apricot jam to which 1 tablespoon of boiling water is added Cornflour for rolling out A selection of small chocolate eggs and/or chocolate bunnies, plus some fresh violas or primrose heads to decorate Method

1 Place the dried fruits in a bowl, but not the glacé cherries, and pour over 2 cups of port (or alternative liquid of choice). Stir well, cover with a clean tea towel and leave overnight to plump up the fruit.

2 Place the fruit, sugar, margarine/butter and water in a microwaveable bowl and microwave on medium for 5 minutes. Then, stir well to combine all the ingredients. Repeat this twice more, until the mixture is bubbling. Alternatively, you can bring these ingredients to the boil in a large pan and simmer for 15 minutes.

3 Remove from the heat and stir in the 2 tablespoons of alcohol and allow the fruit mixture to cool.

4 Set the oven at 150ºC fan assisted, 300ºF, gas mark 2.

5 When the fruit mixture is cool, add the beaten egg, zest, spices and vanilla extract, and combine well.

Fold in the flour, then the chopped cherries and cubes of marzipan.

6 Turn the mixture into the baking tin, smooth the top with a spatula and make a hollow in the middle of the cake, so, when rising, the cake will not have a peak.

7 Bake for 1½ hours; check after 1 hour by placing a skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is baked. It should be golden and firm to touch.

8 Whilst the cake is still warm, brush with 2 tablespoons of brandy. Allow the cake to cool in

the tin for 15 minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

9 When cool, store in an airtight container for 2-3 days to mature before decorating.

To decorate

1 Place a small amount of apricot jam on a cake board and place the cake upside down on the board; centre the cake and press it firmly.

2 Using 600g of the marzipan, form into a ball, dust the work top and rolling pin with corn flour, and roll out the marzipan into a circle to fit the top of the cake.

3 Brush the top of the cake with the apricot jam and then lift the marzipan circle onto the cake top with the rolling pin. Once in place, use the rolling pin to gently roll the marzipan to secure it. If you wish, crimp the edges of the marzipan.

4 Using the remaining marzipan, divide it into 11 and form each piece into a ball, using a little apricot jam to secure the balls around the cake.

5 Set the grill to 200ºC and place the cake under the grill, then watch carefully as the marzipan balls begin to caramelise and turn golden – as will a little of the top of the cake. Remove from under the grill, before they burn.

6 When the top of the cake is cool, decorate with chocolate eggs, bunnies and flowers. bakerval.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 89

Food and Drink

SMOKED HAKE AND CHIVES CROQUETTES Sasha Matkevich & Jack Smith, The Green Image: Clint Randall

T

his is the perfect snack and always reminds me our family's trip to Barcelona. If you can’t get hold of hake good quality smoked haddock, poached in milk first- works equally well.

Ingredients Serves 6

400ml semi-skimmed milk 200g hake 100g wood chippings 260g plain flour 1 garlic clove, sliced 60g unsalted butter 60g olive oil 2 eggs, beaten 200g breadcrumbs 2 shallots, sliced 500ml vegetable oil 1 bunch of chives Salt White pepper Method

1 To smoke the hake, use a portable hot smoker or, alternatively, use a large stainless-steel steamer: place your hake on the top layer of the steamer and arrange the wood chippings on the bottom. Tightly wrap foil around the edges to keep the smoke in and cook on a high heat for 5 minutes.

90 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

2 In a heavy-based saucepan, on a medium to low heat, melt the unsalted butter and add 60g flour.

Cook for two minutes, then begin to slowly add the milk, whilst continually mixing until all the milk is incorporated and the béchamel mixture is smooth.

3 In a separate pan, gently sweat shallots and garlic, with 60g olive oil, until soft and translucent. Flake the hake into the pan and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes, then set aside.

4 In a large mixing bowl, combine the béchamel base, hake, salt, pepper and chopped chives until the olive oil is fully incorporated. Then, refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

5 Shape the croquette mixture into small cylinders and coat them in the remaining flour.

Shake off any excess.

6 Dip the croquette into the beaten eggs and coat in the breadcrumbs. Repeat this process twice.

7 In a heavy-based pan, pre-heat 500ml vegetable oil to 180 degrees. Fry the croquettes in batches of 6, turning several times while cooking, until golden brown (approximately 4 minutes). Use tongs to remove onto a paper towel to drain.

8 Serve immediately with tartare sauce and a baby leaf salad.

Bon appetite! greenrestaurant.co.uk

A MONTH ON THE PIG FARM James Hull, The Story Pig

I

can’t sleep! I’m too excited and full of energy. Spring has arrived here with a bang; I have written before about how affected by the seasons I am. I never realised this when I was younger but, now I am not younger, I fully appreciate the coming of spring. My spirits lift, I wake up so early and I am literally bouncing round the place. This year it may be heightened by the fact that we are trying to get ready to open our cafe and shop.

My list of jobs has now reached epic proportions, with not enough items ticked off for my liking, but I guess gradually things are getting done. The thing is we have a lot of pigs now.

Well, a lot for us: 350 and that’s as many as we are going to have. So, the pig jobs take longer and, lately, there has always been fencing or other jobs needed doing. 350 sounds a lot but actually it’s still very small scale on a national level, where farm pig numbers are normally well into the thousands. We have just over 30 breeding sows and we still know them all by character.

So, as I said, spring is here, we have had just over two weeks of the most amazing and welcome dry weather – miraculously – the ground has dried, and cracks have appeared as the moisture retreats. The longer days are most welcome, the hedges are dotted with soft yellow, as beautiful primroses pop their heads up and say hello.

Pig farming is a continuous circle; the piglets that were being born as I wrote my February article have been weaned from their mothers – at 8 weeks, neither side needed the other. The piglets have grown so well, eating me out of house and home already! Their mothers glad to see the back of their razor-sharp teeth. The piglets have been moved to a new pen and are settling into life on the main farm.

We have been busy fencing a new pig field to give us more space for our expanding herd; it’s full of grass (I wonder how long it will last!), nice straight rows of fencing stakes, water pipes dragged along the fronts of each pen. I love it when it’s all set out neatly... it never stays like that, but I have to try.

Down at the farm we have built a new track around the farm so we can keep our yard clean for visitors – tractors are banned! We have fenced two new paddocks so that visitors can see the pigs in all their glory down by the farm. We are still waiting for our tepee, but by the time you read this, it should up... fingers crossed!

Our garden is bursting into life and I am still spending any spare seconds out there; Charlotte knows if she can’t find me, that’s where I will be. I have cut the grass between the lavenders – what a difference that makes! The lavenders have not moved yet, but any day they will burst into life.

So, it’s busy here, but spring’s here and, very soon, all of you will be able to come here too.

We can’t wait for you all to share our little farm. thestorypig.co.uk

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Food and Drink

VIRGINIA David Copp

A

s a resident of Sherborne, I was especially delighted to be invited to visit the leading Virginian vineyards. Sir Walter Raleigh, one of our town's more enigmatic heroes, planned to establish there and named the territory Virginia after his patron Elizabeth I. English colonialists settled in Jamestown in or around 1620. Virginia survived and thrived. Interestingly, every new settler was required to plant ten grape vines. Not many, you might argue, but it was the beginning.

Virginia is a tiny vineyard compared with California, but it does have some outstanding winemakers, and makes wines with a very definite character of their own.

There are now 300 wineries spread across the state, which spans west from the mid-Atlantic to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The real advance of Virginian wines in the twentieth century came when the Zonin family, from Italy, established Barboursville Vineyards in 1976.

On our visit there Luca Paschina, general manager and winemaker, proved to be a genuine wine enthusiast, an excellent winemaker and a very generous host. His Octagon, a Bordeaux-style blend served with lunch, was exceptional.

The late Michael Broadbent MW, something of a specialist on Cabernet Franc, was genuinely delighted at the quality of their Cabernet Franc. ‘Its fruit is generous and the tannins softer than in Bordeaux.’

Luca gave us another wonderful surprise: a very fine Nebbiolo Reserva produced on the estate. No wonder this is one of the very top estates and if you are visiting Virginia vineyards, Barboursville is a superb starting point.

Petit Verdot is another French variety that does remarkably well on carefully selected sites in Virginia.

In Bordeaux, it plays a small supporting role to the Cabernets and Merlot, usually 2-3% of a blend. However, in Virginia, its bold colour, abundant aroma and nicely rounded body encourages rather greater use in the blend and an intriguing wine in its own right. Veritas was the best single Petit Verdot I tasted on the trip, made by the King family, another top-quality producer.

92 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Perhaps the most interesting winemaker of the many I met was Jim Law at Linden, up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. His vineyard is named Hardscrabble, because that is what it is: rough, stony land with good exposure to the sun and made even more wonderful for vines due to the excellent drainage it offers.

Law is a modest man, absolutely committed to expressing his terroir in the glass. He calls himself a winegrower rather than a winemaker. I first heard the expression ‘great wine is made in the vineyard’ while training in Bordeaux. For a wine grower such as Jim Law, winemaking is not so much about responding to market trends using fancy modern winemaking equipment: it is about knowing which shoots to encourage and how many (or how few); about plant aeration; exposure to sunlight; canopy control and knowing which plots to pick first and why. This is what Jim does – day in, day out – without getting bored.

Virginia has many other enthusiastic and talented winemakers of more than passing interest. I spent an hour in the vineyards with Gabriele Rousse at Monticello.

As a would-be historian, I was fascinated to learn that Jefferson's interest in wine was stimulated during his 5 years in pre-Revolution France, as American Ambassador. He visited Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhone, and, impressed by the longevity of the wines he tasted, he shipped quantities of his preferred wines back home. In 1787, he was buying what became known as the ‘First Growths’ at the 1850 Paris exhibition. He not only bought Bordeaux but also d’Yquem, Rhone, and Burgundy.

Unfortunately, bad weather and phylloxera discouraged his own attempts to make good wine at Monticello. If you visit Washington, Monticello is only 60 miles due west of the city and really is worth a visit not only as a place of historical interest, but because of its gardens and approach to cultivation in general. One of my many memories of the house is the home-made lift Jefferson designed to bring wines up directly from the cellar to the dining room. In the cellar, I learned another truth: his most regular tipple was Madeira.

Image: JLauer/Shutterstock

Albemarle County, Virginia. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 93

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Pet, Equine & Farm Animals

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Animal Care

FAMILY PLANNING Mark Newton-Clarke MAVetMB PhD MRCVS, Newton Clarke Veterinary Surgeons

T

he past year has been trying for most, tragic for many and profitable for a few. Anyone looking for a puppy has discovered prices have shot up while supply has significantly declined – the two clearly related. Consequently, many owners with younger dogs have been thinking of turning their hands to breeding, with the prospect of making a fast buck just too good to pass up. Or is that deliberately provocative statement unfair? Well, yes, it is! As for the vast majority of people who contemplate breeding with their pets, the motivation is usually to have a younger version of their beloved companion. These casual breeders are more worried about finding good homes for the puppies than counting the bank notes.

In the last year or so, commercial dog breeders have needed a licence from the local authority. This has been a welcome development as inspections of premises are mandatory and minimum health and welfare standards 96 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

have to be upheld. As a result of this legislation, many sub-standard breeding premises have closed, as they were not prepared to invest in skills and buildings to pass the stringent tests required. Consequently, fewer puppies are out there to be bought.

So, travel restrictions due to the pandemic preventing puppy imports from abroad, enforced licensing of commercial breeders, and all of us spending more time at home has created a huge demand for canine company. Perhaps some of you are thinking of having a litter? If so, there is some planning to do. No matter how wonderful an example of its breed you may think your dog is, some pre-breeding checks really are important. There are Kennel Club schemes to test for hip and elbow dysplasia, heart problems and inherited eye diseases. The KC and breed society websites list the recommended screening tests for each breed, now with genetic tests that are available. All of them have

ch_ch/Shutterstock

their limitations but are the best way to improve each generation and help reduce inherited disorders. I think of these tests as a way of counterbalancing the effect that selective breeding has had on natural selection: the process that confers advantage to the healthier individuals. It’s worth saying that non-KC registered dogs are eligible for the screening tests and in fact, it’s just as important, as the trend for crossing different breeds can result in selection of undesirable genes hidden in the parents. What we want to do is produce ‘hybrid vigour’ not a back-cross to the recessive!

I have mentioned before that x-rays for hips and elbows can be done after 12 months of age; by which time, the bones and joints are fully formed in most breeds. My tip is to get the eye test done first as it is the least expensive and has the longest waiting list, due to the scarcity of examiners. Claudia Hartley at the University of Bristol’s veterinary school is the

closest person who can issue the certificate. The small animal hospital’s telephone number for bookings is 01179 394 0513.

Now, let’s imagine your beautiful female puppy has grown into an equally beautiful 2- or 3-year-old and all the health checks are passed; she deserves a mate with an equivalent health status and an experienced breeder if this is going to be the first litter. I really cannot recommend random matings between friends’ dogs, as who knows whether the parents are related? With the tiny gene pools that we have created as a consequence of selective breeding, background checks are important.

The next hurdle is timing; modern breeding often means the participants are miles apart with little opportunity for an introduction until mating day. The problem with this arrangement is female dogs are only fertile during a brief window around ovulation and although there are some clues from behaviour, many bitches are undemonstrative in this respect. Luckily, there is a blood test for hormone levels that can help guide us.

By repeating this test on successive days, we can make a good guess when ovulation will occur. When the test gives an anxious owner the green light, off to the stud dog they go, understandably a little nervous.

The gestation period in dogs is around 62 days.

Amazing to think this is long enough for a single cell to develop into a fully formed puppy. Around halfway through the pregnancy, we can do an ultrasound scan and demonstrate the success of all that hard work and planning (hopefully). If we don’t see anything on the first scan, we always repeat it a week or so later. Occasionally, disappointment turns to joy on the second scan if the first was too early to detect the little foetuses. With a positive scan for a multiple pregnancy, the preparations for the arrival of a new generation can commence. A whelping box is easily made, and the expectant mum should be introduced at an early stage to get used to it, well before her due date. There’s generally no need to feed a different diet or to add supplements before the pups are born and, in fact, it’s important not to give extra calcium until lactation starts. As for the birth, nature usually takes its own course but it’s always worth getting familiar with the process. I have just Googled for advice on whelping and the Kennel Club (amongst others) has a website with relevant information. As always though, if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact any of us at the surgery. newtonclarkevet.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 97

Animal Care

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A VET John Walsh BVSc Cert AVP DBR MRCVS, Friars Moor Vets

A

s a vet, I have to perform surgical operations on the farm animals we treat. This can be for many reasons and, this month, I thought I would let you know which operations we commonly perform, and how we go about maintaining a clean and sterile environment on a farm, where usually everything is far from clean.

To prevent infection, we must be very clean when carrying out operations. Most of the procedures we carry out on cows are performed with the cows fully awake and standing up. With the cow safely restrained, we give local anaesthetic injections to numb the nerves supplying the muscle on the cow’s side. This is like the injections the dentist will give you to numb the pain before removing a tooth or drilling your teeth for a 98 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

filling. We then must clip and clean the area with a surgical scrub solution to kill and remove any bacteria on the skin. Once the area and our hands and arms are clean, we use our sterile surgical equipment to cut through the cow’s skin and muscles. We then insert our arm into the cow’s abdomen to enable us to feel our way around to find the problem we are dealing with.

The cow cannot feel any pain when we do this because there are no pain receptors inside the abdomen.

I still remember my first operation as a student – how amazing it was that the cow was stood there eating away with my arm inside her abdomen as we were performing a caesarean section. Once we have finished, we suture all the muscle layers with an absorbable suture material and the skin is closed using nylon; these

Alice Miller after performing a successful caesarean section

skin stitches need removing once the wound has healed. Cows are amazingly stoic creatures, and often go back to their pens and tuck straight into their feed as if nothing has happened.

One of my first operations I performed, as a newly qualified vet, was to correct a right displaced abomasum. The operation had gone very smoothly, so I was surprised to get a telephone call from the farmer a few hours after returning to the practice. The cow had laid down after the operation and unbeknown to the cow (due to the anaesthetic injections we had given) the farm dog had started licking the wound and managed to chew out some of the stitches. I had to return to the farm and stitch her wound all over again!

The following operations are the ones we carry out

the most frequently: Caesarean section. If the calf or lamb is too big or the mother is too small to have a natural delivery, we have to perform a caesarean section. This means we can deliver the calf or lamb safely and protect both the mother and offspring from damage if we were to continue with a vaginal birth.

Left displaced abomasum. This condition occurs in dairy cows after calving. The cow’s fourth stomach, the abomasum, can fill with gas and twist into an unnatural position on the cow’s left-hand side. This is generally caused if the cow fails to eat enough around calving to maintain its dietary needs.

Right displaced abomasum. This also most commonly occurs in dairy cows after calving. As with the left, the cow’s abomasum can fill with gas and twist into an unnatural position on its right-hand side.

This is generally much less common than the left, but is much more serious and life-threatening to the cow.

When the stomach displaces on the right-hand side it can also twist on itself affecting the blood supply to the stomach. If we didn’t operate on these in a timely manner then the stomach wall could die, rupture and lead to the cow’s death.

Exploratory laparotomy. Sometimes we are not 100% sure what is going on inside the cow’s abdomen, but the clinical signs all point towards the cow having a twisted piece of intestine or something similar. If this is the case, we perform what is called an ‘exploratory laparotomy’. Because we can’t physically see what is going on in the abdomen, we have to use our knowledge of normal anatomy to feel our way around the abdomen to make a diagnosis and correct any abnormalities.

Umbilical hernias. Calves are sometimes born with a hole in the muscle where the umbilicus attaches. This would normally close over soon after birth but, from time to time, this muscle doesn’t close over, leaving a hole. There is a risk, if left untreated, that a piece of intestine can pass through the hole and become strangulated. Therefore, we usually operate to close these holes and for this procedure we give the calf a general anaesthetic. With the calf laying on its back we can operate to close the hole using several sutures. In fact, the name given to the type of stitch we use is ‘the vest over pants suture’. With the hole closed we have removed the risk of intestinal strangulation and the calf can go on to live a normal life. friarsmoorvets.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 99

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100 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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Body and Mind

THE BENEFITS OF JOURNALLING

D

Vanessa Lee, Mindfulness Sherborne

uring a recent sort out, I came across an old diary documenting the life and trials of my 18-year-old self. I can’t say that it made for particularly joyous reading – it was full of high drama, angst and big emotions, not to mention poetry and gloomy predictions regarding my future!

Reading through it, however, did remind me of the valuable role my diary played at the time. My diary was my confidante, my ‘go to’ when I’d had a tough day. It was the place that I gave vent to my emotions, where I worked out my feelings and parked my worries. It was the place too, that I expressed the fears and thoughts that were uncomfortable to share. Looking back, it reminded me not only of how all-consuming my feelings were, but also how my journalling fostered an emotional literacy. I became adept at exploring how I felt.

The benefits of journalling, whatever your age, are well researched and far reaching. Having to find the words to express ourselves on paper, helps us to unravel the emotional string that, at times, has us in knots! Writing helps us to deal with our feelings in a safe way. It allows us to express ‘taboo emotions’ such as jealousy or anger without censor. It also affords us the opportunity to reflect and to gain insight, with the result that it often shifts our perspective.

A mindfulness practice encourages us to acknowledge our thoughts and feelings: to cultivate an awareness of experience and to develop an openness and curiosity to life. Journalling provides us with the perfect forum within which we can grow that mindful awareness.

“Whether you’re keeping a journal or writing as a meditation, it’s the same thing. What’s important is that you’re having a relationship with your mind.”(Natalie Goldberg) My 9-year-old daughter and I share ten minutes every evening writing a gratitude journal – another mindful practice. As well as being a special shared time, it teaches her to look for the positive things in life.

We are all very adept at stamp-collecting the negative, 102 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

GoodStudio/Shutterstock

but it’s amazing how with the right lens, even the hardest days yield things to be grateful for – it can be the simplest of things, like a cup of tea, the birdsong outside the window, a sympathetic hand on your shoulder... Learning to look for the positive is proven to boost wellbeing and helps to increase optimism.

A friend uses the practice of ‘morning pages’, as a form of writing to offload and process thoughts.

On waking up, you commit to writing three sides of A4 paper. The key is not to think about what you’re writing, but just to fill the pages without overthinking: a stream of consciousness. Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way, came up with the method as a way of getting rid of mental debris and finding creativity. The

journalist Oliver Burkeman says of ‘morning pages’: ‘You can write whatever’s on your mind. Petty worries, soaring plans, angry tirades… I wish I’d started long ago.’

With the current worries and restrictions in life, many of us, both young and old, are struggling.

Unwanted emotions can feel like bad roommates – constantly around and taking the fun out of everything!

Writing helps us to integrate experience and provides an opportunity to recover from daily stressors. There is too the delight in choosing a beautiful book to write in and gifting oneself the time to let loose one’s thoughts.

A great way to get started is to use the acronym ‘WRITE’: What do you want to write about? What’s going on

with your thoughts and feelings?

Review and reflect what has been happening.

Investigate. Explore your thoughts and emotions.

Time. Give yourself the time to write.

Exit. Finish and re-read. Take a moment to reflect and absorb.

Journalling can help young children to find an emotional vocabulary, older children and young adults a private place to offload, and all of us an arena in which we can explore and record our daily experiences.

Journalling can work in so many positive ways; I challenge you to find yours! mindfulnessherborne.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 103

Body & Mind

Momoforsale/shutterstock

104 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

MANAGING YOUR STRESS CONTAINER

A

Lucy Lewis, Dorset Mind Ambassador

pril is ‘Stress Awareness Month’. In light of the pandemic, many people have found themselves under increased stress – so this month’s article looks at how it can affect our lives and wellbeing. We’ll also focus on positive ways to manage or reduce stress.

Dorset Mind staff and ambassadors recently engaged in mental health first aid training, delivered by their expert trainers. During this training, we learned about ‘The Stress Container’, and how this can help us to understand and reduce our stress.

Stress is our body’s natural response to threat. In olden days, we would commonly experience the stress response once we detected a threat from predators. Our automatic response would enable us to think quickly and run away fast.

In modern times, we become stressed due to a varied range of pressures. These could be from work, family, friends, online, money issues, or any other pressures we experience because of lockdown, our responsibilities or daily lives.

A little bit of stress can be helpful; it can motivate us, encourage us to pay closer attention, or work faster.

However, stress becomes a problem when it interferes with our lives by being too intense or too frequent.

Too much stress over a long time can trigger a range of additional mental and physical health issues, such as depression, anxiety, or even heart attacks.

But it is possible to reduce our stress levels and benefit our wellbeing by using a range of different techniques and resources. One great way to visualise stress is by learning about The Stress Container.

Picture a container, such as a sink. As we go about our lives, the sink fills with water from different taps.

The sink represents our stress container, and the water is various stresses that can weigh on our minds as we go through the day.

One tap could represent COVID-19 concerns, or the stress of isolation. Another tap may be demands of work, or pressures from home-schooling your children.

There are many different potential sources of stress that are unique to us. When the sink is plugged, the water continues filling the sink, until eventually it overflows

and this is where problems can develop.

In addition, everyone has a different sized sink, which means that some of us can manage lots of water from many taps before their sink overflows. Other people may only have a small sink, meaning that just a little bit of water could send them over the edge. Regardless of your stress threshold or resilience, it is possible to ease the effects of stress and let out some water, before your stress overflows and becomes a problem.

Releasing the pressure

The sink fills and overflows with water because the sink is plugged. However, we can unplug the sink and release some stress, so that we are no longer teetering on the edge and have plenty of mental space to face the day.

Sometimes, we can’t stop the taps from pouring stress into our lives, but we can take positive steps to release it. How you do this will be unique to you, but be aware there are also elements and behaviours that may actually block your sink further. These maladaptive techniques include overworking, striving for perfection, drinking alcohol or using drugs, and bottling up your feelings.

Take action to empty your sink by connecting with others, exercising, playing games, being creative, or engaging in self-care. Try different activities and coping strategies, and see how they affect your stress levels.

Remember, you have the power to actively manage and reduce your stress. Organise your life to include enjoyable activities, social support and exercise, then notice your stress levels reduce and become manageable.

If your stress levels become too much, or your mental health starts to affect your daily functioning, the first step is to contact your GP. You can also visit dorsetmind.uk for information and support. If you reach a crisis, or need emotional support, ring the Samaritans FREE, 24 hours a day, on 116 123.

Dorset Mind offer ‘Stress, Anxiety and Burnout’ training and mental health first aid courses to businesses and members of the public. Visit dorsetmind.uk and search for ‘training’, to learn more and find out how to book a course. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 105

Body & Mind

OUTDOOR GROUP EXERCISE

Image: Stuart Brill

Craig Hardaker BSc (Hons), Communifit

A

s I write this on a sunny Sunday, things are finally looking up. The vaccine roll-out in and around Sherborne has been excellent, the weather has definitely improved, and Boris has given us a roadmap to end lockdown. Businesses are planning and looking forward to the future. At Communifit we are looking forward to the return of our popular events programme and, of course, outdoor group exercise.

During lockdown, our online training has proved hugely popular. The feedback though is that although our online programme has been both very enjoyable and beneficial, the return of outdoor group exercise is much missed. There are multiple benefits of outdoor training.

This month’s article outlines why we believe exercising outside is important and why we all should do it.

Whether it is a gruelling bootcamp class or a stroll around Pageant Gardens, get outside for some fresh air! There is nothing better than moving the body and opening your lungs on a warm summer’s day or even, as last year proved, on those cold and wet days. Getting some fresh air, no matter the weather, is invigorating, energising and totally enjoyable.

Lockdown has been a very lonely experience for many, seeing either a very small group of people or, in some cases, nobody at all. Now is the time to not only gain from fresh air, but also from being around 106 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

others. This social interaction makes exercise both more enjoyable and achievable. Knowing you are with others similar to you, wanting to improve physical and mental well-being, will help you feel part of a group.

Whilst exercising, we release chemicals that make us feel good; these are called endorphins. Researchers suggest that spending just 5 minutes outside in an open space each day can lift morale significantly.

Stressful lives also mean we need the escapism, and there is no better way than training outside. If you have been inside all day it is so important to force yourself outside. If you attend a weekly exercise class, the incentive and purpose is already there. You just need to put your trainers on!

There is no doubt that whilst training with others you will train harder. When on your own or virtually with others, it is all too easy to miss that last repetition, and hide away from the camera with little or no competitive edge. Training with others will mean you exercise harder for longer – there is no hiding place!

So, there we have it! Just some reasons why we should head outside and exercise. We are really excited to welcome you back to classes as soon as we are able. We have missed you and cannot wait to get going again. communifit.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

osc_info@sherborne.com

www.oxleysc.com

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 107

Body & Mind

RUN FOR THE HILLS Simon Partridge BSc (Sports Science), Personal Trainer SPFit

M

y last two articles discussed training to get stronger at home and in gyms, in preparation for the easing of lockdown.

Many people have taken up running and many of those already running have run more often and further.

Now the weather is improving, the evenings are getting lighter, and the countryside is drying out, we can all start trail running. Trail running is the reason I run; in essence, I run to be in beautiful countryside and experience all the physical and mental health benefits such amazing environments bring. In Sherborne, we are fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful countryside.

Our running club has always run off-road, as soon as the weather and light allow. Imagine a clock face with its centre as Sherborne; we have run trails in every direction to Milborne Port, through the castle grounds, Longburton, Bradford Abbas, Trent, Sandford Orcas, plus Corton Denham to name but a few.

Image: No Limits Photography

But what is trail running?

Trail running is simply defined as going for a run at the heart of nature. You don’t need to be high in the mountains to go trail running. You simply need to be in nature.

Trail running includes ascents and descents

Trail running involves hills, which we have to go up and come down: During the ascents, you alternate walking and running. You sometimes use poles or push on your legs with your arms in the steeper sections.

During descents, you have to watch your footholds and use your arms for balance. I adore hills; the secret is to run easy and have fun with the terrain!

Why is trail running different to road running?

Unlike road running, the terrain varies constantly when trail running. You run on trails, over rocks, mud and grass.

108 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Trail running beyond physical exertion

Over and above running in nature, there is also a trail running state of mind. Opening your senses, listening to your body and its sensations, feeling good and appreciating the place where you are running. Concentrating on each step encourages a state of mindfulness, allowing you to take pleasure in exercising outdoors.

Is trail running for you?

Trail running is also about signing up for a race and preparing for it. Setting off in a local race in Dorset, or going to the Lake District for example, is a real thrill whatever the distance covered.

But what I really love about trail races is that it doesn’t matter if you’re first or last. The distance chosen, race time or ranking are not important. In this running style, you run at your own pace and listen to your senses

Simon running the Climb South West 55k Ultra Marathon, Exmoor, 2019

to feel good before looking at your GPS watch.

The trail running community is incredibly friendly with no egos – everyone is welcome. It would be amazing to see more people exploring new places to run locally and I hope I cross paths with many of you on

the trail soon.

Good luck everyone – enjoy running safely in our beautiful countryside. spfit-sherborne.co.uk

An independent trekking and outdoors shop offering clothing and equipment from major suppliers.

7 Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PT • 01935 389484 • 07875 465218 • david@muntanya.co.uk • www.muntanya.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 109

Body & Mind

ECZEMA

WHAT ARE THE TREATMENT OPTIONS?

E

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

czema is a common skin condition characterised by a red or pink itchy rash, which can be dry or moist, with painful cracks and fissures. It can appear anywhere on the body, particularly on the hands, inside the elbows and behind the knees. Eczema can occur due to internal or external factors; it frequently runs in the family. It can arise as a result of direct external contact by chemical and plant irritants, and it can also be due to allergies to food or airborne particles such as house dust mites, mould spores, dog hair and cat fur.

Self-help for eczema includes avoidance of skin irritants and chemicals that trigger the flare-ups – soaps, detergents, antiseptics, perfumes, hair products and bubble bath are all common causes of eczema.

Conventional treatment for dry eczema is with application of moisturising creams and lotions which will rehydrate the skin. Use soap substitutes and emollient in the bath – don’t soak for too long and the water should be body temperature – not too hot. Upon getting out, pat yourself dry: don’t rub. Moderate and severe eczema usually needs steroid cream to dampen down the inflammation. However, prolonged use should be avoided as this can lead to skin thinning and pigmentation. There is another cream called Protopic that is an alternative to steroid; this can be prescribed by your GP. Antihistamine cream or tablets can be helpful, especially if the eczema rash is itchy.

The complementary treatment of eczema could include nutritional, homeopathic and herbal approaches. Studies have shown omega 3 fatty acids and

110 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

fish oils reduce the severity and itchiness of childhood eczema. Probiotics containing healthy gut bacteria may help to heal eczema. The importance of gut health and the immune system is being increasingly recognised.

Nourishing your intestinal microbiota, the ‘friendly bacteria’, is so important – a mixed balanced diet high in fruit and vegetables, a so-called prebiotic diet, will achieve this.

Increasingly, people are looking for alternative and complementary treatments. Homeopathic medicines can be very effective in the management of eczema.

Application of calendula cream soothes, as well as encourages healing, of raw areas. Seek advice from a homeopath who can match the type of eczema with a specific remedy or, better still, the ‘constitutional’ type of the patient.

Likewise, herbal treatments can control the symptoms of eczema; treatment usually requires the advice and guidance from a herbal practitioner. The same applies to herbs given on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine and Indian ayurvedic medicine.

Tension and anxiety can exacerbate eczema; so often flare-ups can be linked to some stressful life event or situation. Dealing with this is important and mind-body therapy with mindfulness meditation, yoga, hypnotherapy and counselling, particularly CBT, will help.

Hopefully a combination of these strategies, treatments and lifestyle changes will help control your eczema. doctorTWRobinson.com glencairnHouse.co.uk

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 113

Home

IN THE BEST POSSIBLE TASTE

A

Annabelle Hunt, Colour Consultant, Bridport Timber & Flooring

s a direct reflection of our personality and style, the way we decorate our homes is a clear statement of what we consider to be tasteful, but what is ‘good taste’ when it comes to interiors? For some it may be an elegant, neutral scheme but others may find an understated look boring, bland, and predictable. Those that revel in the shock of the unexpected may prefer their walls saturated with colour and outlined in a zingy contrast creating an uplifting and playful atmosphere, but this will not be everyone’s cup of tea either.

Whether you prefer a pared down monochrome palette or a symphony of jewel brights, a room which is overly co-ordinated can feel laboured and lacking in personality.

Research has shown that the more we see an image the more we are reassured by it. The grey interior felt edgy and modern when it appeared as an antidote to the warm terracottas and earth tones which had been so popular beforehand. Over time, grey has come to be seen as an easy and unchallenging decorating scheme and is loved by many. But being easy and unchallenging is not always a good reason to choose something in decoration – as in life.

My advice would be to not be a slave to trends. Attempting to faithfully recreate a scheme you have seen in a magazine or online doesn’t always work, as the light will be different, and the photograph will undoubtedly have been edited. It is usually the brave choice which makes for the most memorable rooms. When Farrow & Ball introduced a certain shade of drab brown to their colour card, the immediate reaction from lots of people was not complimentary, to say the least. I admit that it would not be everyone’s choice but, used with confidence in the right situation, it looks absolutely stunning.

Years ago, way before social media and hashtags had the ability to turn things into overnight must-haves, a friend painted her dining room walls in a soft, aged metallic gold.

Understandably, using an unconventional treatment all over your walls from floor to ceiling could seem a little rash, but the effect was truly magical, especially by candlelight. The key to creating a successful interior is understanding the architecture and light in your home. Work with what you have, accentuating features that you like and disguising those that you do not.

Not every latest trend is in the best taste. Some are merely fads which rapidly turn into style clichés and interiors magazines and books can feel dated very quickly. Others stand the test of time and become established classics. If you have the confidence to choose something you truly love, you will create a far more individual home which you will go on loving even as trends come and go. Looking back across the decades, well designed interiors really do stand the test of time, whether they are classical or modernist, minimalist or maximalist. As they say, what goes around comes around and good design, and good taste, transcends decades. That said, too much good taste is not always a good thing and a little eccentric wit, or bad taste, is exactly what is needed. bridporttimber.co.uk

114 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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Legal

CONTACT WITH GRANDCHILDREN FOLLOWING DIVORCE OR SEPARATION

F

Simon Walker, Family Solicitor, Mogers Drewett

or most, memories of spending time with their grandparents are special but when a couple separates, the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren can be forgotten.

In an amicable separation, the grandparents are likely to maintain their relationship through their own children. However, if the split between the parents is acrimonious and the relationship broken down, or family members are perceived to have taken sides then this is where the problems start and often contact ends.

There are though options available to grandparents wanting to maintain a relationship with their grandchildren when parent’s divorce or separate.

Unlike the children’s parents, grandparents have no automatic legal right to see their grandchildren.

Grandparents seeking to establish or maintain contact with their grandchildren following a separation have two options open to them: • Agreement with parents • An application for a Child Arrangements Order Agreement

The first step should always be to try and reach an agreement with the parents, either by way of a family discussion or through mediation. Whilst neither are binding, any agreement can be recorded and form part of a parenting plan.

Child Arrangements Order

If an agreement can’t be reached, then a court application for a Child Arrangements Order may be required. A Child Arrangements Order sets out with whom a child should live and spend time with.

For grandparents this is often a two-stage process, as they will usually need to request permission from the court to make an application for a Child Arrangements Order.

Stage 1 – Requesting permission

Whether to grant permission to allow an application 118 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

for a Child Arrangements Order, the court will consider, amongst other factors, the following: • The applicant’s – in this case grandparents – connection with the children • Any risk that the application will adversely disrupt the child’s life Please note there are additional considerations if grandchildren are in the care of the Local Authority.

Stage 2 – Applying for a Child Arrangements Order

If permission to apply is granted, the court will set a date for a hearing. Prior to the hearing, the court will appoint a CAFCASS officer (court appointed social worker) to speak/meet with all the parties and write a report for the court. The CAFCASS officer will not seek the children’s views unless an agreement cannot be reached by the adults.

At any stage in the court making a decision, the most important consideration is the welfare of any child(ren). The court has a checklist of things that must be taken into account when considering a child’s welfare which includes: • The wishes and feelings of the child, taking into account their age.

• The child’s physical, emotional and educational needs.

• The likely effect of a change in circumstances.

• The child’s age, sex, background and any relevant characteristics.

• Any harm or risk of harm to the child.

• The ability to meet the child’s needs.

If you are a grandparent and concerned about maintaining a relationship with your grandchildren following a divorce or separation, please do contact your solicitor. They will consider your individual circumstances and advise you on whether to make an application to court. mogersdrewett.com

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Finance

THE REALISTIC OPTIMIST

I

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

’ve recently been reading about a concept known as optimism bias: a concept that can sometimes be a leading cause of bad forecasts, bad decisions and confused people. It often arises from underestimating how bad things can be in the short run and how good they can be in the longer run.

I’m writing this article at a point in time when, I hope, we are beginning to see the end of the coronavirus pandemic – there, I’m being optimistic. I also like to think that I am realistic.

The end may be further away than I hope.

A realistic optimist is someone who knows what happens in any given day, month, or year will be surprising, disappointing, difficult, and mostly out of your control. But they know with equal confidence that what happens in any given decade or generation is likely to be pretty good, bending heavily toward progress.

In previous articles, I have written about the concept of financial well-being, specifically the benefits of identifying where you want to be at some point in the future and taking appropriate steps now to increase the likelihood of achieving that future goal.

Part of that strategy is to save and invest for the future – we call this ‘delayed gratification’.

A fundamental part of building a sound investment strategy is to identify the range of returns that might be experienced in the future. Most people understand that long-term investments fluctuate in value. The unfettered optimist tends to think that investments will grow in a linear fashion; a pessimist feels that they will move in the opposite direction.

A sound investment strategy will help people to identify the range of likely movements, both positive and negative. It helps them to identify the worst returns that have occurred over periods of time in the past, so that they can identify whether they would be comfortable when the next period of bad performance occurs. It even makes them aware that the ‘worst’ in the past may be worse in the future.

Surprisingly to some, the worst five-year periods of many globally diversified portfolios have provided better returns than cash. The aim of such comparisons is precisely to show people that short term periods of time – let’s say less than five years – can most certainly be surprising, disappointing, difficult and mostly out of your control. For periods of time greater than five years the outcome is indeed likely to be pretty good.

Most importantly, and this links in with an article I wrote last year regarding compound returns, sticking with such a plan for the long-term is likely to produce surprisingly large returns. ffp.org.uk

120 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 121

Tech

WHAT’S NEW? James Flynn, Milborne Port Computers

S

pring is here! I normally ramble on about one topic and explain in normal terms the ins and outs of it, but this month I thought I would cover a few new things that we have been coming up against which might help you out in the future.

Windows S Mode

There have always been a few versions of the Microsoft Windows software and the two normal versions are ‘Home Premium’ and ‘Professional’, and back in the ‘Vista’ days, you had ‘Standard’ and ‘Basic’. The real difference between Home Prem and Pro is that you can use Microsoft remote desktop and BitLocker encryption to protect your files. Now, over the last 12 months, we have seen Windows 10 in ‘S Mode’ appearing on (mainly) laptops but also some desktops – I will let you decide what the ‘S’ means... It basically only allows you to use the Microsoft Edge browser and to download apps through the Microsoft Store, making it, well, pretty much… useless.

You can, however, get out of S Mode and upgrade to Prem or Pro, depending on what license was sold with the computer. There is a small catch – you need to log in with a Microsoft account (which is free, if you don’t have one) to make this change. Once done, you can sign out of Microsoft or keep it connected to the computer.

All in all, a long-winded way to be able to install any 3rd party programs which 99% use, all the time.

Pop ups/Notifications

The time we spend browsing the internet is at an all-time high of around 25 hours per week on average.

122 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

A lot of that browsing is done through the browsers Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. Both of these allow what are called notifications, which, on the surface, sound like a great idea. If you get an email or someone tags you on Facebook for example, then the browser notifies you and, when you click on that notification, it takes you to the relevant place, but you can quickly become bombarded. On websites that have notifications, you will get a banner asking you whether you’d like to ‘allow’ or ‘block’ notifications from their website. Most websites are fine, as the notifications they are sending are genuinely from their website, but this is where things turn slightly sour. We are finding that certain websites are sending out notifications claiming to tell you that you have viruses or that your virus protection has expired and by clicking on the notification will either solve the issue or take you to renew. Sadly, this is not true and is one of many scams currently out there. Beware of what you click on.

Check before you buy laptop storage!

I’ve mentioned this in the past, so I will make it quick.

A lot of new laptops, both Apple and Windows-based, are now coming with non-upgraded storage like some phones. Most are 128GB, 256GB or 512GB. As we take more photos and store more data, it is always good to check how much data you have currently used, to make sure it fits on the new laptop and to also futureproof it. It can be an expensive mistake to make and frustrating if you run out of space! computing-mp.co.uk

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IN CONVERSATION WITH SHAUN LEAVEY David Birley

DB What was your childhood like?

SL I never knew my father as he was killed in Normandy in 1944. I grew up in Hampshire with my mother’s parents. I was sent to an old-fashioned prep school, where I was taught Greek which came in useful later in my life. I then went to Clifton College.

DB How did your career evolve?

SL I did an extended short service commission 124 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

in the army. I served in Germany, Northern Ireland, Aden, South Arabia, and the Persian Gulf. The Middle East tour really was the last days of the British Empire. I resigned in 1967 and stayed on the reservist list for the next ten years, which got me to Cyprus and, briefly, Egypt.

As I had always enjoyed the countryside, I went into agriculture. After a year in Cirencester, I worked on a

farm in Suffolk. The Aberdeen Angus society asked if I would establish a pedigree beef herd in Greece. The job was originally planned for two months, but lasted for two years establishing farms on the mainland and one of the islands. The Greek I had learnt at school was now useful. My boss was Aristotle Onassis’ brother-inlaw and cousin. At times, the job was very frustrating.

Greece was ruled by a military junta and the decisions of the family could be somewhat mercurial.

Back in the UK and interested in agriculture and politics, I applied for a job with the National Farmers Union, and ended up as regional director covering Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

NFU work involved lobbying MPs and MEPs about farming issues. But it also involved me dealing with problems confronting individual NFU members varying from those with small farms up to the major landowners – each as important as the other. I had also to convince them that their annual membership fee should be paid. That was a test of one’s salesmanship and taught me the crucial importance of face to face contact.

On retirement, I wanted to do something unrelated to agriculture and joined the Independent Monitoring Board of HMPS Haslar – an immigration removal centre. This was often distressing but sometimes rewarding. One dealt with failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. It is a world most people know little about. For two of the eight years, I chaired the board.

I was asked to chair DEFRA’s Sustainable Farming and Food Board for the South East, which had been set up by David Miliband. I often disagreed with officials seeking to base policy on ‘food security’ – a myth that one can get most of the UK’s food from other countries – rather than what I favoured then and now which is ‘food self-sufficiency’ meaning home grown. I was also chairman of the Farming and Rural Issues Group, which managed land-based projects funded by the South East of England Development Agency.

DB What brought you to Sherborne?

SL I had known Sherborne for a long time and always found it a delightful town. We wanted somewhere with a mainline station and a town from which we could walk into the countryside.

DB What are you currently involved in?

SL I am the farming adviser to Dorset CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) in which role I try to improve understanding of the key

role that farming plays in the landscape of the county.

I also drafted the Sherborne Critical Review about missed opportunities and risks to our built heritage in the town.

I am currently working on ways to mitigate the worst effects of the Dorset County plan for the town and the surrounding countryside. Large-scale development needs to have infrastructure for the new community without which it just becomes a vast characterless suburban conurbation. The way in which such a project is landscaped is absolutely crucial. Residential development right up to farmland does not normally work. You need to have some way of softening the impact. Also, we need green spaces and tree planting to help achieve carbon neutrality and to enhance the quality of life for residents. All too often contemporary planning neglects this.

Property developers want as many houses as possible and the CPRE has a real battle on its hands to get appropriate landscaping.

I would like to see an enlightened policy for future development which is not totally dominated by the developer’s bottom line.

I am also involved in the Dorset Historic Churches Trust. Our small country churches are absolute jewels of our heritage and I enjoy helping them with grant applications.

DB What changes have you seen?

SL The changes in farming are mainly due to the imperative that has been imposed on farmers to achieve economies of scale. Pressure on farming by the multiple retailers squeezed farmers’ profitability – particularly in the fruit, vegetables, and dairy sectors. One of the delights of living in Dorset is that there are still quite a lot of fairly small livestock farms. They need support, but must have an awareness of the importance of conservation and helping to fight climate change.

DB What do you do in your down time?

SL Amongst other things, I enjoy travel, horse racing and am an inveterate collector of second hand books. I am also a Guardian of Sherborne Abbey.

DB Do you have a personal wish?

SL To see more of our grandchildren.

DB Do you have a wish for Sherborne?

SL Whatever regeneration project takes place for the town, I would like to see more green spaces within the town boundaries and far better management of the urban fringe – that is the interface of new residential development and commercial farmland. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 125

Short Story

BOUNCING BACK

T

Jenny Campbell, Sherborne Scribblers

he first night reviews were savage; far worse than the cast had anticipated.

‘Not since Adelaide Bingham’s ‘Juliet’ have I witnessed a more lacklustre performance,’ wrote one theatre critic. ‘Time this Lady Windermere hung up her fan for good!’ penned another. And, so on and so on…

‘She’ll never recover from this,’ said Brenda Braithwaite, with just a tad too much relish for Lottie’s liking. Brenda was the young prompt and understudy to Margo Sylvester, the leading lady.

‘Course she will,’ said Lottie, an unlikely Duchess of Berwick. ‘Like one of them bloomin’ boomerangs our Margo is. Trust me, I’ve known her for years and she always bounces back.’

‘So why has she locked herself in her dressing room and not spoken to any of us? She may be the star, but I think we deserve an explanation for last night.’

Lottie ignored the remark. ‘What I don’t understand, Brenda, is what spooked her all of a sudden? I mean, right up until the interval, she was giving one of her best performances – better than any Redgrave or dear old Dame Sybil in her heyday – and the next, it was if she had seen a ghost. Did you notice anything from down there in the pit?’

‘Who, me? No,’ murmured Brenda. She had been applying another coat of mascara and was admiring the effect in the mirror. ‘Perhaps she’s getting a touch of the dementias, forgetting her lines like that.’

‘You watch your tongue, madam! Our Margo never forgets her lines. No, something happened last night and I mean to find out what it is.’

A loud tap on the dressing room door, accompanied by a cheery ‘Final call, ladies!’ signalled curtain up time.

‘Oh, well. Once more unto the breach,’ said Lottie, stubbing out her fag in an old metal ashtray.

‘I’ll catch you in a minute,’ said Brenda as she gathered up her script.

But Lottie was already out of earshot, joining other cast members making their way backstage. ‘Have you seen Margo, yet?’ she whispered to Lord Darlington. But he merely shook his head and raised his eyes heavenward with hands in prayer.

The lights in-house dimmed, the curtain went up and every other member of the

126 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

cast was praying, when Lady Windermere appears and, miraculously, acted as if the previous night had never happened.

‘Good old Margo!’ someone whispered backstage.

‘What did I say to Brenda? Like a bleedin’ boomerang, she is,’ said Lottie. And the rapturous applause at the interval seemed to confirm it.

On impulse, Lottie decided to forgo her customary mid-performance cuppa with the rest of the players and check up on Margo whose dressing room was down a short corridor on the other side of the stage to that of the other cast members. The previous night was still bothering her, and she felt there had to be a reason for what happened.

To her utter astonishment, she met Brenda Braithwaite coming towards her in the corridor and, immediately, Lottie’s brain started whirring like a busy hamster wheel. ‘What have you been up to, my girl?’ she demanded. She had been in the business a long time and had come across many ambitious young actresses who would stop at nothing to get their moment in the spotlight.

Brenda could have won an Oscar for her performance at that moment. ‘What a nasty, suspicious little mind you have, darling. I was only seeing if our dear Miss Sylvester was all right. Shouldn’t have bothered.’ And, with that, she swept off along the corridor.

Lottie didn’t even knock and found Margo in floods of tears, shaking like the proverbial leaf and clutching a huge bouquet of roses. ‘Oh, Lottie! I can’t go on.

This is the second night that girl has brought me flowers, saying that some man had insisted on her giving them to me. You and I both know that it’s bad luck before the performance instead of after. So, what am I to do? I’ll forget my lines again, I’m sure I will.’ She sobbed.

‘Sheer superstition, dear! That’s all it is,’ said Lottie, grabbing the bouquet and throwing it in the nearest bin. ‘Our profession is riddled with them and don’t you give it another thought because I know who is responsible for this. So, believe me, if you don’t go back on that stage as if nothing has happened Miss Brenda Braithwaite will be out there, taking your place quicker than you could shake your fan at her.’

Oh, fickle press: ‘Stupendous performance! Margo Sylvester never better! Dame Margo for sure!’

As for Lottie, it always gave her immense pleasure, in future years, that whenever she mentioned the name, people always said, ‘Brenda who?’

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 127

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128 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

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Literature

LITERARY REVIEW Richard Hopton, Sherborne Literary Society

Elegy for a River by Tom Moorhouse (Doubleday) £14.99 Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £13.99 from Winstone’s Books

‘C

onservation science,’ Tom Moorhouse writes, ‘is founded on a wild hope.’ His new book, Elegy for a River, is a learned but light-handed and witty account of how this works in practice. ‘Each threatened species is a glittering, ecological puzzle box’: it is the ecologist’s job to find the key to unlock the box.

Once this is done, it might become possible to save an endangered species.

In pursuit of this dream, Moorhouse has spent years on the banks of – and in – Britain’s rivers and canals.

The particular object of his research and, increasingly, his affection was the water vole.

Water voles, immortalised as Ratty in Kenneth Graham’s The Wind in the Willows, had been ubiquitous in Britain’s rivers and waterways but, by the late 1990s, they had nearly vanished. Moorhouse set out from Oxford University’s Zoology Department to find out what was happening to Ratty.

The first two-thirds of this book tells the tale of Moorhouse’s years of research into the water vole. It is partly a story of ecological discovery, partly one of the joys, frustrations and occasional alarms of fieldwork. As Moorhouse says, ‘Fieldwork is a goddess with a mean streak and a sense of humour.’ Capsizing chest waders or suddenly rupturing dry suits are ever-present dangers for the riparian ecologist. The reader also gets a good sense of the methodical, scientific grind of ecological fieldwork.

It transpires that the principal reason for the decline of the water vole is the rapid spread of its main predator, the American mink. By one estimate, in the 1950s Britain’s water vole population stood at

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around eight million; by 2004 there were just 220,000 remaining. Between 1989 and 1998, when mink numbers were peaking, the water vole population fell by 90 per cent. Loss of habitat can shoulder some of the responsibility for this calamitous population decline but it lies largely with the introduction of the American mink into this country in the 1920s by fur farmers.

Inevitably, they escaped into the wild where they found a ready, abundant and more or less defenceless food source: the water vole.

The sorry tale of the impact of human intervention – for no better motive than profit – in nature on the water vole is mirrored in the case of the American signal crayfish. Introduced into this country in 1976 for commercial reasons, they quickly escaped into the wild where the population exploded. Moorhouse estimates that there are now many billions of them in our rivers and lakes. This problem may be under water and out of sight, but it matters: it’s an ecological disaster with far-reaching results and, as Moorhouse notes bitterly, it’s self-inflicted.

Elegy for a River is a well-written book, its style approachable and anecdotal but retaining the scientific heft to make the ecological case. Moorhouse finishes with a vigorous, reasoned plea for vastly increased spending on conservation. His case is economic as well as ecological; the spending would pay for itself. ‘It is,’ he writes, ‘an essential investment that makes sound economic sense.’ sherborneliterarysociety.com

THE GREAT OUTDOORS REOPENING MONDAY 12TH APRIL

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

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Revd. Duncan Goldie, Cheap Street United Church

t is a year since the first Coronavirus lockdown and the normal celebration of Easter got cancelled. Since then, we have had further lockdowns and cancellations of a year’s events and our normal celebrations. It is a year in which we have seen many of the community events which bring us together, such as concerts in the Abbey, churches and Pageant Gardens, cancelled, along with Sherborne Castle Country Fair. The hope for this year is that, as vaccination levels rise, the number of those ill and in hospital with Covid 19 will decline to very small levels and that we will, once again, be able to meet with people and participate in the activities we love.

For the churches in the town, as we once again come to the central festival of the Christian year of Easter, when we remember the death of God’s son Jesus on the cross and his resurrection on Easter Sunday, we have to decide whether it is now right to open and meet in our buildings or to continue to meet on Zoom.

As a church, Cheap Street church is looking forward to the reopening of all the remaining shops in Sherborne, not just so we can make a long overdue visit to a hairdresser, but we are personally looking forward to opening a new church and community venture called the Pod, in the premises of 54 Cheap Street on 12th April. It is hoped that this will be a source of help for all the people in Sherborne.

Easter for Christians is the time when God changed everything for all people for all time, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. That change is mirrored in current events and the hoped-for ending of lockdown in carefully managed stages. Coronavirus is unlikely to be eradicated completely, so the need for vaccines to protect us and deal with the virus will become a fact of life, and a vaccination certificate, along with a passport, essential documents when travelling abroad. In the same way the underlying need for Jesus’ death and resurrection is still unfortunately present because of our failure at times to live our lives as we should.

Hopefully, this summer will be remembered for different reasons than the past one! For the days out we are able to enjoy, the visits to places we enjoy, and for time spent with friends and family, without having to be two metres apart, and being able to listen to concerts once more, with the numbers of people infected by Covid 19 so small that it is no longer the main topic of conversation.

As we look forward to the future, it is good to give thanks for those who have helped us get through in the recent past, especially the NHS and care workers, and those not fortunate enough to have come through the Covid pandemic. cheapstreetchurch.co.uk

130 | Sherborne Times | April 2021

Boys 13-18 Boarding and day

A very warm welcome awaits you at Sherborne.

Please contact our Admissions team for a virtual visit.

01935 810403 admissions@sherborne.org sherborne.org

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