Sherborne Times April 2023

A MONTHLY CELEBRATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

WELCOME

I’m more weather vane than editor really. While I might obsess over the look, feel and tone of this humble endeavour, waking in the night at the realisation of a misplaced comma, the content really is determined by you. By that measure, from my rooftop perch, it would appear that Sherborne is moments away from bursting wide at the seams into song, followed swiftly by a mass tending (or conscious untending) of its gardens. Elsewhere, our schools are brimming with ideas, there aren’t enough days in the week for all the clubs, screenings, courses, performances, talks and what-nots and we’re spoiled for choice in the catering department. Our reading list grows ever longer (helped by the arrival this month of Sherborne’s very first Travel Writing Festival), Craig Hardaker has us training for a half marathon and Annabelle Hunt inspires us all over again to change the colour of our walls. Thankfully Dawn Hart is on hand to calm the waters and we’re given the keys to Cat and Ant Earp’s gorgeous shepherd huts, where you are very welcome to join us for a well-earned nap.

Have a great month.

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

Editorial and creative direction

Glen Cheyne

Design

Andy Gerrard

Photography

Katharine Davies

Features writer

Claire Bowman

Editorial assistant

Helen Brown

Social media

Jenny Dickinson

Print Stephens & George

Distribution team

Barbara and David Elsmore

The Jackson Family

David and Susan Joby

Mary and Roger Napper

Hayley Parks

Mark and Miranda Pender

Claire Pilley

Joyce Sturgess

Ionas Tsetikas

Lesley Upham

Paul Whybrew

CONTRIBUTORS

Laurence Belbin

Amanda Benbow Hazlegrove Prep School

Elisabeth Bletsoe Sherborne Museum

Richard Bromell ASFAV Charterhouse Auctioneers and Valuers

Mike Burks The Gardens Group

David Burnett The Dovecote Press

Paula Carnell

Julia Catovsky Sherborne Prep

Cindy Chant & John Drabik

Michela Chiappa-Patching

Jess Chiplen Royal Bath and West

David Copp

Rosie Cunningham

Reverend Jim Edie Sherborne Team Vicar and Chaplain to Gryphon School

James Flynn Milborne Port Computers

PO Box 9701

Sherborne DT9 9EU

07957 496193

@sherbornetimes info@homegrown-media.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk

ISSN 2755-3337

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Simon Ford

Penny Gardner Sherborne Area Refugee Support

Richard Gaunt Milborne Port Opera

Daniel Gornall Mogers Drewett Solicitors

Craig Hardaker Communifit

Dawn Hart YogaSherborne

Andy Hastie Yeovil Cinematheque

Alex Hennessey Dorset Wildlife Trust

Sarah Hitch The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms and The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre

Richard Hopton and Mark Greenwood Sherborne Literary Society

Safia Hothi-Bellamy Pure Punjabi

James Hull The Story Pig

Annabelle Hunt Bridport Timber

Clifton Jelbert Sherborne Douzelage

Lucy Lewis Dorset Mind

Peter Littlewood Young People’s Trust for the Environment

Nigel Masters Cameratina

Sasha Matkevich The Green Restaurant

Harriett McKay

Sherborne School

Gillian Nash

Paul Newman & Emma Tabor

Mark Newton-Clarke MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Surgeons

Jan Pain

Sherborne Scribblers

Rebecca Price BVetSci MRCVS Friars Moor Livestock Health

Mark Salter CFP Fort Financial Planning

Safia Shah

Kashfi’s Children

Val Stones

Louise Troup Sherborne Girls

Fernando Velázquez

Joanna Weinberg Teals

Anna Wiscombe

ARTIST AT WORK

No.53 Fernando Velázquez, Floating over the Floating Island oil on canvas, 60 x 80cm

My work invites the audience to share my visual universe, becoming a key part of the process of making art. No personal truths are imposed, but my paintings may resonate with many of us for years to come. I paint to understand and, as I see the world, I share my findings.

Floating over the Floating Island is a painting about nature, not as we see it, but as I felt it. Floating forms are developing in a space of light and subtle colour, referring to a reality only possible on the canvas or in our mind.

I do not represent nature – I paint to create a parallel one and in so doing, I aim to enrich the world. I start painting when my mind is empty. I prepare myself for a new dialogue with the canvas, every time, listening to whispers or assertive statements coming from the inside of the painting. No sketches, no preparation, just jumping into a new conversation

with clean eyes and honesty. The result might bring joy, understanding and a new visual experience.

Fernando’s work has been exhibited in London, Venice, Bogota, Krakow and Milan. He has recently been featured in the publication Interviews with Artists, a collector’s book promoting the best of Contemporary Art across the world published by Al-Tiba Contemporary Art. He will be exhibiting in Sherborne in May and the Florence Biennale in October.

fernandovelazquez.co.uk

Friday 12th - Tuesday 30th May

Fernando Velázquez

The Wirth Gallery, The Merritt Centre, Sherborne Girls, Bradford Road, Sherborne DT9 3QN

Viewings by appointment: l.ayres@sherborne.com

Children go free

Put a Spring in their Step

The Newt in Somerset celebrates the best of our county, under the watchful eye and loving care of our farmers, gardeners, chefs, bakers, cheesemakers and cyder makers.

With the estate springing into life, it is the perfect time to join us with a Newt Membership. Enjoy every season across our gardens, woodland, deer park, eateries and exhibits. Plus a vibrant programme of tours, events, workshops and children’s activities. Not forgetting access to our partner gardens such as Eden Project, Blenheim and many more throughout the UK.

Don’t miss our upcoming Easter holiday celebrations and Garden Day in May. Free entry for children (0-16yrs), when accompanied by an adult member.

Come and be our guest. Explore and connect with nature.

Stay . Visit . Shop

thenewtinsomerset.com

@thenewtinsomerset

ON FILM

Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque

At Cinematheque, being a film society with membership means we can have more connection with our audience than a public cinema. When everyone arrives to sign in we have always handed out a reaction slip for members to fill in, and let us know how they rate the film they have just seen. We’ve learnt, for instance, that our audience doesn’t particularly like science fiction, will tolerate violence up to a point, but will not accept violence towards animals at all. All the results are collated and put up on the screen before the next presentation so that people can discover how others felt about what they have watched.

To me, this is a stark contrast to social media platforms cynically using algorithms to direct people to more of what they know, eliminating risk, controlling the narrative, and pushing viewers into polarised groups at the expense of challenging, unfamiliar content. This really is the opposite of our inclusive community, into which we all contribute and coalesce around. We share a common understanding of film language and traditions, do not agree on everything, but share a desire to explore, discover and be challenged by cinema. As a group we are therefore encouraged to put something in, in order to take

something from the films we watch. Together we stand for a love of film and independent thought.

This month brings another pair of showings. On 5th April we have Lamb (2021) which certainly falls under the challenging category. Starring Noomi Rapace of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo fame, this genre-defying Icelandic mix of folklore and horror follows a couple on a remote sheep farm adopting a strange lamb as their own child. This is a slow burner, starting with almost semi-documentary scenes of farm life, but soon shifts into a slice of ‘Scandi-weird’ with extraordinary jaw-dropping moments along the way. It is more than just shocking though, with much deadpan humour, Lamb won the Prize of Originality award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and is truly unlike anything seen before at the cinema. ‘Bracingly original’ The Hollywood Reporter, * * * * The Guardian.

On 19th April we turn to Hive (2021) a searing Albanian drama inspired by the true story of Fahrije Hoti, and her struggle to survive by starting an organic honey business, with other KosovoAlbanian widows from the 1999 Kosovo War, in her village. Together they form a community, launching a cottage industry selling local food products, finding solace and companionship as they consider

Hive (2021)

a future without their husbands. Their will to live independently, however, is met with open hostility from the remaining men in the patriarchal village. With comparison to Ken Loach’s work, this powerful film won The Audience Award, Directing Award, and World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, and is a social-realist portrait of women struggling to find a place amongst Eastern Europe’s civil unrest and lingering misogyny. ‘An exemplary first feature (from director Blerta Basnolli)’ Sight and Sound magazine.

Two great films then, very different, but both distinctly European cinema at its most challenging. Do consider coming to the Swan Theatre as a Cinematheque guest for one of these excellent films, we’d love to meet

you. As usual all details are on the websites below.

cinematheque.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk

Wednesday 5th April 7.30pm

Lamb (2021) 15

Wednesday 19th April 7.30pm

Hive (2021) 15

Cinematheque, Swan Theatre, 138 Park St, Yeovil BA20 1QT Members £1, guests £5

5th April: Post War Fashion

Illustration and the Artists of Today

3rd May: Vaux Le Vicomte

‘Fit for a King’. The Inspiration Behind Versailles Palace

Members free; visitors £7

Lamb (2021)

CONFESSIONS OF A THEATRE ADDICT

Rosie Cunningham

Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons is a play written by Sam Steiner when he was 21, which enjoyed success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has just completed a run in London’s West End, starring Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner. They play a young couple trying to build a relationship as the state introduces a new Quietude law, dubbed the ‘Hush Law’, which reduces each person’s daily dialogue to 140 words, the length of a Twitter caption. How can a relationship survive without verbal communication? Pre-Quietude, they talk at length about life but when the law comes into effect, words are agonisingly squandered so they devise a new condensed language. Coleman plays a lawyer, Bernadette, who needs words to negotiate deals, and Turner plays Oliver, a songwriter and musician. There is humour but there is also bleakness in this slightly baffling play. A typical person speaks seven thousand words a day, so the frustration of

running out is palatable. Was this a political play about the curtailment of free speech amid our increasingly authoritarian world? I would like to think so.

Roger & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! has just opened at Wyndham’s Theatre, straight from a sell-out tour in the USA. Do not, however, expect a traditional performance of this rousing eighty-year-old musical because this reimagined interpretation from Daniel Fish, is unusual, to say the least. I saw the show prelaunch and production assistants were still furiously scribbling down observations on their notepads. There are moments of total darkness, a dream ballet sequence almost hidden in impenetrable white smoke, and a grainy filmed close-up of the menacing standoff between Curly and Jud. Oh, and don’t sit in the front row, you might be in for a surprise! The stage set is barnlike, made of bare wood, with racks of shotguns on the walls, and the lighting is stark and penetrates far into

Georgina Onuorah (Ado Annie) and the cast of Oklahoma! Image: Marc Brenner

the audience to suggest that we are part of the spectacle. The songs are familiar and danced with stomping gusto, with the band playing an unusual range of instruments in support. The cast’s voices are excellent, particularly Georgina Onourah, who plays Ado Annie with gusto and exuberance. I did not however feel that there was any warmth between Arthur Darvill’s cocksure Curly McLain and Anoushka Lucas’s smouldering Laurey Williams, but Patrick Vaill’s Jud Fry was anguished and nuanced. On until 2nd September, winner of loads of awards and five-star reviews, go and see what you think.

If you are thinking about meeting for coffee or something to eat somewhere unusual but not too far away, do try the Hillbrush Museum and Café just outside Mere. I challenge anyone to leave there without a useful brush. They have been making brushes since 1922 and moved to their newly built premises five years ago. The building design is fantastic, the food is excellent, the service warm and friendly, and I left with a delightful radiator brush. I might go back for the pot plant brush next time!

wyndhams.theatre-tickets.com/oklahoma visit.hillbrush.com/

SONIA BARTON WINTER SNOWDROPS AND PEARS

LOTTA TEALE RED WINE WITH FIGS

Arthur Darvill (Curl McLain) and Anoushka Lucas (Laurey Williams) in Oklahoma! Image: Marc Brenner

The home of Country House opera in South West England featuring renowned soloists, a full orchestra and a large chorus of emerging young artists

Marquee bar | Picnics | Formal Dining

Jules Massenet

LE ROI DE LAHORE

Sung in French with English surtitles | 24 to 29 July 2023 | dorsetopera.com

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

Sung in Italian with English surtitles | 24 to 29 July 2023 | dorsetopera.com

Coade Theatre, Bryanston, Blandford Forum

Box Office: dorsetopera.com

07570 366 186

|

Original design by Augusto Ferri for the first Italian production of Le roi de Lahore in 1878

A CONCERT FIT FOR A KING

Imagine – this week, Oborne village church, next week Westminster Abbey! That is what is facing special guest singer Roderick Williams OBE at our next music event at the end of April.

By a stroke of good fortune for Oborne, Roderick Williams has been asked to sing at The Coronation of King Charles on 5th May less than one week after performing in one of our recitals at St Cuthbert’s church.

With hindsight, we might have spotted Roderick’s enthusiasm for all things regal as we were planning our event. The weekend, which is supported by the funding group Cameratina, has been designed by their Artistic

Director, Susanna Stranders. When she suggested the comic opera, A Dinner Engagement, to Roderick as something he might like to direct, he grabbed the opportunity. We suspect this was partly because he was one of the cast that created the premiere recording in 2003, and partly because it is set at the time of the Coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth.

This gives a very appropriate focus on British art songs, particularly between the two Coronations. So, as well as A Dinner Engagement, we will feature a recital, including Roderick singing one of his own more recent compositions just as he will at Westminster Abbey. We

Nigel Masters

Ed Ballard

Lily Barrett

Katy Thomson

Lara Marie Muller

Roderick Williams

Sian Griffiths

Rob Forrest

Sarah Richmond

cannot promise any revelations about his programme in the Abbey but there may be some tempting clues.

A Dinner Engagement is a one-hour comedy by Sir Lennox Berkeley and will be performed at 5pm on Saturday 29th April. The recital, entitled Fairest Isle, is on Sunday 30th April, again at 5pm. Roderick directs the opera with a cast of six of the UK’s brightest young professional artists and talented local singer Lily Barrett, with musical direction from Susanna on the piano.

The timing is set so music enthusiasts can enjoy the opera and get back for the Sherborne Abbey Festival performance in the Abbey that evening. Quite a treat!

A Dinner Engagement proved the most popular of Sir Lennox’s operatic works. The opera is a delightful comedy of manners in which impoverished aristocrats Lord and Lady Dunmow find they need to entertain foreign royalty in their modest suburban home. Will the dinner make it to the table?

The librettist was Paul Dehn. An accomplished writer, Dehn is probably far better known for his film screenplays having written the scripts for Goldfinger and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

Fairest Isle will focus on British songs from Purcell, from whom the title is taken, to pieces by living composers. Roderick’s own repertoire will be central to the programme, with pieces taken from his recent recitals at Wigmore Hall.

These songs will be complemented by pieces performed by our emerging stars which have been chosen to reflect their own homes, with Ireland and Scotland strongly represented. A strong British flavour to enjoy as we gear up for our celebrations of the Coronation.

cameratina.org

Saturday 29th April 5pm

A Dinner Engagement by Sir Lennox Berkeley

Sunday 30th April 2pm

Open Workshop

Preceding the recital. £20

Sunday 30th April 5pm Recital - Fairest Isle

St Cuthberts Church, Oborne. Tickets for both performances are £40 per head and are available from cameratina.org

EVERYTHING GOES

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF MUSICAL THEATRE

Every winter Thursday for the last 33 years, a dedicated group of singers, actors and musicians (some are all three), have gathered in Milborne Port’s primary school to put together musical shows.

This is the fabled Milborne Port Opera, which may sound a tad pretentious, but it is completely not.

Its members come from all over South Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire and are farmers, teachers, business owners, scientists, students, retirees and many other occupations. It welcomes new performers, particularly younger ones. Enthusiasm, the ability to hold a note, and not knock the scenery over are the only qualifications required. You do not need to be able to read music or dance (although you might find yourself acquiring these useful skills).

Working with a tenth of the budget of their illustrious rivals in Yeovil, they manage to put on some amazing, award-winning shows, and their 2023 offering is no exception.

Everything Goes is an exciting new show. It’s a highly entertaining, foot-tapping, backstage musical about performing in backstage musicals.

A group of actors are rehearsing their next show on stage. The theatre cleaner (who knows nothing) wanders in and demands to know what is going on. The director and the cast explain by performing their show and at the same time provide a potted history of Musical Theatre, from Showboat to Chicago, and back again via Hamilton and Les Miserables. (A-level music scholars please note).

The cleaner ends up wiser and vastly entertained - by their performances, as well as the backstage banter and antics of the cast. Converted!

The show features well-known and lesser set pieces from many favourite hit musicals and films. Many of

these are ensemble pieces, but with solos from MPO’s favourite performers. All the usual gang are in the show, plus a few new members, who have thrown themselves into the production with great enthusiasm. The on and offstage camaraderie is awesome.

The challenge for MPO is to perform the show’s numbers out of context and not in full costume, in order to respect copyright and licensing laws. So don’t be surprised if Matchmaker from Fidler on the Roof is about Tinder dating. Or Putting on my White Tie is about a group of men getting ready to go out on the town for the night. Or Oklahoma, is set in the departure lounge of a holiday airport.

The show had been devised and written by drama teacher Karen Pankhurst, who also co-directs. Karen is an accomplished comedy performer, singer and dancer who joined Milborne Port Opera in 2019 for their smash hit Anything Goes (no relation), where she played Bonnie, the gangster’s moll.

Her co-directors are two accomplished MPO performers and musicians. Rachel Milestone-Mcadorey (Trial by Jury, Anything Goes and Merry Widow) and Allison Gosney (Trial by Jury and co-director of Anything Goes). Caroline D’Cruz, who joined the company in 2006, is the musical director.

mpopera.co.uk

Wednesday 12th – Saturday 15th April 7.30pm

Milborne Port Opera - Everything Goes

Milborne Port Village Hall

Tickets £15 (£10 concessions on the opening night), available via mpopera.co.uk and Wayne’s Butchers, Milborne Port.

Richard Gaunt, Milborne Port Opera

AN ARTIST’S VIEW

Laurence Belbin

What I like about my life is that I can be involved in doing something, and as a result, that action takes me somewhere else. That in turn, leads to an occasion for me to take out my sketch pad and do a little drawing or two. Working in the garden with my wife clearing and cutting back a bit, prompted a trip to the tip with the trimmings. On leaving, instead of turning right to the main road I went left, down to the old mill at West Mill Lane. I do like to combine journeys where I can!

I haven’t drawn here for some years and I was pleased to see it much as I remember –derelict, overgrown and full of artistic charm. It is like going back in time. As well as the main waterwheel there is also another wheel still visible that would have had a belt running from it driving something. There are still a few stone milling wheels lying around if you know where to look, and I do, having seen them before. The whole place cries back to another age when electricity or diesel was not required to do things. We need to get back there and tap this free power.

This pen and ink drawing is about A4 in size. I roughed out with pencil then worked with ink for the majority. I was told, by a lady I saw holding binoculars, that there has been a dipper sighted amongst the stones and pebbles there. A lovely bird a little smaller than a blackbird and I think quite rare – the only one I’ve ever seen was in North Wales. I didn’t see it here!

By chance, a couple of days later, whilst standing in Abbey Lane contemplating another drawing, I met with Luke and Elisabeth from the museum. We got chatting and they hope to

put on an exhibition in May of the mills that at one time were spread in and around the town. This was planned for 2020 but didn’t happen because of global events! This seemed a good opportunity to use this drawing. Back in the December edition, some of you may recall, I was writing about the map I did for the book ‘The Comptons, a Snap Shot in Time’. I referred to the work I did for the museum of the mills of Sherborne for the 2020 exhibition, reproduced here. It is a stylised depiction of an old map which showed the waterways and some of the mills. I never knew there was a mill right by the Abbey. Artistic licence is used to give the feeling of a view from a hot air balloon with trees, shadows and fields etc. It is interesting that some of the street names we know today are different on the old map. If I remember correctly South Street was called Duck Street (hence the name Duck House just before you get to Ludbourne Hall?).

I am looking forward to seeing the exhibition once it is up and running and urge you all to do the same. We are so lucky to have our own museum, free to enter and run by such hardworking, enthusiastic and knowledgeable people.

A BLANK CANVAS

This year marks an exciting new chapter in my creative career. Not only have I recently taken up the role of Creative Director for Dorset Visual Arts (DVA), but this new responsibility has also given me the opportunity to be involved with The Sherborne, acting as the Visual Arts Lead for their highly anticipated arts programme. The Southwest has always been seen as something of a hub for creativity, but this new project alone is a great reason for living and working in the area as an artist.

Like many creatives, the road to making art my primary focus has meant that I have often needed to work elsewhere, in other creative fields, to support my professional dream. It was about ten years ago though when I made a pivotal decision. I had moved to Frome and was engaging with the arts community there, when

I had a little bit of an epiphany: I knew it was a ‘now or never’ moment in terms of making art my full-time occupation. In some ways, it felt like I was starting over, despite the fact my whole life had been thinking about making art.

Things changed when I submitted a piece for the Bath Society of Artists Annual Open and was awarded the Drawing Prize for a piece about the deserted village of Tyneham – it really spurred me on and gave me confidence. I started getting into exhibitions I had always wanted to – regional and national Opens. Around the same time, I became involved with Black Swan Arts, also in Frome. I spent three years there: helping run the building. I was also on the board. I volunteered, curated, you name it – it was almost like an internship and gave me a lot of skills I hadn’t picked up

Paul Newman, Creative Director Dorset Visual Arts & Visual Arts Lead for The Sherborne

Image: Davina Jelley

while studying for my degree. I loved my time there.

For six years, I have worked for Somerset Art Works, organising the annual Somerset Art Weeks event as well as assisting with marketing, showcase exhibitions and developing membership opportunities. I am also a member of a group of artists called The Arborealists – which is something I’m really proud of. As our name suggests, we’re inspired by ecology – making art about trees. It’s a high-calibre collective and our environmental message is something I feel strongly about. I always make my professional artwork about things which might be inspiring and feel ‘true’ – so a lot of my work simply comes from walking, looking, and researching ‘place’. It’s also about looking forward and focusing on what we can change or have agency over, whilst acknowledging the challenges involved with making work about things which are beautiful yet threatened. It’s a narrative which makes the process meaningful to me. I’m also a member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art – The Drawing Society, which promotes and exhibits original work with an emphasis on excellence in drawing and draughtsmanship, demonstrated by hand.

It’s not uncommon to be involved in a whole host of events, collaborations, and collectives in the creative world. The way I see it, it’s all about where you are in the moment with art and responding. If the challenges of living through a pandemic over the last few years have taught me anything it’s that it’s all about creating those credible and relevant moments to get art out there that really resonates with an audience. More than anything it’s about providing networking opportunities and giving artists the platform to tell their stories –that’s what was missed so much.

When The Sherborne invited DVA to be the principal arts partner for its exhibition space, it meant

that our charitable organisation was given a physical home, a centre, a place for Dorset-based creatives to build upon a vision. Jem Main, my predecessor, handed us some great ideas and footings to lay down for this ambitious project, but this truly marks a new era for regional artists – and beyond.

Working with the historic space will spark some important conversations and prompt some exciting lateral thinking. It’s not your average blank canvas and we’re looking forward to embracing the challenge. The Sherborne will hopefully be a venue for both regional and national art.

There’s scope to exhibit lots of response work, as the listed building brings its own steer. Equally, it’s really intriguing to think about the way in which we can produce impactful counterpart work to live within the varied spaces at The Sherborne, which is both a blend of old and new.

It’s not only the visitors who have something to truly look forward to; this is also a fantastic opportunity for raising the profile of regional artists, providing us with an ambitious platform to work towards. It could even go so far as changing how some artists present their work – now that DVA has taken up residency and will have access to everchanging exhibition spaces. So, for the community, creatives, and visitors both local and further afield it’s very much a case of ‘watch this exciting space’.

The Sherborne is delighted to welcome DVA as a main arts partner, inviting them to design and curate an ambitious exhibition and events programme for the local community and wider public. Our landmark venue will provide an inspiring space in the heart of Dorset to present some of the most thought-provoking work from British artists. To find out more and follow our journey, visit thesherborne.uk

COMING SOON! THE FIRST EVOLVER ARTS AND CULTURE MAP

Ihave two passions in life: teaching maths and playing music – traditional folk music to be more precise.

I was delighted to have taken on the role of maths teacher to the senior pupils at Sherborne Prep School last September. There is nothing more rewarding than hearing ‘Oh I see. That makes sense now!’ Or the feedback my Year 7 class like to give me regularly, ‘We are winning!’ which really is music to my ears. It is a privilege to teach these children with their insatiable appetite for learning and their determination to understand and apply new mathematical concepts. I also believe it is important for pupils to understand the context of maths within the wider world; how it has developed through history, why it is so important and the impact maths has in our lives today. I say this as the pupils in Year 8 are about to embark on a short research project into the lives of some great mathematicians including Lovelace, Pythagoras, Nightingale, Turing and Fibonacci. Their research will culminate in a presentation to other pupils in Year 8 to explain the importance of the work of their mathematician, demonstrate the area of mathematics and discuss the legacy.

My role at the school is part-time, which leaves me time for my second passion: traditional music. I

MUSIC TO MY EARS!

have been playing folk music for over 25 years and originally belonged to The West London Folk Band. Since relocating to Dorset in the early noughties, I missed playing in that band so much that I decided to start my own and Sherborne Folk Band was born. It first launched in 2017 and is now in its seventh year, continuing to go from strength to strength. I have worked to create a fun and supportive set of workshops where band members learn tunes by ear as well as have access to sheet music and audio clips. There is a real sense of community: a loyal and supportive group of band members, some of whom have been there since the band started, but who are regularly joined by new members. All are made to feel welcome in this fun and friendly group. The tunes and harmonies are aimed at all levels of musicians of acoustic instruments and are an eclectic mix of jigs, polkas, waltzes and hornpipes from the UK and Europe, which we put together in interesting arrangements. Sherborne Folk Band has enjoyed performing at many local events including the Pack Monday Fair, Sherborne’s Monthly Markets, Sherborne Festive Shopping Day and the Wessex Folk Festival.

Like many things in life, my love of traditional music began with a fortuitous mistake! During my freshers’ week, studying maths with teaching at Exeter

Julia Catovsky, Musician and Teacher of Maths, Sherborne Prep

University, I was navigating my way through the rooms and corridors to attend my first meeting of the Outdoor Pursuits Club. As my friend and I tentatively entered the room we were swept up into a sea of happy laughter and riotous dancing. Needless to say, we found ourselves in the Folk Dance Society by accident. I would say that perhaps with my terrible navigation skills, Outdoor Pursuits may not have been the right club anyway! From there I never looked back. I spent many years dancing and enjoying listening to bands but only thought about playing an instrument many years later. I was watching the film Titanic at the cinema and particularly loved the music scene set in the Third Class steerage aboard the ship – it looked like so much fun that at that moment I decided that was what I wanted to do: play music just like that and John Ryan’s Polka become one of the first tunes I learned! It really is never too late to learn and as a teacher I have always endeavoured to learn new skills. It helps me appreciate the feelings my pupils sometimes experience when trying to grasp something new. There is something to be said for consistently pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone to accomplish what at first seems unachievable. I hope this is a message that comes across in my teaching and the pupils continue their life journey with a thirst for learning and knowledge.

We are very excited to be playing for a Charity Fundraising Ceilidh on Saturday 10th June at the Digby Hall. There will be a caller to explain the dances, so beginners and experienced dancers are all welcome. All profits will be donated to the Friends of the Yeatman Hospital to support local people in Sherborne. There is a bar, parking and there will be a raffle. Further details and tickets are available via the website. We do hope you will come along and enjoy the dancing or just come along to listen to the music, enjoy a fun evening and support a good cause.

sherbornefolkband.org

sherborneprep.org

Sherborne Folk Band meets once a month on Sunday afternoons from 1.30pm-4.30pm at the Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne

Saturday 10th June 7.30pm-10.30pm

Sherborne Folk Band & CallerCharity Fundraising Summer Ceilidh Digby Hall, Hound Street, Sherborne. Advance tickets £12 (£8 children under 13). Tickets on the door £16 (£10 children under 13). Proceeds to The Friends of Yeatman Hospital

WHAT'S ON

Every Monday & Thursday 1.30pm-4pm

Sherborne Indoor

Short Mat Bowls

West End Hall, Sherborne 01935 812329. All welcome

Mondays 2pm-5pm & Tuesdays 7pm-10pm

Sherborne Bridge Club

Sherborne FC Clubhouse, Terraces 01963 21063 bridgewebs.com/sherborne

Tuesdays 10am-12pm

Fine Folk Dancing

Charlton Horethorne Village Hall £2.50 per session. Beginners welcome. 01963 220640.

Every 1st Thursday 9.30am Netwalk for Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Pageant Gardens. @Netwalksherborne

Thursdays 1.45pm-4.45pm

Rubber Bridge

Sherborne Bowls Clubhouse, Culverhayes car-park 01963 21063 bridgewebs.com/sherborne

Thursdays 7.30pm-9.30pm

St Michael’s Scottish Country Dance Club

Davis Hall, West Camel £2. Call Elspeth 07972 125617 stmichaelsscdclub.org

Saturday 1st 10am-4pm

PBFA Bookfair

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road £1 on the door (free showing a copy of the Sherborne Times). Info: Chapter House Books, 01935 816262

Monday 3rd - Thursday 13th

Easter Family Movie Programme

The Powell Theatre, Abbey Road, Sherborne. Tickets £3.50 from sherborne.org/movies

Wednesday 5th 3pm and 7pm Post-War Fashion Illustration and the Artists of Today

Digby Hall, Hound Street Free for members, £7 for non-members theartssocietysherborne.org

Saturday 8th 2pm

Jim Gibb Memorial Lecture: The Restoration of Sherborne House Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby Road. Entry £5 on the door, free to members of Sherborne Museum. Light refreshments provided.

Easter Monday (sellers 7am, buyers 8am)

Alweston Car Boot Sale

Charity event for Folke Church. Info: 01963 23436

Wednesday 12th 7.30pm

Arab Spring to Ukraine Winter –A Talk with Richard Spencer

Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne. Tickets £12.50 (including a glass of wine) from Winstone’s Bookshop or 01963 251255 or marydmc38@gmail.com

Thursday 13th 7.30pm

Sherborne & District Gardeners’ Association - Spring Show

Digby Hall, Hound Street

Entries by members only, but visitors are welcome to attend - admission charge £2. Info 01935 389375

Friday 14th - Sunday 16th

Sherborne Travel

Writing Festival

Curated by Rory Maclean. Tickets and information: sherborneliterarysociety.com

Saturday 15th 10am-12.30pm (last repair 12.15pm)

Repair Cafe

Cheap Street Church Hall. Bring household items to be repaired & avoid landfill. repaircafesherborne@ gmail.com or @repaircafesherborne

Saturday 15th 11am

Sea Melodies - Alex Hutton (countertenor), Chavdar Mazgalov (piano)

All Saints Church, West Camel Concert and refreshments £10. kirk.hutton@rocketmail.com

Sunday 16th

The Sherborne Market

Local producers, suppliers, food, art & crafts. thesherbornemarket.com

Sunday 16th 1.30pm-4.30pm Sherborne Folk Band

Workshops

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road, DT9 3NL. Suitable for all levels. £15 (or cheaper via the website) sherbornefolkband.org

info@sherbornefolkband.org 07527 508 277

Wednesday 19th 10.45am for 11am

The Probus Club of Sherborne

Talk - The Acid Bath Murders

The Grange, Oborne DT9 4LA probus-sherborne.org.uk

Wednesday 19th

Norwegian Dance Panta Rei Danseteater – Make Me Dance Gillingham School, Harding’s Ln, Gillingham SP8 4Q

01747 213203 artsreach.co.uk

Saturday 22nd 9.30am-11.30am

Workshop - Functional Medicine and Yoga Breathing

Digby Memorial Church Hall

Info hello@yogasherborne.co.uk

Saturday 22nd 7pm

Tears of Bacchus - An Evening of Lebanese Wine and History Leigh Village Hall. With author, journalist and broadcaster Michael Karam. ticketsource.co.uk Proceeds to a Lebanese charity and Batcombe Church.

Saturday 22nd 7.30pm

Debs Newbold - Lost in Blue

Corton Denham Village Hall

Tickets £10 online from takeart.org or 01963 220416

Thursday 27th - Thursday 4th May

Sherborne Abbey Festival

The annual, week-long celebration of music returns! Opera, choral, classical, jazz, swing and more. Tickets: ticketsource.co.uk/sherborneabbeyfestival or call 0333 666 3366. Free entry to many performances. sherborneabbeyfestival.org

Saturday 29th April 5pm

Opera Cameratina:

A Dinner Engagement by Sir Lennox Berkeley

Sunday 30th April 5pm

Opera Cameratina: RecitalFairest Isle

St Cuthberts Church, Oborne. Tickets for both performances are £40 per head and are available from cameratina.org

Sunday 30th 2pm-4pm

Singing Bowl Soundbath

Oborne Village Hall, DT9 4LA £15. Advance bookings 01935 389655 or ahiahel@live.com

Planning ahead

Wednesday 3rd May 3pm and 7pm

Vaux Le Vicomte Fit for a King Digby Hall, Hound Street

Free for members, £7 for non-members theartssocietysherborne.org

Wednesday 5th May 7.30pm

Concert - Emma Fisk violin with Mike Denham piano Cheap Street Church, Sherborne. £15. Bookings: raymondwood1949@gmail.com

Sport

Sherborne RFC

The Terrace Playing Fields

Men’s 1st XV

(3pm KO unless otherwise stated)

Saturday 4th

Wellington (H)

Sherborne Football Club

The Terrace Playing Fields

Men’s 1st XI

(3pm KO unless otherwise stated)

Saturday 1st

Clevedon (A)

Friday 7th (KO 1pm)

Street (H)

Monday 10th

Ilfracombe (A)

Saturday 15th

Falmouth (H)

Tuesday 18th (KO 7.30pm)

Shepton Mallett (A)

Saturday 22nd

Falmouth (A)

listings@homegrown-media.co.uk

PAINTING LESSONS

A course of 12 lessons really learning how to paint Elizabeth Nieboer passes on the teachings of the great Florentine artist, Nerina Simi You will learn the basics up to then painting in oils

Summer Course 11th April for 12 weeks 9am -1pm every Tuesday

Thurnwood Dairy Farm, Mappowder DT10 2EW 01300 345644 | 07980 744551

RODERICK WILLIAMS OBE

Directing A Dinner Engagement

A comic opera in one act written by Sir Lennox Berkeley. £40

Saturday 29th April, 5pm

Starring in Fairest Isle

A recital of British songs from Purcell to contemporary composers, with Special Guests. £40

Sunday 30th April, 5pm

With Susanna Stranders as Pianist / Artistic Director

Also, the opportunity to attend an open workshop led by Roderick, preceding the recital. Sunday 30th April, 2pm. £20

St Cuthberts Church, Oborne Tickets available at www.cameratina.org 01935 817194

ARAB SPRING TO UKRAINE WINTER

Sherborne Welcomes Richard Spencer, The Times Middle East Correspondent Clifton Jelbert, Sherborne Douzelage

It was almost 30 years ago when the then Mayors of Sherborne and Granville, our twin town, came up with an idea to extend the normal scope of Twinning, which had been principally for older residents of the towns, and introduce a focus on young people being defined as anyone less than 30 years old. The new organisation would give these young people the opportunity to experience the cultural differences between European countries, learn from them and expand their own horizons. The new organisation would, importantly, be nonpolitical in nature.

The French word for Twinning is Jumelage so, since there were 12 member states of the EU at that time, the Mayor of Granville created the name Douzelage – douze meaning twelve. Hence the organisation and its name were born. There then followed extensive efforts to identify one town in each country which met the criteria set down by the founding mayors. These were principally population size, which would be similar to both founding towns, and the presence of primary and secondary schools to enable exchanges to take place between students and teachers.

In the years following the foundation of the Douzelage International the EU itself steadily expanded to include other western European countries and later most of those in Eastern Europe as well so the total reached 27 including the UK. Since Brexit and the UK’s withdrawal from the EU Croatia have joined so the total membership remains at 27.

In recognition of its founding member status and deep involvement in Douzelage in Europe, Sherborne Douzelage was made an honorary member and continues to be very active. So much so, that our local committee has agreed to host the General Meeting of Douzelage in Europe in April 2024 which will be attended by approximately 150 delegates, including 57 young people from the member countries.

As part of its fundraising efforts towards this major event, former Sherborne School pupil and National Press Awards 2018 Foreign Reporter of the Year, Richard Spencer has agreed to give a talk titled ‘Arab Spring to Ukraine Winter’.

As Middle East Correspondent for The Times he is based in Beirut but has also reported on the war in Ukraine and most recently from Turkey and Syria following the devastating earthquakes there. He will

bring a wealth of first-hand experience and insight into that troubled part of the world which is sure to be informative and thought-provoking.

‘Richard is an expert on the Middle East and always available when you need insight and an authoritative voice on the ground. Many times I have asked for a voiceover when he was in the middle of some major news story and he has always delivered content of real value. Not to mention he has a quite amazing voice that conveys his understanding and grasp of the subject, however complex.’

Alistair Good, The Times and Sunday Times

sherborne-douzelage.org.uk

Wednesday 12th April 7pm for 7.30pm

Arab Spring to Ukraine Winter –A Talk with Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent for The Times

Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne

Tickets £12.50 each (including a glass of wine) available from Winstone’s Bookshop or contact Mary Clothier on 01963 251255 or marydmc38@gmail.com

A Feast of

Bach

Rachel Podger (violin) and Corvus Consort

Thursday 20 April at 7pm St Mary’s Church, Dorchester

Elégie: Rachmaninoff

- A Heart in Exile

Lucy Parham (piano)

Sir Simon Russell Beale (narrator)

Saturday 8 July at 7pm

Gransden Hall, Sherborne School for Girls

Box Office: 01305 266926

Mon-Fri 10-4

dorchesterarts.org.uk

Dorchesterarts

Registered Charity No: 1015546

Baranov Oleksandr/Shutterstock

MARKET KNOWLEDGE ANNA WISCOMBE

Welcome to The Sherborne Market!

What brings you here?

After recently moving back to the South West after many years living in London, I’m really enjoying finding out about my new local markets and designermaker events. This will be my first time trading at The Sherborne Market.

Where have you travelled from?

From the beautiful Symondsbury in Dorset.

Tell us about what you’re selling

I design and make nature-inspired wooden homewares and jewellery - all hand-painted and hand-crafted from sustainable wood. My designs include wooden flower stems, wooden birds for displaying on the wall, elegant floral wreaths, flower presses and bird brooches.

Where and when did it all begin?

After graduating with a BA in Fine Art I began

experimenting with different mediums until I started working with wood and I haven’t looked back! I’ve been running my business for over 12 years now.

What do you enjoy most about selling at markets?

Without doubt, meeting all my lovely customers! It’s so great to see people in person and watch them pick things up and choose a bunch of flowers for themselves or a gift for a loved one.

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

I’m looking forward to exploring them all! Getting a nice coffee and wandering around a market is one of my favourite things to do!

Where can people find you on market day?

I’ll be at the bottom of Cheap Street, by the Conduit.

annawiscombe.com

Hand picked artisan TRADERS

featuring local producers, suppliers, amazing food, arts and crafts.

April 16th

2023 dates

May 21ST

June 18th

July 16th

Aug 20TH

Sept 17th

Oct 8th

Nov 19th

Dec 17th Flying the flag for local

Respecting the past, embracing the future

In the 231 years since we were established, The Abbey Pharmacy has seen many changes in our society. We continue to evolve and are now, more than ever, committed to meeting the changing needs of our customers.

Our vision for the transformation of The Abbey Pharmacy invests not only in the health of our community but also our high street – we need your support in making this a reality.

To find out more about our exciting plans and to register your support, please visit www.theabbeypharmacytransformation.com

Children’s Book Review

by Dexter Simkins-Smith, aged 10, Leweston Prep

This book was fascinating to read. There were so many interesting facts and it teaches you how to investigate further into things that you have been told. One of my favourite investigations looked into the story of storks delivering babies and it turns out that the countries with more storks actually have more babies!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning mindblowing facts and more about the world, like how inflation works. I would recommend the book for ages 9 and above because there are some big words and some sad bits but it is still definitely worth a read. Grab yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit and get stuck in!

The Truth Detective by Tim Harford

(Hachette Children’s Group) £9.99

Sherborne Times reader offer price of £7.99 from Winstone’s Books

Molly Hunt, aged 10

Sherborne Primary School

Molly started making jewellery a couple of years ago when she was only 8 years old. Playing with polymer clay at home with her mum, she started making charms as gifts for friends and family. She received such positive feedback she decided to branch out, so started making earrings in a range of styles and bright colours that were fun to wear. She says there have been a few mishaps along the way, including burning several pairs of earrings during the process, but she has honed her skills, and now makes them in batches incorporating different styles, textures and materials including gold leaf. When she realised some of her young friends didn’t have their ears pierced, she adapted and started making necklaces and bracelets as well.

Originally aimed at children her own age, the earrings proved popular with adults too, so Molly decided to book a stall at the Sherborne Market and became one of their youngest traders! Molly’s rainbow earrings have been her best sellers and she’s now working on a range of glow-in-thedark and UV earrings.

Molly used the profits from her first year at the market to buy herself a beehive and a colony of bees, and this budding entrepreneur has big plans for the future. She dreams of one day buying her own farm and running her jewellery business on the side. When she’s not busy making jewellery, Molly likes to help her dad, who is a farmer. Her favourite jobs include putting up electric fencing and feeding the young calves.

Look out for Molly and her jewellery at the Sherborne Market each month during the summer.

sherbornepri.dorset.sch.uk

thesherbornemarket.com

GET YOUR KIDS MOVING TO BOOST THEIR MENTAL HEALTH!

Lucy Lewis, Dorset Mind

Evidence suggests that some children and young people’s mental health and well-being have been substantially impacted during the pandemic. Many parents and carers would like to know how they can support their children’s mental health. The physical health benefits of exercise are well known and often discussed, but the many mental health benefits have received less attention. Read on to discover some of the many ways that exercise could help your child’s well-being, and some easy ways to increase physical activity levels in your family.

• Behaviour: Studies have found that regular exercise can improve behaviour in children, particularly for

Martin Novak/Shutterstock

children with diagnoses of autism, ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Exercise has been suggested to help children better self-regulate their emotions, leading to more healthy and adaptive responses.

• Mental Illness Prevention: Research has also suggested that people who engaged in regular exercise in childhood and adolescence experience lower rates of stress and depression, and higher levels of wellbeing and life satisfaction.

• Attention and School Performance: Research has found significant improvements in children’s attention immediately following exercise. Additionally, regular exercise has also been found to improve children’s

attention and academic performance long term.

• Emotional Regulation: Research has demonstrated a positive correlation between moderate exercise and emotional regulation, as the exercise enables the child to work off their emotions.

• Social Skills and Friends: Team sports are wonderful for increasing confidence and building social skills. Children can learn how to collaborate and work as a team to problem solve.

• Building Self-Esteem: Exercise can provide the opportunity to get better at a range of skills. Being able to see improvements through practice can help to develop a child’s self-esteem.

• Happiness: Like in adults exercise leads to the release of endorphins, or feel-good chemicals, in a child’s brain, leading to improvements in mood.

• Sleep: Regular exercise can help to promote healthy sleep.

How to Increase your Kids’ Physical Activity

• Start Small: exercise doesn’t always have to involve long, intense sessions; becoming more active can be as simple as finding opportunities to walk, swapping

TV time with park time, or playing in the garden. It is best to start small and as close to your typical routine and add new elements of physical activity slowly.

• Make it fun: Where possible, avoid pressuring your children to engage in activities that they do not enjoy. There are many fun ways to add more activity to your kids’ lives. See which activities are available in your area and mix it up. This could include play parks, soft play centres, bouncy castle centres, mini golf, walking a neighbour’s dog, swimming, or scavenger hunts.

• Provide Choices: Where possible, give your child a choice out of two options for physical activity. Being able to choose for themselves can give children a sense of autonomy and independence and can increase enthusiasm. Choosing to be physically active and practising fitting exercise in their daily routine can help to promote long-term healthy habits.

For more information regarding children and young people’s mental health, visit dorsetmindyourhead.co.uk for a range of resources, support, and signposting. If you feel that you or your child is struggling with their mental health, speak to your GP, or in a crisis, call The Samaritans at 116 123.

NEURODIVERSITY

THE NEW SUPERPOWER

Amanda Benbow, Educational Psychologist

Current statistics estimate that around 1 in 10 children are likely to be dyslexic, 1 in 20 are likely to have significant difficulties with attention (ADHD) and around 1 in 60 are likely to be autistic. Since ‘lockdown’ the number of people seeking diagnosis for these three areas has rocketed. There are high numbers of these children in our education system and there are many more who share some of the same challenges that come with being neurodiverse.

As a society, we are gradually waking up to the fact that we are all different and one size does not fit all –

none more so than in the world of education. We no longer force a left-handed person to become righthanded and instead make accommodations to reduce the barriers they may experience from living in a world designed for right-handers (left-handed scissors being an example). We understand why some people may find it harder to learn to read and write or grasp numbers, and create dyslexia- and dyscalculia-friendly learning environments, recognising the many strengths and skills that they have and enabling them to use the tools they need to succeed.

As a neurotypical person (I think!), I have had a relatively easy educational journey. I attended mainstream schools where the curriculum and learning environment were set up for a neurotypical child and appropriate for the way I processed information. However, for a neurodiverse child, it is not so simple. As an education system, over the last forty years we have made great strides in recognising learning differences such as dyslexia and dyscalculia, and we have adapted teaching and learning, developing programmes of intervention to ensure they are able to achieve their potential. But we have been a little slower to do the same for children who present with challenges that are not so easy to quantify or identify.

Our world would be a very boring and ‘beige’ place without the neurodiverse brains that see it in a different way. We would not have most of the technology we use on a daily basis, or many of the extraordinary, creative geniuses that have existed within our musical and artistic worlds. It is easy to say neurodiversity is a wonderful thing because I have not had the experience of being neurodiverse in a neurotypical world. However, despite the brilliance that comes from being neurodiverse, these children and young people can find school extremely challenging and can grow up believing they are wrong in some way.

The analogy ‘square peg, round hole’ comes to mind and it is this acceptance that ‘one size does not fit all’ in an educational environment that is needed. We have to open our eyes to difference and see it as simply that – difference. We must celebrate this rather than try to change it and make sure the ‘hole’ is flexible so that it really does fit all. We need to step back and reflect on our environment and see it through the eyes of a neurodiverse child, and throw out our traditional beliefs about key aspects of school life such as break times, sport, assemblies, homework, parents’ evenings, and so on, and make these work for all children, not just those that fit the mould.

This is not easy, particularly as those making the changes are predominantly neurotypical brain types, so we must listen to our neurodiverse communities and try to find out how to alter things within our schools to accommodate every child’s needs. If we can do this, it will benefit all children and we will create learning environments where children feel accepted and thrive and where being different is a wonderful thing.

hazlegrove.co.uk

Image: Tom Soper

'Our world would be a very boring and ‘beige’ place without the neurodiverse brains that see it in a different way.'

Movies at Sherborne

Easter Programme 2023

All films are screened in The Powell Theatre, Sherborne School, DT9 3AP

Snacks will be available to purchase from The Hub popup shop. Doors open 30 minutes before the film starts

*Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult

Tickets £3.50

Scan QR code to book or visit sherborne.org/movies

3 April - 2.30pm Johnny English (PG) 4 April - 2.30pm Moana (PG)

5 April - 7.30pm Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (PG)

12 April - 2.30pm Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (12A)*

13 April - 2.30pm Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (U)

THE BEAUTY OF THE WRITTEN WORD

Louise Troup, Head of English and Assistant Head (Pupil Aspiration & Wellbeing), Sherborne Girls

The world of education technology has never moved faster, nor been more exciting. From digital exercise books and online collaboration spaces to virtual reality and the infinite possibilities for research offered by the internet, learning has been transformed.

Across education, the surface pen has replaced the real pen. Even lined paper is digital. Exercise books and folders are replaced with ‘One Note’ or ‘Google Classroom’. The old-fashioned piece of sugar paper, over which pupils huddled for group work, has been replaced by an online ‘collaboration space’. The blackboard, which became a whiteboard, is now a smartboard, onto which pupils can project their work.

And these changes affect physical spaces too. Across the sector, more forward-thinking educators are moving away from the traditional classroom layout. Schools are creating more flexible classroom spaces without the desk, board and teacher model, where pupils can work on new ideas together, moving much more freely around the space and using walls as writing surfaces. Of course, the nature of the ‘fabric’ of most schools means that this sort of change is piecemeal, but it is an interesting and exciting development. Making learning more collaborative, creative and digitally orientated will help the next generation make the transition from the educational setting to the work setting.

Some changes cost very little. Our own Religious Studies department now has temporary displays created using adhesive whiteboard paper. Pupils can pose questions to each other by writing on the classroom or corridor walls. It feels like some giant exercise in the more constructive use of graffiti.

The way pupils do ‘reading’ has also changed. A text is no longer a collection of words on a page. In terms of linguistics, a text can be any of the following: a documentary, a billboard advertisement, a podcast or, of course, a good old-fashioned periodical or book. When we set further reading now, the pupil is as likely to be

directed to a podcast or an online literary resource bank as they are to the Library. There is a treasure trove of material that appeals to every learning style at the click of a mouse; you could argue we have entered a golden age in terms of the material available to this generation.

Where is this all leading, you may ask. Are we done with pen and paper? Are we done with physical books? Will we lose the ability or need to handwrite over time? How are these changes affecting the next generation’s literacy? Does it matter?

We have been considering these questions very carefully. Our observations of the impact of lockdown taught us to be wary of the pace of change. Firstly, we noted a particular decline in handwriting standards over the pandemic as all learning went digital on Microsoft Teams. Secondly, in both pre- and post-lockdown, we observed a worsening trend in concentration and a negative trend in pupils’ ability to process long or complex texts. Although alarming, all these trends made sense to us. In the same way that one loses one’s fluency in a second language without practice, one can lose one’s ability to handwrite or

read complex material.

This is why we have developed a hybrid approach to the use of technology in the classroom. On return from the pandemic, we did something we never thought possible: we reintroduced the exercise book. Initially, we took this step to ‘fix’ the handwriting problem, given that we knew public examinations were likely to remain in their current form. But in the process, we re-discovered the beauty of the written word and the creativity, spontaneity and satisfaction it can engender. Our pupils took pride in their notes again. Complex, creative mind maps, and the colouring, highlighting and underlining of notes became a source of pleasure. Many pupils realised that they wrote better essays by hand because they had to plan carefully and be succinct - once they started writing, they were committed to the ideas on the page.

We have made other changes too. We re-introduced reading lessons once a week for our Year 9 pupils (alongside Year 7 and 8) where the pupils had to relearn the art of reading in silence, independently. We brought back paper anthologies of poetry so that pupils

could annotate by hand. We continue our research, working in teams across departments to explore ways to help pupils unpack tougher, more complex texts.

But this is not just about the old versus the new or how much we should use ‘tech’ in the classroom. There is also an intrinsic beauty and authenticity about what we create by hand. Steve Jobs did a wonderful job at Apple with his fonts (inspired of course by his love of calligraphy) but, in my mind, nothing can beat a handwritten letter or a hand-drawn card. We know this instinctively as adults and parents. In our experience, the majority of girls make better notes, write better essays and take more pride in their work when they write. There is something magical about pen and paper, just as there is something magical about a sketch or a painting that no technology can touch for me.

Technology has its place. It has opened up the most incredible avenues for me in my teaching. But please, let us never abandon the printed and written word. The physical and the digital are not separate realms, but one.

sherborne.com

THE SHERBORNE PENNY BISCUIT

Harriet McKay, Marketing Manager, Sherborne School

What is now known as the Sherborne Penny is in fact a copy of the seal granted to the Governors of Sherborne School by King Edward VI when he re-founded the School on 13th May 1550. In September 2008, the Sherborne Penny replaced the school crest as Sherborne School’s new corporate identity, our logo.

Sherborne is proud of its rich history and our wellknown baker and chef at The Hub, our School café, Terry Hawrylak had a creative moment (as he often does). Terry came up with the idea of the Sherborne Penny Biscuit. With his passion for designing personalised cakes and wonderful baked treats, Terry wondered how he could transform his delicious shortbread recipe into branded Sherborne Penny Biscuits. Terry presented the Design and Technology Department with the challenge of making a stamp of the Sherborne crest that could be used for baking.

The Department set to work, using the School’s new 3D printer, and developed an incredible embosser made from acrylic. The embosser was as special and as intricate as the Sherborne Penny itself.

Around the edge of the seal are the words ‘SIGILLUM LIBERE SCOLE GRAMATICALIS DE SHIRBORNE’, which in translation means ‘The Seal of the Free Grammar School of Sherborne’. In the centre of the seal are the words ‘VIVAT REX EDWARDUS SEXTUS’, which in translation means ‘Long-live King Edward the Sixth’. In 1887 these words were incorporated by Headmaster E.M. Young in the words

of the School song, The Carmen, which was first sung at Commemoration Day in 1887, and ends with the rousing chorus ‘Vivat Rex Edwardus Sextus! Vivat! Vivat! Vivat!’

The biscuits have proved very popular with The Hub’s customers. They are also baked especially for meetings that take place at the School, used for Admissions events and are popular with the School’s Governors. The School Archivist, Rachel Hassall was particularly delighted when she saw the Penny Biscuits on display. It brought to mind the legendary Sherborne Stodger – a small doughy currant loaf sold by local baker Mr Tuffin for a penny to boys in the courts during the breaks. It turns out in fact, that Terry is related to The Tuffin family. The Sherborne Penny was meant to be, but what of the Sherborne Stodger? Thankfully it is alive and well and can these days be found served at The Three Wishes on Cheap Street.

The Sherborne Penny biscuits are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea and are available exclusively from The Hub. This month, bring a copy of the April Sherborne Times with you when you buy your biscuit and receive a little Easter treat from us.

Sherborne School’s café, The Hub can be found opposite the Sports Centre and is open to all from 8.00am to 5.30pm from Monday to Friday, and from 8.00am to 3.00pm on Saturday. (Ask Terry about his personalised cakes made to order. He will be delighted to discuss ideas with you.)

sherborne.org

Tuffins, pre-1900. Image courtesy of Sherborne School Archives

Michela Chiappa

HEALTHY, CRISPY CHICKEN TENDERS

Chicken nuggets are devoured by children, and this recipe is a healthy way to enjoy the tastiness without any hidden nasties. Using yoghurt instead of egg to coat the chicken is a speedy and cheap way to keep it moist while providing the required ‘sticky’ surface. The cornflakes then give the chicken a brilliantly crunchy texture. Simple, speedy and another crowd-pleaser!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20–25 minutes

Serves: 2–4

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 tablespoons Greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (optional)

4 handfuls (40g) of cornflakes or cereal of your choice, free from added salt and sugar

2 tablespoons honey (avoid if serving to a baby under 1 year)

2 handfuls (40g) of chopped almonds or pecans

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Salt, to taste

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.

2 Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a non-stick mat and set aside.

3 Cut the chicken breasts into lengthways strips and pat dry with a paper towel, then set aside.

4 Stir together the Greek yoghurt, honey and Dijon mustard (if using) in a large bowl.

5 Place the chicken in the bowl and toss to coat each piece with yoghurt.

6 Crush the cereal and stir with the nuts in a shallow dish.

7 Dip each piece of yoghurt-coated chicken into the crumb mixture and coat evenly, then place on a baking tray.

8 Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, turning the pieces over after 10–15 minutes.

9 Serve with a squeeze of lemon and crushed salt flakes on top (omit the salt for baby).

@michela.chiappa

TheChiappaSisters

thechiappas.com

Baby at the Table: A 3-Step Guide to Weaning the Italian Way (Michael Joseph) £16.99.

Sherborne Times reader offer price of £14.99 from Winstone’s Books

Simply Italian: Cooking at Home with the Chiappa Sisters (Michael Joseph) £22 (hardcover).

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DRAWN TO THE LIGHT

Now the number of moths on the wing is increasing, the Puss Moth is one species you may encounter. Although strictly nocturnal it can be found in its resting pose on house walls, fence posts or branches with apparently little regard for concealment from predators.

The common name relates to its feline appearance, with ‘furry’ white legs and black-spotted thorax but in common with other moths, this is in fact a collection of scales creating an illusion of fur. Research indicates that sound waves of bats may be disrupted by such a dense covering making detection from this main predator less likely.

Adult moths have a similar but entirely unique pattern of black zigzag shapes and lines on wings of up to 38mm in length, each with three faint orangecoloured longitudinal lines. Very infrequently female individuals occur with uniformly grey wings devoid of pattern. Males have extravagantly feathered antennae.

During the flight season of April – May in southern counties, eggs are laid singly or in small clusters on

the upper side of poplar and willow leaves, its larval food plants. Emerging tiny black larva grow rapidly until reaching the final growth stage or ‘instar’ of what must be one of our most unusual and exotic-looking native caterpillars. Large and stocky, an overall bright green colour is deceptively broken by a brown ‘saddle’, creating the illusion of a confusing outline for wouldbe predators. If threatened both front and back ends are raised revealing red colour on a comical ‘face’ and thrashing twin tails. Formic acid can also be emitted as a second line of defence. When fully fed, cocoons of chewed bark and spun silk are constructed in which the pupa may remain tightly adhered to a tree trunk for two winters before the emergence of the adult moth the following late spring.

Fairly common especially in southern counties, its varied habitat includes woodland, unmanaged wild areas, parkland, hedgerows and gardens. Adult moths do not feed. Recorders in Dorset are always pleased to report a few sightings of this large and fascinating moth each season with its beautiful cryptic wing design.

Puss Moth Cerura vinula

Gillian Nash

DJTaylor/shutterstock

WHAT DO THE OTHER BEES DO IF THEY DON’T ALL MAKE HONEY?

Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker

Iam often asked this when explaining how many species of bees we have in the UK (275) and that only one of them, Apis mellifera, makes honey.

Of the remaining 274, many haven’t been spotted for many years and 23 are on the endangered or possibly extinct list. It’s these solitary and bumble bees that do the majority of our pollination. As humans we tend to think about which is the ‘best bee’ to preserve, or the ‘best plants’ to provide for bees. Honeybees have been used as the safety net for our pollination.

As a species managed by humans, we can manipulate their numbers, we lose them and then breed more. This gives us an artificial sense of security. The honey bee makes honey as it’s the only species that consists of a population community that needs to survive through the winter months. They collect and store nectar in the concentrated honey form to share out amongst the colony, now only 20% the size of their summer number.

As spring begins, we start to see the bumble bee queens emerging. Bombus terrestris, the common bufftail bumble bee is often the first to be seen. She will

be zig-zagging across flower beds and lawns, searching for an ideal abandoned vole nest to take over to build her own wax cups and fill them with eggs. Mated and fertilised the previous summer, she doesn’t need to find a mate before starting a colony. Alone, she builds the wax cups and lays an egg in each. She collects some pollen for protein and nectar for carbohydrate to feed the egg as it develops into larvae and then a bee. As the first batch hatches, these female worker bumble bees take over the collection of nectar and pollen, and the building of wax cups so the queen can focus on laying eggs and building the colony. The male bees are raised later in the year, as are the future queens, fewer now however than were produced 70 years ago. Pre-fungicide use, a bumble bee colony would raise an average of 33 queens a season. Now, as discovered by Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University, a colony will only raise an average of one queen, meaning even these, the most common of bees, are in decline. Their infertility is a direct result of our environment.

The buff tail, along with her fellow fluffy bumble

Keith Hider/Shutterstock

The hairy-footed flower bee

bee species are responsible for pollinating many of our plants with deep nectaries – the foxgloves, bluebells and red clovers. Their longer tongues can reach the deep nectaries. Lose those bees and we’ll lose those plants. Some of the bumble bees also pollinate using sonication – pollination using vibration. These bees will fly to a specific flower, and knowing the exact note that is required for the flower to shed its pollen, the bee dislocates its wing muscles so it can vibrate at that note and get showered in pollen!

My favourite early bee the hairy-footed flower bee, with the delightful latin name, Anthophora plumipes can be spotted darting around the first lungwort flowers and comfrey. These bees have a parasitic companion, the ‘bee fly’, which resembles a minute hummingbird, also darting from flower to flower. As more flowers emerge, so do more of the solitary bees awaken. These bees truly are as their name suggests, emerging from their carefully hidden cocoons in cavities of walls, holes in garden furniture, or bee ‘hotels’. Their parents passed away once the eggs had been sealed in mud, leaves and petals with enough nectar and pollen to allow them to develop into fully-fledged bees by the following spring. The males hatch first and are ready for action as the females emerge. The red mason bee is awoken by the vibrations of apple blossom as it sings the song of its nectar rising. This bee will do the pollination equivalent of 100-200 honeybees with apples and other fruit trees. This is why it’s so important NOT to import colonies of honeybees into our apple orchards. Hundreds of thousands of honeybees simply starve out the native mason bees, who do not fly as far afield to find nectar and pollen sources.

Before you start to ‘pamper’ your grass lawns with treatments, consider the ivy-mining bees that have nested below the grass. They will emerge at the end of

the summer, mimicking a swarm as they all hatch in time to pollinate the ivy as it comes into flower. Using chemicals on our lawns kills them or seriously affects their nervous and reproductive systems if they are exposed to these dangerous chemicals.

Unbeknown to many of us, we are surrounded by nature that is seriously struggling to survive whilst we strive for tidy and smart gardens. Our attempts to tame nature for what we are told is the way to look after our gardens are now having to change. As the research into bees and their dramatic and devastating decline shows us, we simply have to change. A very chilling lecture I attended in Montreal in 2019 showed how large losses of honey bee colonies exactly matched the areas where new seeds were used to grow commercial crops of soya and corn. An inspired agricultural PhD student who was also a beekeeper overlaid two maps, one of the trial GM crops across Canada, with the reported commercial bee losses. They sadly matched.

The same conference shared Dr Gene Robinson’s research, where he had found health and behavioural changes in bees which are chillingly similar to ailments that are rising in humans, inability to rest, focus or socially interact, shorter life spans and infertility.

As we begin another year, and enjoy the return of buzzing in our gardens after a long and cold winter, can we consider for a moment what our gardens would be like, without the buzzing, and the related pollination. We cannot carry on killing the bees without in turn killing ourselves.

I have a bee identification chart available on my website. If you use the words SHERBORNETIMES in the coupon box, I will send you an extra one free to pass on to your neighbour!

paulacarnell.com

SUMMER HOLIDAY STRESSES

My family and I are thinking of having a summer holiday in Switzerland this summer. My wife is a quarter Swiss and it would be good for the boys to see the country that their great-grandmother called home.

We’re still debating how to get there, but flying to Switzerland, then making use of its excellent public transport network is the top choice at the moment. The alternative would be to take the car on the Eurotunnel, and then drive across France to reach Switzerland that way. If we do end up travelling by plane, it will be our boys’ first flight and the first time that my wife and I have flown anywhere since 2003.

There are two key reasons why we haven’t flown anywhere for so long. The first (if I’m honest) is that I really don’t like flying. We’ve explored lots of fantastic

places in England, Scotland and Wales though! However, the other reason is the environmental impact of flying. Emissions of greenhouse gases per passenger rank flying among the most polluting forms of transport. For every gram of kerosene burned in a jet engine, you get 3.15 grams of carbon dioxide.

A return flight to our Swiss airport of choice emits around 148kg of carbon dioxide per passenger, so between us, our flights would be responsible for almost three-quarters of a tonne of CO2 emissions. That’s something I find difficult to accept. Of course, we can, and probably will offset our emissions, but I’m still not comfortable with it. On the other hand, we haven’t flown for twenty years, which I guess means you could say that our annual emissions from flying are only 7.4kg each - at least for my wife and me.

Peter Littlewood, Director, Young People’s Trust for the Environment

Actually, only about half of the UK’s population flies anywhere in any given year and only a very small number take flights regularly. Greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are only around 2.5% of the total that humans produce in a year, mostly because flying anywhere is completely out of reach for a huge percentage of the world’s population. Here in the UK, where more of us are able to afford to fly, emissions from aviation are around 8% - a more significant number, but still not huge.

While we’ve been wrestling with our travel choices for the summer, I’ve become aware recently of an issue that’s going to confront the holidaymakers who choose to visit us here in Dorset for their summer holidays.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have increased massively in popularity in the last few years. For example,

one in three of the new cars sold in December 2022 was electric. So this summer, when people come to Dorset on their summer holidays (and 3.6 million visitors travel to the Jurassic Coast every year, most of them in the summer) it’s pretty safe to assume that a reasonable proportion of them will be arriving in EVs.

Their consciences will be clear, greenhouse gas emissions-wise, but they might well find themselves stuck here for longer than they had bargained for. Or spending some of the time they should be relaxing, being stressed out by range anxiety instead. It’s a common phenomenon among EV drivers who are watching their car’s estimated range dropping with every mile they travel.

You see, Dorset doesn’t have very many public charging points for electric vehicles. In fact, according to a recent article in The Guardian, there are 133 in the whole county, which translates to 35 charging points per 100,000 inhabitants, which is a little below the national average. Most EV owners charge their cars at home. But if they choose to drive here in their EVs this summer, they may come to regret their decision.

In the summertime, sales at our county’s petrol stations increase by 35% because of the influx of tourists. It’s reasonable to assume that in 2023, a good number of those tourists will choose to journey here in their emissions-busting EVs. It seems to me that at the moment, we don’t have the charging infrastructure to cope with thousands of additional EV owners needing to charge their cars at public charging points. Hopefully, it’s a temporary situation that will be sorted out soon. We have to get away from fossil fuels as soon as we can and not having proper charging infrastructure here in Dorset is going to be bad for tourism and therefore bad for business. Tourism contributed £1.8 billion to Dorset’s economy in 2021, so it’s pretty important!

Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, Councillor Ray Bryan, has set a target for Dorset to be number one for connectivity by 2025. There are definitely more charging points coming on-stream soon. But this summer, we may well be seeing big queues of EVs wherever there’s a public charging point.

I’ll let you know what we decided about Switzerland and maybe about how they’re tackling environmental issues there in a future update.

ypte.org.uk

Yeovil Audi. Look No Further.

*Range dependent on trim and optional equipment. All vehicles are tested according to WLTP technical procedures. Figures shown are official test values for comparability purposes; only compare fuel consumption, CO2 and electric range figures with other vehicles tested to the same technical procedures. These figures may not reflect real life driving results, which will depend upon a number of factors including but not limited to factory fitted options, accessories fitted (post-registration), variations in weather, road and traffic conditions, individual driving styles, vehicle load, vehicle condition, use of systems like climate control (and, for battery electric vehicles, the starting charge, age and conditions of the battery). Figures for battery electric vehicles were obtained after the battery had been fully charged. Battery electric vehicles require mains electricity for charging. Zero emissions while driving. Figures quoted are subject to change due to ongoing approvals/changes and figures may include options not available in the UK. Please consult your local Audi Centre for further information. Data correct in November 2022. ** Timings based on a 10 to 80% charge using an ultra-rapid DC public charge station at the vehicle’s maximum charging capability. Ultra rapid charging stations are still limited in the UK, with numbers planned to increase. Actual charging times will vary depending on various factors, including the selected vehicle (and battery option, if available), the type of charger used, the level of charge in the battery, the age type, condition and temperature of the charger and the battery, the power supply, ambient temperature at the point of use and other environmental factors. Charging times will also be affected by the charging curve (for example, once charging passes 80%, charging will slow to protect the battery's longevity) and will be longer if battery temperature activates safeguarding technology. Terms and conditions apply.

The above performance data relates to the Audi Q8 Sport 55 e-tron quattro.

FRAMPTON AND THE RIVER FROME

Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 7 miles

Time: Approx. 3 1/2 hours

Park: Near Frampton Millennium Green Walk Features: From the pretty village of Frampton, this walk follows the course of the River Frome before heading up to the nearby downs above Bradford Peverell and taking in the course of the route of the Roman Aqueduct which fed Dorchester, or Durnovaria as it was known. The river section is easy walking and the climb up the downs is gradual, as is the return.

Refreshments: The Fox and Hounds Inn, Cattistock >

Each 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.

The terrain surrounding Frampton is gentle compared to other nearby areas and this is a delightful and easy walk. There are many tumuli along the route and the return section has wooded patches which add to the sense of tranquility. There is a sense of the other structures and settlements which previously occupied this area. The parks of Frampton Court, which was demolished in 1935, covered an area to the south of the existing village and this is evident in the remaining woodland. Nearby, the Nunnery Mead nature reserve, which is managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust, includes the site of Frampton Roman Villa, which was excavated by archaeologists from Bournemouth University in 2019.

Directions

Start: SY 624 949

1 Turn off the main road and park by the Millennium Green in Frampton, on the side of the road near Samways Bridge over the River Frome.

2 Walk over the grade II listed bridge and carry on up the road until a bridleway sign on the left into Frampton Park stating ‘1 1/4 miles to Muckleford’ (opposite Frampton Roses). Follow this track for just over 1/2 mile passing a fingerpost for Frampton 1/2 mile and the A356. Look out for

Frampton House and some magnificent Lebanon Cedar. Little Egrets can also be seen here. As the track starts to bend to the left and towards the Wren Bridge over the river, turn right onto another short track up to a large metal farm gate and cattle grid.

3 Here, a sign on the right says ‘Littlewood Farm private road no unauthorised vehicles’. Turn left after the gate and cattle grid with a sign saying ‘Muckleford 3/4 mile’. Keep straight on this farm track past farm buildings on your right, you will soon reach Muckleford with buildings on either side of you. Just before some farm buildings and opposite Lower Muckleford House, there are signs to Frome Valley Trail Bridleway.

4 Turn right here, by a red post box, to walk up this farm track and after 250 yards it enters a field. Go into the field and walk diagonally across and down to the opposite corner with an opening onto a bend in the road. Cross the road and take the footpath up a tree-lined track to the right, with a metal barricade across the track. Go through this and carry on along this track for 1 1/4 miles, the track then turns to the right to bring you to some farm buildings (Higher Skippet Farm) on your left. Walk around the buildings, keeping them on your left, and then take a right after the farm buildings, looking for footpath signs just after a big hedge.

5 Take the right turn, keeping the hedge on your right, for 1/3 mile. Keep walking until the hedge runs out to meet a hedge across the path with a

stile and another footpath sign. Cross this stile into another field and keep ahead with the fence and hedge (with old hedge trees) on your right. Walk down this field to cross an electric fence and then over a stile and turn right onto the road.

6 Walk along the road for 200 yards until you see a bridleway sign, and Hampton Lodge on your left. Walk down this track to soon take the left fork signed for Tibbs Hollow. Keep on the tarmac drive through the pretty, narrow band of woodland then over a cattle grid staying on the drive as it passes into a park. There are further cattle grids, stay on the tree-lined drive to reach Pigeon Cottage and Dove House. Pass by these buildings then up to a large metal gate. Go through this and straight on to skirt the bottom of a steep-sided field. Go through another large metal gateway onto a track then sharp left onto a concrete track, to then go immediately

Ford Cottage

right onto a path signed for Tibbs Hollow 1/2 mile.

7 Head upwards along this narrow enclosed bridleway, at the top after 350 yards you come to a large metal gate into a field. There are now good views of the valley behind you. Go straight up and over this field, through a large metal gate and then down a farm track onto the road. Tibbs Hollow picnic area is on your right. Cross the road and go through a small wooden gate into a large field. Keep to the top of the field, along the fence and edge of a wood on your left, then down to a small gate to enter a small enclosed path, leading down to the village, through three metal paddock gateways with a kissing gate to emerge onto a road.

8 Turn right onto the road. Walk along here for 400 yards until you come to the road you walked along earlier, by the entrance to Frampton Park, to take you back to the start.

LOST DORSET NO. 34 EVERSHOT

David Burnett, The Dovecote Press

The decision by Royal Mail to raise postage prices yet again is a reminder that the post office was once as much a part of rural life as its pub or church. It was a social hub, often doubling as the village shop. Services introduced towards the end of the 19th century changed the lives of even the humblest citizen. By 1900 you could send a parcel as well as a letter or postcard, buy a postal order, pay into a savings fund or contribute to an annuity or life insurance. Many were telegraph offices, allowing the sending of telegrams. Even the smallest hamlet acquired a bright red wall letter-box, of which only a handful stamped ‘VR’ for Queen Victoria survive. Like many village post offices, Evershot’s is now a private house. In 1895, the date of this postcard, letters arrived from Dorchester at 6.40am and 1pm and were despatched at 10.30am and 6.50pm – seven days a week and in winter.

dovecotepress.com

The Dovecote Press has been publishing books about Dorset since 1974, many of which are available locally from Winstone’s Books or directly from the publishers. This photograph is taken from Lost Dorset: The Villages & Countryside.

OBJECT OF THE MONTH THE DOORMAN’S JACKET

Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum

We are often asked by visitors whether Sherborne ever had a cinema, and the answer is most definitely, yes! The Carlton first opened in Newland as the Wessex Theatre on 18th December 1929, succeeding the ‘Picture Palace’ that used to exist above 59, Cheap Street. Prior to that, films had been shown at the Rawston Hall in Westbury.

The building was designed by a Birmingham firm, Messrs Satchwell and Roberts, and the interior was decorated in oak and old gold, with hunting and other pastoral scenes hand-painted in the foyer. Seating capacity allowed for an audience of 600; prices for the balcony cost up to 2 shillings, while those for the stalls ranged between sixpence and 1 shilling and twopence. The grand opening night, however, was unfortunately marred by ‘technical difficulties’ which made it impossible to screen the scheduled film Hungarian Rhapsody starring Lili Dagovar. Sherborne Town Band was hastily brought on as a substitute.

The Wessex Theatre was not equipped for sound and the proprietor/manager, Rowland Reeves, was soon in financial difficulties. However, money was invested by Messrs. Carter and Pilkington who reopened the business under the name Carlton, a combination of their two surnames. From the 1930s the Carlton showed not only talking pictures but was the scene of several amateur dramatic performances and pantomimes.

Apart from dances, the Carlton was the only other entertainment on offer in Sherborne. Cliff Mogg in his memoirs The Council House Kid recalled that by the 1950s ‘it was a drab place with wooden floorboards and uncomfortable seats’. He described how tearjerkers like Lassie and My Friend Flicka used to ‘pack them in’ as

did westerns starring Gene Autry and Roy Rogers; ‘Pathé News, introduced by a cockerel crowing, kept audiences in touch with world events’. Sundays were the nights when local lads piled in for a noisy night out: ‘They liked a really awful film because that gave them an excuse to barrack like a crowd watching a football match. The usherettes, unable to keep any sense of order, sat down and joined in the laughter.’

The cinema closed on 4th February 1962. The foyer became the offices of Hunts Dairies and the auditorium, a vehicle maintenance shed. The building was demolished in 1989 to make way for what was then Somerfield, now Waitrose, car park. The museum holds a fine collection of Carlton memorabilia, including photographs, seating plans, promotional posters, tickets and two cinema seats covered in maroon plush and set in elaborate gold-painted cradles. We have recently been gifted this doorman’s jacket, dating to 1956, in maroon twill with a mandarin collar and cuffs in contrasting grey. It is fastened with white metal buttons and decorated with a white braid on the shoulders. The donor was a friend of David Hunt (from the former Hunt’s Cycle Shop), who recovered many of the items when the cinema closed. When Mr Hunt passed away and his effects cleared, the donor related how he snatched up the jacket from the flames of the bonfire to which it had been consigned and stored it in his own garage for many years. It has since been dry cleaned and, though a little worn, it makes a welcome addition to our textile collections.

sherbornemuseum.co.uk

Sherborne Museum is open Tuesdays-Saturdays 10.30am–4.30pm. Admission is free, though donations are welcome.

11 Dreadnought Trading Estate, Bridport DT6 5BU 01308 458443 www.bridporttimber.co.uk

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CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Close to the churches of Cerne Abbas and Holwell, you will see a set of fine stocks on display, but, does anybody know what it was like to be put in the stocks?

Stocks were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation for non-serious crimes and misdemeanours. They became common in England after 1351, when a law required every town to provide and maintain a set of stocks, primarily to ‘control vagabonds and beggars’, who were locked in these for up to 3 days and nights. They were in use in Europe since the 8th century, and are mentioned in Acts of Apostles, as well as The Old Testament Book of Job. Drunkenness, brawling, blasphemy, fortune telling, begging, homosexuality or dishonest trading were all common charges that could land someone in either the stocks or the pillory.

Whereas stocks involved the offender sitting on the ground facing the mocking crowd, with feet firmly clasped between two wooden struts, the pillory, consisted of a wooden post and frame fixed on a platform raised above the ground. Both head and hands

were locked through holes in the frame, held fast while remaining standing. The pillory was the rougher form of punishment and sometimes the prisoner would have his ears nailed to the device to restrict his movements. These torturous devices were often situated in the main market place and the length of time spent in them depended on the offence, ranging from half an hour to a full day, or even longer. The idea was to humiliate the offender, and angry mobs were encouraged to taunt and get involved in punishing the captives. Rotten fruit, dead animals and even excrement were common objects thrown, and if that were not enough, the unfortunates were often whipped. Particularly hated prisoners were attacked with dangerous objects such as stones or broken glass, and this sometimes resulted in death. On the other hand, a popular person pilloried could be cheered or even rescued. The pain and humiliation of time spent in these devices were just awful, and so Britain had mostly abandoned these forms of punishment by 1872. However, the law did not change and stocks are still technically legal in the UK.

Throughout time, and in every society, there have

Cindy Chant & John Drabik

Holwell Stocks

been a set of rules which determines what is permissible and what is forbidden. Gradually, these became written laws to enable people to live together in reasonable harmony, and those that did not abide by the rules were known as felons or criminals. The Saxons had written codes of law which stressed compensation rather than retribution - the fine for murder was 100 shillings and, for severing an ear in a brawl, it was 12 shillings. After the conquest in 1066, the Normans imposed their own legal system.

The worst time to have been a criminal was in the Tudor times, as hanging was common, with hanged bodies just left to rot, and stealing as little as a shilling incurred the death penalty. Concealing a catholic priest would involve ‘death by crushing’, the accused being laid face up, with a sharp stone placed under the back and a heavy door placed on top. Heavy weights were then added until breathing became impossible and inevitable death. Lesser crimes such as refusing to attend church or vagrancy would have incurred a fine, public flogging, or branding - permanently marking the offender in the shape of a letter on the hand or the cheek. Flogging continued to be a popular punishment passed by the courts until the mid-20th century.

Fear of witchcraft was widespread for many centuries, and in 1542 a law was passed for the death penalty to be given for witchcraft or sorcery. The ducking stool was often seen beside the village pond and was used for minor crimes, however, ordeal by water was used in witches’ trials. Floating indicated witchcraft and drowning proved innocence. However, the very worst, and most painful, punishment was for treason. This involved the prisoner being hanged until nearly dead, then laid out and forced to watch their intestines being removed and burnt. The criminal was then beheaded and cut into quarters with the body parts displayed around the town and local villages, as a deterrent.

‘Houses of Correction’ were established to icarcerate wrongdoers and instil in them habits of discipline and work ethics. Some even attracted fee-paying voyeurs, as flogging became a popular sport. Murder and robbery were considered grand felonies and, together with other serious crimes, were tried at the Assizes. This could have landed a prisoner in the ‘Bridewell’, one of which was here in Sherborne. The remains can still be seen in South Street - two huge stone jambs with iron hinges still left in situ from the 17th century. Throughout the centuries crime and punishment have changed, but will we ever have the perfect solution?

A POWER-FULL LOT

Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

Items we auction come to us from a variety of places and are sold for various reasons. Sometimes they are bought and no longer needed due to a house move or change in interiors.

Naturally, clients inherit items and we are asked to come in and remove items surplus to family and beneficiary needs. As we all have our own interests and collecting fields, and this combined with us generally having our own homes full of our own pieces, it is not unsurprising that we are asked to help clear properties.

Auctions today are a different kettle of fish from when I started back in 1985. In those days most sales were either ‘general’ or ‘antiques’. These auctions covered pretty much everything under the sun. There would be silver, pictures, ceramics, jewellery, collector’s items and everything else being jumbled into either auction.

Moving forward to the 21st century and ‘general’ and ‘antiques’ auctions have almost disappeared, and we have introduced a broad range of specialist sales. The list of specialist sales is long with silver, jewellery & watches, Asian art, pictures, coins, medals & stamps to name a few and just over a year ago, we introduced a specialist auction of automobilia and memorabilia auction.

This new sale has proved to be an instant success. They include the weird and the wonderful from car mascots, vintage brass car lamps, vehicle brochures, enamel signs, pedal cars, film posters and many other items many of which are perfect for the study, garage and man-cave. Some of these come from garages and barns and some come from living rooms but they all

have a story to tell.

Recently I was asked to see a collection of silver in Dorset. The silver had been collected by a family member and they had recently passed away. The silver, whilst appreciated, was not the new owner’s cup of tea and was packed up and consigned for a specialist silver sale.

I was just about to leave when the owner asked me about some automobilia they were also considering selling and I was amazed at one item they owned – a petrol pump globe. Made of opaque glass this Power globe would have originally sat on top of the petrol pump letting you know which brand of petrol was going to come out of the nozzle. In addition, they would be lit up at night to promote the brand.

Today these are rare survivors. Being made of glass they only bounce once if dropped and like a lot of things in life went through a period when they were not wanted. An unusual item to have I asked the owner where it came from. I half expected for a family member to have run a garage back in the day or for it to have been found in a barn when the owner moved into a new home.

However, it was none of these. Bizarrely, this vintage Power glass petrol pump globe had been found in a scrap yard over 40 years ago and rescued!

This was carefully wrapped up in blankets and brought back to our salerooms. Estimated at £1,000£1,500 it is now entered into our 4th April automobilia and memorabilia auction where it will no doubt find a new home.

A vintage Power petrol pump globe, found by the owner in a scrap yard over 40 years ago, £1,000-£1,500

The Joinery Works, Alweston

Sherborne, Dorset DT9 5HS

Tel: 01963 23219

Fax: 01963 23053

Email: info@fcuffandsons.co.uk

www.fcuffandsons.co.uk

DESIGNERS AND MAKERS OF BEAUTIFUL FINE BESPOKE JOINERY SINCE 1897

Forthcoming Auction Programme Further entries invited

At Bill Butters Windows Ltd we offer total window, door and conservatory solutions. Based in Sherborne we design, manufacture, supply and install high quality aluminium and uPVC products using market leading suppliers to service both the retail and commercial sectors.

For more information visit our website or come down to the showroom.

ALLER DORSET

Words Claire Bowman

Photography Katharine Davies

The snowdrops are out, the sun is shining, and Cat and Ant Earp are getting stuck into a spot of spring cleaning at their lakeside boutique retreat, Aller Dorset. With a rare gap in the booking calendar and ably assisted by little helpers, Willa, 5, and Woody, 2, the couple are making sure that everything in their four Plankbridge shepherd’s huts is shipshape for the season ahead. There’s bedding to be dry-cleaned, products to be replenished in the bathrooms, jugs of tulips to be refreshed, and even the slightest signs of wear and tear to be licked into shape.

Meanwhile, husband Ant has herbs to plant in the repurposed cattle troughs and leaves to sweep in one of the outdoor bathrooms. ‘It’s pretty much unavoidable when your bathtub is in the open air, but our guests love being able to have a bath under the stars,’ says Ant. ‘They’ll be out using it whatever the weather. The only thing that stops them is when the taps freeze!’ >

While Cat, a former PR for Gucci, has a keen eye for aesthetics and getting the guest experience just right, Ant looks after what he calls the ‘not-so-glamorous, outdoorsy stuff’. Having grown up on Aller Farm and moved back five years ago with Cat after working in Stratfordupon-Avon for a lighting company, he knows exactly what needs to be done. ‘Aller is a working farm so that takes a lot of my time, but I also do all the landscaping, mowing and planting up here at the huts,’ he explains, pointing to a row of newly planted hedging whips. ‘I’ve also recently finished planting an orchard of nut and damson trees, and I’m about to start work on the footings of a new bridge so that guests have better access to the lake. If you spend long enough down there you’ll see our resident swans and geese, as well as moorhens and coots.’

Aller Dorset navigated the choppy waters of launching a new business in the midst of a global pandemic – ‘The first two huts arrived just as we went into lockdown,’ shudders Cat. It has now been open for almost two years, with its four huts each named after fields on the farm – Links, Littledown, Zoulands and Kittylands – appearing on the pages of publications from Vogue and House & Garden to The Times, Daily Telegraph and Conde Nast Traveller.

And it’s easy to see why. With tongue-and-groove walls painted in tasteful Farrow & Ball shades, from Stone Blue to Setting Plaster, Christopher Farr fabrics, brass fittings, comfy king-sized beds, Egyptian cotton sheets and rainfall showers, each feels more swish boutique hotel than humble shepherd’s hut. ‘We worked closely on the designs with Richard from Plankbridge, who are just down the road from us. When it came to the interiors I wanted it to be less about creating a rustic, hygge feel, and more about colour and fun,’ explains Cat, whose personality is every bit as exuberant as her interiors. ‘And while I might not necessarily want to paint my own kitchen bright pink I think it works really well in this setting.’

Such is the success of her interiors, in fact, that it has inspired an offshoot business, Aller Home, selling a selection of homewares in Cat’s trademark playfully colourful designs. ‘We sell everything you can see in the huts – glasses, candlesticks, plates, cushions and the scalloped headboards, which I design myself and are upholstered by Amy Sellick in Batcombe. It’s lovely for guests to be able to take a little piece of their holiday home with them.’

Forever the hostess with the mostest, Cat makes it >

her personal mission to ensure that her guests have the perfect stay. ‘When I lived in London I’d really go to town whenever friends visited,’ she says, replenishing my coffee mug and offering croissants from Oxford’s bakery on a pink striped plate that Aller Home has produced in collaboration with Bettina Ceramica. ‘There’d be fresh flowers on the bedside table, a bathrobe and pair of slippers laid out on the bed. I’d always try to make it as special for them as I could and anticipate what they might want.’

Hence the welcome trug of local sourdough, Cat’s homemade granola and marshmallows to cook on the fire pit, as well as a cocktail trolley stocked with Black Cow Vodka and Conker Gin. Should guests tire of the view (they won’t), there are board games and tennis courts, lakeside yoga sessions and on-site reflexology with Annabelle Turner from Cheselbourne, who will soothe your weary feet from the comfort of your shepherd’s hut. ‘She’s so good she’s changed people’s lives,’ enthuses Cat.

While guests are given a long list of local restaurant recommendations, from the Queen’s Arms in Corton Denham to the Crab House Café in Weymouth, for those who don’t fancy venturing out there’s always

the option to book a fire-pit supper of steak, lobster and salads, which Cat will deliver up on a tray with instructions on how to cook it. ‘And if they fancy a glass of fizz first while they’re soaking in the bath, we’ll send up a bottle from local producer Langham’s – although we do ask that it’s before 7pm because after that we’ll be putting the children to bed!’

Juggling work and family might have taken a little adjustment but Cat and Ant have more than got the hang of it. ‘When we moved down five years ago I went through a period of grieving for my old life for a while,’ says Cat, who was more used to high heels than wellies, and spent most of her working life organising fashion shows in Milan. ‘It was certainly a huge change having my first child down here. But we’ve made some great friends and the huts are doing really well – we’re booked up for months. Plus, I’ve got a million ideas ticking away in my head of how we can keep furthering the business. There’s a lake up the road, which is absolutely beautiful, and then I’d love to do a shop, perhaps a rustic version of Daylesford…’ Whatever comes next, you can be sure it will be something really rather special.

allerdorset.com

Open Monday-Saturday 9.00am-6.00pm, Sunday 10.00am-4.30pm (tills open at 10.30am)

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

Providing for pollinators

As lawns, pots and borders burst into life, there’s lots of ways that we can welcome bees and other pollinators into our gardens.

Even a few extra wildflowers in our lawns can radically transform levels of biodiversity, so think twice before doing away with any Violets, Clover or Vetches that appear. It’s also time to start thinking about water sources for pollinators, as well as nest sites for wild bees. Avoiding pesticides wherever possible will give little visitors a big helping hand too - ask our team for advice on alternatives.

01935 814633

castle@thegardensgroup.co.uk

Established for over 33 years we are a family run business based in the heart of Dorset. We offer carpenter-build services in oak frame and timber construction, plus timber gates, fencing, hardwood doors, windows & timber supplies to all. We tailor our build services around you, by using our in-house team of surveyors, designers, carpenters & construction crews. A wealth of experience is here to support your project.

SHOW TIME

Horticultural shows have a gentrified history. Inspired by Charles Darwin’s descriptions of the many species of plants he had seen on his travels, botanists, and naturalists such as Sir Joseph Banks (who travelled with James Cook on the Endeavour, later becoming the first unofficial Director of Kew Gardens) travelled the world to bring new plants to Britain. These plants were brought back to botanical gardens and stately homes which, after being catalogued, were released to professional growers to propagate and sell to the public. In the 19th Century, middle-class people visiting these botanical gardens and stately homes saw the new, exotic plants, and were inspired to buy them to recreate what they saw.

Plant shows for trade nurseries began in the 1830s, as nurserymen looked for new ways to attract customers and were able to travel further to find them as the

railways expanded. Exhibitors created elaborate displays at these shows, as they competed for business.

The Royal Bath & West was an early adopter of horticultural attractions. Upon being appointed Secretary of the Bath & West of England Society in 1882 Thomas F Plowman noted, ‘the show was more cosmopolitan in character than any other gathering at that time, for, in addition to encouraging the minor as well as the major features of the agricultural industry, the society added to the ordinary attractions of such gatherings a flower show…’ and he stated his intention to extend the attractions at agricultural shows ‘to interest urban dwellers in rural affairs.’ Over the years committee members and consultants to the show have included botanists, including William Curtis (1746-99) and Professor W Carruthers F.R.S (1830-1922), ensuring that horticultural interests

Jess Chiplen, Head of Shows, The Royal Bath & West of England Society

Shepton Mallet, 1974

Shepton Mallet, 1968

Shepton Mallet, 1990

Flower Show Exeter, 1863

Images courtesy of Bath & West archives

were well represented.

The flower show remained a key feature of the Royal Bath & West Show during the early-mid 20th Century, with a storm during the 1913 show necessitating the re-covering of a large portion of the flower tent the following year. The resulting tender requested ‘two sheets each 122 feet by 32 feet from hip to eave’, with the work completed by Swansea-based James’ Marquees for £90 (equivalent to over £13,000 today).

The ‘Golden Age’ of flower shows was from the 1950s to mid-1980s, where between April and November exhibitors would travel to up to 60 shows. After 1980 the number of very large flower shows increased, especially those held by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) such as those at Hampton Court and Tatton Park.

In later decades flower shows fell out of fashion, with fewer visitors and exhibitors. This reflected the differing priorities of the country and show organisers, who did not perceive a significant value in horticulture. As the number of exhibitors reduced, the organisers changed their approach – at the Royal Bath & West Show, the large single tent was replaced with two smaller ones to individually house the floral and garden exhibits.

The arrival of Covid in 2020 meant that all activity stopped, but enforced inactivity during lockdown had an unexpected benefit as it gave rise to a renewed interest in horticulture. People who were furloughed and in lockdown began finding hobbies to fill their time, such as gardening. In 2020, 42% of British adults said that they undertook some gardening in their spare time, with 35% saying that they grew their own produce. But even before this, UK households spent a collective £7.5bn on garden goods in 2017 and the market contributed significantly to GDP: in 2020, ornamental stock was valued at £950 million; the pot plant sector was worth £283 million; and flowers and bulbs were valued at £124 million.

Fast-forward to 2023 and The Royal Bath & West Show is one of few which have returned after a period of hiatus. The appointment of new Chief Executive Carol Paris has reignited the horticultural focus, with the ‘two-tent’ approach retained and led by experts in the areas of floral exhibits. Nigel Hewitt-Cooper, Chairman of the Horticulture Committee, is overseeing the horticulture tent whilst Vice-Chairman Nigel Cox is responsible for the outdoor gardens.

Carol has a background in horticulture, firstly as Chief Executive at the Horticultural Trades Association

and then as Chief Executive at Rosebourne Garden Centres. Asked about her plans for this year and the future, she said: ‘The Southwest is a very significant horticultural area, which is home to many nurseries and growers. Horticulture has always been a focus of the show, and it is important to showcase the locally grown plants and support the local growers. During the pandemic nearly 3 million more people tried their hand at gardening and wanted to learn and develop new skills, with outdoor space becoming vitally important for wellbeing. It is therefore the ideal time to build on the trend and we will be having more gardens, plants and gardening products at the show. TV personality David Domoney (presenter of ITV’s Love Your Garden and resident gardening presenter on ITV’s This Morning) will be attending the show on Friday and Saturday to talk all things gardening and will be available to provide help and advice to gardeners and would-be gardeners.

The Newt in Somerset, the main sponsor of Chelsea Flower Show in London, has kindly offered to relocate the key parts of its Chelsea Garden to the show so that it will be seen by a wider audience. Yeo Valley Organic is also designing a garden specifically for the show. This year is just the start – we aim to continue to grow this vitally important sector.’

bathandwest.com

Thursday 1st - Saturday 3rd June

Royal Bath & West Show 2023

Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset. The royal celebration of great British entertainment, food & drink and countryside returns! Group and advance ticket discounts are available. Each advance adult ticket includes free entry for two children aged between 5-15 years old. bathandwest.com/tickets

"Botanists, and naturalists such as Sir Joseph Banks, travelled the world to bring new plants to Britain."

INVITE NATURE INTO YOUR GARDEN

Alex Hennessy, Marketing and Communications Officer, Dorset Wildlife Trust

Over the past few years, you might have heard about, or taken part in, No Mow May. Leaving the mower in the shed for a month or more is a great way to encourage more wildlife into your garden, but how does it work?

Holding off from mowing sets off a chain of events that benefits biodiversity. Longer grass means more shelter for beetles and other insects, while allowing grass to set seed provides food for birds such as goldfinches and sparrows.

Attracting more insects with longer grass also means more food up and down the food chain. For example, aphids are eaten by hoverfly larvae and lacewings, while hedgehogs prey upon fly larvae and beetles. Birds such as blackbirds, robins and swallows all include helpings of insects in their diet, too.

Leaving your lawn and any native plants within it to grow will also change the soil quality. Letting grass grow to its full extent, through flowering and setting

seed, will use up more nutrients in the ground, reducing fertility and making way for wildflowers. These tend to thrive on low-quality soil, while grass is happy with more nutrients. To keep encouraging more diversity on your patch, don’t fertilise the lawn and don’t apply weed-killer (we’d encourage this as a rule across the rest of your garden, too).

Leaving your lawn throughout May doesn’t mean never mowing again. In fact, mowing in mid-summer might encourage another late-summer burst of flowers (as long as you don’t have flowers such as orchids that only flower once in a season). This means more food for pollinators when other plants in the garden might be reaching the end of their flowering season.

Long grass may need strimming before taking the mower to it. Strimmers and mowers can be dangerous for hedgehogs, frogs and other wildlife so before cutting your grass (whatever its length), take a noisy walk around the area to make sure any wildlife moves to a safer spot.

Find out more about making your garden a haven for wildlife at dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildgarden.

dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

• Some species’ natural processes can be interrupted by artificial light, including moth activity and bat feeding patterns. Avoid using artificial light in your garden to help avoid this.

• There are around 728,900 hectares of private garden space in Britain, with huge potential for welcoming wildlife.

• If you have a pond, leaving an area of unmown lawn next to it until October will provide shelter for young amphibians and other wildlife.

Your garden, your way!

Your checklist for April:

1. Think about what you would like from your garden.

2. Call Castletown Landscapes to discuss your options.

3. Agree a plan that suits you. We at Castletown Landscapes, provide complete landscaping and garden maintenance services that can breathe new life into your garden, whatever size it is.

No job is too small. We do it all.

Competitive rates, free no obligation quotes, no vat.

Please call Paul to get the conversation started.

M: 07739 121 430

E: paul@castletown.uk

www.castletown.uk

Jason Chillmaid/Shutterstock

April is the month when things step up a gear in the garden. After a long, sometimes cold winter, everything comes out of hibernation, including us humans. On a nice sunny day, we are tempted back into the garden to start a bit of tidying up or maybe planting.

I read that it is also the busiest time for physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths as people strain their backs after months of sedentary sitting in their armchairs! It is also a busy month for lawnmower repair shops when mowers are dragged out from the back of the shed only to find they won’t start.

Weeds are beginning to accelerate away, with cleavers, chickweed, groundsel, dandelions, ground elder, couch grass and buttercups all becoming established early. Tendrils of bindweed are beginning to

NEW SHOOTS

spiral around anything they can find and hungry slugs and snails are on the lookout for any tasty young plants.

Seeds are a great way to grow vegetables and flowers. Compared to buying plants in pots, they are a real bargain and you can grow sometimes hundreds (or even thousands) of plants, without a great deal of effort.

Some people are lucky enough to have a greenhouse or a sunny window sill for propagating seedlings, while others prefer to shove seeds straight into the ground. It all depends on what you want to grow and it is important to check the instructions on the back of seed packets. Most seeds are planted between March and May, with tender species such as runner beans and courgettes, best left to later if you don’t have somewhere to protect them from late frosts.

If you are going to plant your seeds straight into the

Simon Ford, Land and Nature Adviser

soil, then it is important to first prepare it well, usually by digging, removing any weeds and raking it. Some people are moving to a ‘no dig’ system where organic matter is placed on the surface, allowing worms to do the work and protecting the soil. Direct planting of seeds into the ground is commonly used for root crops which do not like their roots disturbed, such as carrots and parsnips as well as fast-growing seeds such as lettuces, rocket and radishes. They are planted thinly and if necessary, thinned further once established. They will need watering until they are established and weeds may need to be removed to prevent them from becoming suppressed.

Some plants such as tomatoes, aubergines and chillis would not be able to grow directly in the ground in the UK and really need to be grown in

compost until they are big enough to go out or be put in a large pot. We tend to also grow seeds such as French beans, leeks, spinach, sweetcorn, beetroot, courgettes, squash and cabbages in seed trays, although it is very much up to the individual as well as the soil in your garden or allotment.

To grow seeds in pots, you will need to get suitable containers, such as seed trays or pots. You can also use old yogurt pots or create your own with newspaper. Some people will make compost from garden and vegetable waste and clever ones will have their own formulation with things like grit and vermiculite. However, most people will buy bags of compost from the garden centre. Remember never buy peat, which when extracted is incredibly damaging to the environment and wildlife. Instead, choose a peatfree compost and ideally one which is formulated for seedlings and is finer than multi-purpose compost.

Fill the containers or modules and then place the seeds thinly in the compost. Some large seeds such as peas, sweetcorn and beans are placed individually and prefer deeper containers. Seed packets will come with some instructions on the depth the seed should be planted, but most like a thin covering. Once planted, they will need watering with a watering can and placing in somewhere with light such as a window sill or green house.

With some seeds, you may have so many, you can swap them with your friends and neighbours or you can grow them and sell the plants at the local spring fairs for charity.

Hopefully you will quite soon see the young shoots emerging. Some grow incredibly quickly, while others take longer to poke their heads above the ground. It is an exciting time and funny to think that each of these tiny shoots will hopefully become a tasty vegetable (or a pretty flower if that is what you have sown).

Once established, the little seedlings can be pricked out and either grown in a larger pot or moved straight to the vegetable bed. This can be a stressful time when they are moved from being cosseted in a nice warm place, to a windy and sometimes chilly garden, with slugs and snails, caterpillars and birds all finding them a nice snack, or cats and dogs digging them up! They may need a bit of protection with a net until established and will of course need some watering and a bit of TLC.

However, it is a rewarding exercise and the best thing of all is having a delicious crop of tasty vegetables later in the year. Happy sowing!

GET YOUR LAWN IN ORDER

Mike Burks, Managing Director, The Gardens Group

After a long winter many traditional grass lawns are looking in pretty poor shape with significant levels of moss. Whereas the grass struggles with those conditions, moss thrives. So where do you start in sorting them out?

On a dry day, set the mower at a fairly high level and give the lawn a light mowing to tidy it up. Collect the trimmings and put them on the compost heap. A few days later, again when the grass is dry, apply a moss killer such as Mo Bacter which will kill off the moss and give the lawn a mild feed.

A week or so later you will have a lawn that looks a whole lot worse with the moss having turned black! Vigorously rake out the dead moss with a spring tine rake or use a mechanical scarifier. This will reveal bare

patches which will need filling in.

To do this first spike the lawn with a fork or better still, a hollow tined aerator (it looks like a giant fork with tubes instead of tines), preferably all over, but particularly where the grass is thin or where there are bare patches. This will improve the localised drainage in the top few centimetres of the lawn.

Then apply a mixture of soil, sand and peat alternative which is available already made up as Lawn and Turf Dressing. I would scatter it by hand and then brush or rake it to evenly distribute the material and for it to fall into the holes you have made. This can be done with a Besom Broom (witches’ broom), a spring rake or the back of a rake.

Then, to repopulate the completely bare patches, over-

sow with grass seed at a rate of 2oz per square yard or 50g per square metre. Where the grass is patchy but hasn’t completely disappeared use about half that rate. Choose a grass seed mix to suit your lawn. If it’s a fine lawn you are after then use a grass seed mix without ryegrass, should you have shady patches then select a seed mix suited to those conditions.

Over the next few weeks lightly mow the lawn at a raised setting on the mower until the new grass has germinated and established. Once this has occurred lower the mower cutting height gradually each time you mow to reduce the length of the grass.

3 or 4 weeks later apply a spring fertiliser with a feed, weed killer and moss killer.

As the grass begins to green up and grow quickly,

increase the frequency of cutting and reduce the height of the mower. I always like to vary the direction in which I mow the lawn. This not only over time will help control some weeds but also reduces boredom levels with such repeated exercise!

Should weeds still be an issue then apply a lawn weed killer such as Weedol Lawn Weedkiller. This will nobble broad-leaved plants but doesn’t affect grass.

In September allow the grass to grow slightly longer and repeat the treatment as above but use an autumn treatment. This contains a moss killer and fertilisers that get the grass toughened up for the winter. Such autumn treatments are so important to get the lawn in shape before the winter reducing the efforts needed in the spring.

However, there is an alternative. If you aren’t so interested in a grass-only lawn and just want it to be green and you’re quite happy to see a few wildflowers then carry out the same treatments for the moss control but leave out the weedkillers and also use less, or preferably, no fertiliser at all. This can be a very rewarding form of lawn, much more environmentally sound too and is likely to lead to there being no space for moss to proliferate therefore stopping the need to control it.

Studies have shown that by allowing even lowgrowing wildflowers such as clover, vetches, bugle and selfheal to come into the lawn, the biodiversity created is so much greater than on a traditional lawn that it cannot be expressed on the same graph! In the environmentally challenged times that we are currently in, this is a powerful argument to have such a lawn.

Our own lawn has now moved over to such a regime. It started with some violets that had crept out of the border into the lawn which I mowed around in a gentle curve. From that I experimented with gently curving shapes and allowed the grass to grow longer and discovered lots of arrivals of low-growing broadleaved flowering plants.

The extraordinary thing that happened in our patch was the arrival, somehow, of pyramidal orchids which is perhaps the most delightful thing that’s happened to me (in gardening terms at least!).

So, I would urge you to experiment with this even in just a small way to see what happens. The good news is that if you aren’t happy with the result or want to change the shapes that you have mown then just like using a duster on a blackboard, the area can be remown and in a week or so new shapes can be formed. thegardensgroup.co.uk

THE CLOCKSPIRE

Great Value

Three-Course Set Menu

Available for both lunch and dinner, Wednesday to Friday and Saturday lunch*

2 Courses - £ 26 • 3 Courses - £ 32

Live JazzThursday 27th April

Elevate your Thursday evening and enjoy captivating sets from the Simply Jazz Trio plus seasonal and signature dishes, exciting cocktails and fine wines from our exceptional menu

Easter Sunday Lunch

Our traditional Sunday roast is an egg-cellent reason to come and try our menus

2 Courses - £ 35 • 3 Courses - £ 40

Mezzanine Bar

You don’t need to be a diner to enjoy the Clockspire experience. Come and have a glass of wine or a cocktail in our lovely mezzanine bar

To make a reservation please book online at www.theclockspire.com or telephone 01963 251458

*Offer not available on Public Holidays

The Clockspire Restaurant & Bar

Gainsborough, Milborne Port, Sherborne DT9 5BA

@theclockspire

HOW TO COOK RICE

Safia Hothi-Bellamy, Pure Punjabi

As a British woman of North Indian origin, rice is an ingredient that was one of the first things I learnt to cook and is considered a staple within our diet, and therefore a basic ingredient for us. Working in the food industry, I am astonished at the number of people I come across that find rice to be a confusing and mysterious ingredient. And when I look at how the cooking of rice is presented in the Western media and all the apparent ‘rules’ for cooking it (that we as Indian women have never seen in our homes), I am then not surprised that people are completely intimidated at the thought of cooking rice!

Below are a few basic principles – you will soon be confidently cooking rice.

• Choose the very best quality rice. We always cook with white Basmati rice. Try to buy an Asian brand or from an Asian supermarket if you can. Two brands that we love are ‘Laila’ or ‘Kohinoor’.

• Take time to prepare the rice before cooking.

• Wash the rice to remove starch - before cooking, not after! Wash the rice in cold tap water (making sure to only agitate the grains in the water and not to actually rub the grains). Wash the rice several times until the water runs clear. Then it is ready to use.

• If you have an old packet of rice that has been in the cupboard for a long time, the starch will have built up, so you will need to soak this rice for 30 minutes after you have washed it - then drain off the water and it is ready to use.

• Ensure the correct rice-to-water ratio – our family uses the absorption method, whereby we use double the volume of water to rice (i.e. 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water)

Jeera Rice Recipe

Jeera rice (or ‘cumin’ rice in English) is part of the repertoire of daily recipes in Northern Indian households, and rice (for Punjabis) is the

accompaniment to meat dishes and one dhal dish in particular - Rajma Dhal (kidney bean dhal - all other dhals are traditionally served with roti).

Ingredients

1 cup of rice (250g)

2 teaspoons of ghee or sunflower oil (please do not use rapeseed oil or olive oil as these have a taste on their own and will alter the flavour)

1 tablespoon/large pinch of cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

3/4 teaspoon salt

500ml cold tap water

Method

1 Put the rice into a large bowl and wash it 5-6 times (or until the water runs clear). Once the water runs clear, drain the rice well.

2 Heat a saucepan over a medium to low heat. Add the ghee (or sunflower oil) to the pan. Once the ghee has melted, add in the cumin seeds, turmeric, and salt. Stir and gently sizzle the spices for a couple of minutes. (Be careful not to let the cumin seeds burn.)

3 Add the washed and drained rice, and ‘dry’ cook the rice in the ghee and spices over the heat for about 1-2 minutes (do not put the water in the pan), until all the grains are lightly coated in the ghee or oil. The rice will become slightly sticky - this is normal. Just keep the rice constantly moving during this dry cooking process.

4 After 1-2 minutes of dry cooking the rice, add 500ml of tap water (2 parts water to 1 part rice) and stir. Turn the temperature up to the highest setting to bring the rice to the boil. As soon as it comes to the boil, turn the temperature down to

the lowest setting and put the lid on the saucepan. Leave to cook until all the water has been absorbed (depending on your cooker, this will take somewhere between 10-15 minutes).

5 As soon as all the water has been absorbed into the rice, it is cooked (this is the absorption method).

6 Run a fork through the rice, this stops it from going sticky and forming a solid clump at the bottom of the saucepan – it keeps it light and fluffy. Serve hot.

purepunjabi.co.uk

North Indian Cookery School, Meal Kits, Weddings & Events

The Old Crown & Victoria Inn, 14 Farm Street, Tintinhull, Somerset BA22 8PZ Bed & Breakfast, Function Room Hire, Private & Corporate Events, Restaurant for Group Booking

PAN-FRIED TROUT WITH WILD GARLIC

Freshly picked and quickly cooked with local butter, wild garlic makes a wonderful accompaniment to brown trout. Serves 4.

Ingredients

4 trout fillets

80ml olive oil

300g wild garlic, washed

40g unsalted butter

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1tbsp parsley, chopped

1tbsp tarragon, chopped

1tbsp chervil, chopped

1tbsp chives, chopped

250ml creme fraiche

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180c.

2 Remove the bones from the fish and season it generously on the skin side.

3 Heat a large frying pan on medium heat and add 40ml of the olive oil. When just starting to smoke add the fish skin side down.

4 Lower the heat a little and cook for 4-5 minutes. When the skin begins to crisp up and the fillets look cooked to 1/3, transfer the pan to the preheated oven for 3-6 minutes until just cooked.

5 Combine chopped herbs and lemon zest with the remaining olive oil and add to the creme fraiche. Stir to combine and add the salt and pepper.

6 Remove the fish from the oven, sprinkle on the lemon juice and salt to taste. Turn fillets over, skin side up and set aside.

7 Over a medium heat, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the wild garlic, cook for no longer than a minute and stir to ensure it cooks evenly. Add salt and remove from the pan.

8 Serve the trout fillets on warm plates, each with a generous dollop of creme fraiche.

greenrestaurant.co.uk

Image: Clint Randall

Sasha Matkevich, The Green

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We can’t wait to welcome you, through our doors to sample the local produce and enjoy the orchard. If you fancy a trip out with a friend or an alternative to shopping in the supermarkets this is a great destination worth exploring.

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OPENING TIMES 8am-6pm 7 days a week

A TASTE OF SYRIA AL RAYAN

Manal Tameena has been sharing Syrian food with her friends in Sherborne since she arrived here from Damascus five years ago. A city steeped in history, Damascus is famous for its wonderful places to eat. On evenings, weekends and celebrations like Eid, the parks and restaurants are full of friends and families who meet to eat and share food together. While Manal has made a new life for herself and her family here in Sherborne, she is eager to preserve her country’s culinary customs. Al Rayan is her exciting new food venture - one you could say she has achieved against the odds.

Manal was just pregnant when she and her husband Abdul and 11-month-old daughter Sana had to flee

the violence that had erupted in Damascus. They found themselves in Egypt where they thought they could wait out the unrest in Syria and return home. After two years it became obvious the ongoing war would prevent this but at the same time it was obvious they could not stay in Egypt either. Refugees with few savings were not particularly welcome and would have no chance to improve their lives and get a good education for their children.

Life in Egypt became even more difficult when Abdul and Manal sought help for their son Sulaiman who has profound learning difficulties. They spent their whole life savings trying to buy the medicines he needed, but it turned out there was next to no medical

Penny Gardner, Sherborne Area Refugee Support (SHARES)

help available for him.

In 2015 the family learned of the United Nations resettlement scheme which would resettle them in another country to start a new life. They were among the 20,000 Syrian refugees brought to the U.K. under David Cameron’s government although it took two more years to get approval and be found a place to live. With a baggage allowance of only one suitcase between them and leaving all their other belongings behind in Egypt, they arrived in Sherborne.

Manal was almost destined to spread the word about Syrian cooking. She grew up in a family where everyone contributed in some part to providing food for her father’s falafel stall on the streets of Damascus.

Her mother would be up early making the falafels and Manal remembers coming in from school and having to start chopping, peeling and scrubbing.

Before she met Abdul, Manal attended Damascus University and began teaching Arabic in a girls’ school. Abdul, her chief cook and bottle washer, had meanwhile gained a degree in economics and trained in accountancy. He is very proud of his wife’s culinary skills and has encouraged her to pursue her takeaway business.

To spread the word locally, they are holding tasting events in the villages around Sherborne, laying out an assortment of the many wonderful dishes offered on the Al Rayan menu. Manal has chosen traditional dishes that are very popular in Syria. Some are vegetarian and all cooked with fresh ingredients and an array of Middle Eastern spices.

One of her best-loved dishes is Tabbouleh Salad, an Al Rayan speciality made from a refreshing combination of finely chopped parsley, cucumber, tomato, lemon juice, bulgur wheat and olive oil. This particularly delicate salad has become a favourite since she first shared it with her Sherborne friends.

Another favourite is Shawarma - a popular street food that originated in Turkey, consisting of chicken stacked in a cone-like shape and served in a wrap with Syrian mayonnaise and pickles. The taste will transport you to the streets of Damascus where you would find stall after stall selling this wonderful dish.

Manal says, ‘When I was growing up in Syria, I didn’t think our food would be particularly different from other cultures. It was only when I got to Egypt and I met people from other countries that I realised how different and, dare I say, delicious Syrian food is.’

Not only is it delicious, but Syrian food is healthy and nutritious and far from what we know as fast food in the U.K. Some dishes take several hours to prepare using only the freshest ingredients. With a variety of dishes available including salads, chicken and rice, what makes them all so special is the mix of Biharat spices - not hot, but a blend of mild seasoning, suitable for all tastes.

Al Rayan provides takeaway Syrian dishes delivered to your door for a small charge. Catering for dinner parties and family celebrations is also available.

07585 347082

alrayanfood2022@gmail.com

sherbornearearefugeesupport.org.uk

CHURROS WITH CHOCOLATE ORANGE SAUCE

Churros are a pastry snack that I first tasted many years ago when visiting markets on holiday in Spain. I’ve made them with my own children and children in school when we were learning about Spain.

Serves: 4-6, bakes 28

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus cooling time, cooking time 30 minutes. What you will need: a pan, bowls, a wooden spoon, an electric hand-held whisk, a piping bag fitted with a 2D Wilton nozzle (or if using a churros maker a plain 1cm nozzle), a clip to prevent the mixture oozing out of the bag, a heavy-based deep pan enough to fry the churros or a deep fat fryer or an electric churros maker. Slotted spoon. A shallow baking tray lined with crumpled kitchen paper.

Ingredients

Churros

75g unsalted butter, cubed

300ml water

150g plain flour

A pinch of fine sea salt

A pinch of ground cinnamon

3 medium eggs

Sufficient oil of your choice to cook the churros

Cinnamon Sugar

125g caster sugar

1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon

Chocolate Orange Sauce

100g dark chocolate chips

50g milk chocolate chips

1 tablespoon golden syrup

175ml double cream

Zest of 2 organic oranges or 8 drops orange extract

For chocolate and black cherry sauce, swap the oranges or extract for 12 black cherries chopped finely from a jar of cherries in syrup and 1 tablespoon of the syrup.

Method

1 Place the butter and water in a pan and gently allowing the butter to melt, turn up the heat and bring to the boil.

2 As soon as the pan is boiling take off the heat and add the flour, salt and cinnamon. Beat vigorously until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan, place the mixture into a bowl and allow to cool until just warm.

3 Beat the eggs lightly in a bowl and gradually beat into the flour mixture. Continue beating until it comes together – the batter should be glossy and slow to drop off a spoon.

4 Place the mixture into the piping bag and place the clip on the end of the bag.

5 Either plug in the churros maker or half-fill the heavy-based pan or deep fat fryer with oil to allow them to come to 190C. Meanwhile, mix the sugar and cinnamon for coating the churros once cooked.

6 Pipe a 4-inch/10cm length of batter into the hot fat (4 at a time) or into the churros maker 8 at a time. If frying, use a slotted spoon to turn occasionally when golden brown place on the kitchen paper to absorb excess oil and roll in the cinnamon sugar.

7 Meanwhile, make the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate chips, syrup and double cream gently in a pan stirring continuously, when smooth and glossy add the orange extract or orange zest. (Alternatively, in place of the orange, stir in the chopped cherries and syrup).

8 Place the sauce in a small bowl and serve with the warm churros.

bakerval.com

Val Stones

Liliya Kandrashevich/Shutterstock

They are everywhere – brown ones, black ones, spotty ones, stripy ones, little ones, bigger ones. About what do I talk? PIGLETS of course. We have at last had a run of good-sized litters, four sows with over 40 piglets between them have landed in the last two weeks. They have been textbook mums, each picking their own pig ark to farrow in, going away quietly from the group and making a nest, which they then filled with tiny piglets. Each mum was careful and didn’t squash any of their offspring... which actually is quite unusual as the size difference between the mother and her babies is so huge (the mother weighs probably 180kg and the piglets weigh about 1kg when they are born) the odds are not always good. But as I say, it’s been good this time.

So the reason for this sudden bumper crop – well, we have four new boars, two we bred ourselves and two we bought last autumn. Two of the boars are a cross

A MONTH ON THE PIG FARM

between Tamworth and saddleback, although they look like saddlebacks in colour which are black with a white belt around their middles. We also have a new young Tamworth boar and a duroc boar too, which is now leading to the many different colour piglets we have. This is great for our gene pool and hopefully gives us lots of hybrid vigour in our growing pigs.

Before these, we had had a run of very small litters. I can’t tell you how disappointing it is when a sow with the potential to have ten piglets pops out four and then squashes one. So why were we having such small litters? Well, it all stems back to a year ago, when a fellow pig farmer offered me, in his words ‘a lovely boar’ for free. How could I resist?! But I should have – basically he was full of low-quality swimmers! So, that old saying rings true, never look a gift horse in the mouth! (How do I explain that saying to Charlotte, my Swedish wife?)

I digress, the mothers for the first week kept their

James Hull, The Story Pig

Image: Katharine Davies

babies quietly away from all onlookers, snuggled in carefully made nests of differing structural integrity. Then on day 7 as the sun shone down and the easterly winds blew the little piglets appeared at the doors of their cosy homes and ventured outside into the cold March air. They scampered around their houses and then mostly ran back into the warmth and safety of their pig ark. As I write they are 2 weeks old and have amalgamated into an unruly mob, dashing here and there, fighting and chasing and generally having fun. Some of them have moved houses completely. I am always intrigued by the thought process that takes place when a mother up sticks and moves in with another sow and piglets to create a supergroup!

And then there is the little black piglet who left his mother after 3 days and went to live with a litter of completely brown piglets. As I checked them all on a Sunday morning, peeping in I saw 11 brown piglets and one black little cuckoo in the nest. He stuck out like a sore thumb, so I gently scooped him up and put him back with his brothers and sisters, thinking he had got lost. The next morning I peeped in and there he was again. I smiled to myself and let him be – he has stayed

with his new mother and seems to be happy there! So if anyone is wondering, yes, we have lots of piglets to see at The Story Pig.

This brings me nicely to the other item that is taking up lots of our time at the moment – we are moving the cafe back outside. Thank goodness, spring is here and it’s time to say goodbye to the winter quarters in the barn. We love the barn but we all love the outside more, although it means thousands of steps a day walking to and fro. We wouldn’t be without the view and the garden. By the time you all read this, we should be out again with all that brings. We can’t wait to welcome you all back to the garden tipi and this year it’s going to be bigger and better! Happy spring everyone.

thestorypig.co.uk

Saturday 8th April

The Story Pig Easter Event

Easter egg hunt, hog roast, lambs, piglets, live music from Theya. Booking essential - see Facebook, Instagram or thestorypig.co.uk for details.

RAISING THE BAR

Reader, this morning I ate chocolate for breakfast. Not pain au chocolate, or toast with chocolate spread, not porridge studded with cacao beans or coffee sprinkled with cocoa powder. Just chocolate –the real thing. A slab of it.

I’ve been hearing a lot about Cornish bean-to-bar chocolate makers, Chocolarder recently. It’s become the new star at Teals, and everyone here is mad for it. So I treated myself, but of course, I couldn’t wait. I snapped

off one corner of the Wild Gorse Flower milk bar to taste. Unbelievably delicious. Creamy milk with that perfect melting consistency, and the heady, slightly coconutty scent of gorse flower. So then I snapped off the other corner, because I wanted to be sure. Then I had to straighten out the corners by breaking off the middle bit to make it square again. And before I knew it, half the bar was gone.

Chocolarder is, without doubt, very special

Joanna Weinberg, Teals

chocolate. At every touch and taste point, the dedication to making exceptional, and almost more importantly, real chocolate, shines through. It’s not just about a quick satisfying, sugar hit that’s available on every street corner, it’s about exploring and experiencing what chocolate has the potential to be.

The company was started by Mike Longman, a pastry chef who was, at the time, cooking at New Yard on the Lizard in Cornwall. When the restaurant committed to sourcing everything from within ten miles, he was left scratching his head. Local sourcing is all very well if you are responsible for the fish, meat or vegetables section - but chocolate? That was a whole different challenge. So he set about teaching himself how to make chocolate –really good chocolate - as local as possible. Apart from growing the beans, which was climatically impossible, he decided to do everything else himself by hand. And he became entranced by the magical process. Making chocolate that first he could use in the restaurant, and then, as a side hustle, sell at local markets. The queues for his chocolate grew and after a few years, he took the leap into making it full-time.

It’s important to note, here, the difference between a chocolate maker and a chocolatier. The latter takes chocolate and melts it down, adds flavours, moulds and fills it, and turns it into a different version of itself. But the former starts with the cacao beans themselves and undertakes the whole process of transformation: roasting them, cracking them, separating the solids from the butter, mixing them, adding sugar and creating texture.

‘If you’re going to put that much time and effort into making something, you don’t want to be using cheap, rubbish ingredients. You want to be looking for something ethical and high quality. You want to be using the best,’ says Mike. From the very first bar, he committed to using slavery-free ingredients that supported reforestation projects, plastic-free packaging and no palm oil or emulsifiers. Mike struck up direct relationships with cacao farmers and began to get to know the different characters of cacao. It was particularly important to him to work with projects that supported the environment or the indigenous

communities in the areas it is grown. For example, the 72% dark chocolate bar is named ‘Ashaninka’ for the Amazonian tribe who grow the beans that it is made from. They have been supported by charity Cool Earth to learn how to cultivate, ferment and dry fine flavour cacao using traditional means that minimally impact their environment, enabling them to continue their tribal way of life. It’s particularly notable that this dark chocolate has only two ingredients: cacao and sugar. Look at mass-produced bars of chocolate and you’ll see lists including E-numbered emulsifiers, added vegetable fats and flavourings.

When it comes to making the chocolate itself, there are a number of machines now available to chocolate makers that do jobs with wonderful sounding words: melangers (which mix it) and conches (which develop the flavour). There’s a point though, where the maker is at the mercy of these machines’ processes and Mike was finding that in some cases, to get the texture right, he wasn’t able to develop the flavour to the right extent, and vice versa. So he began to collect antique individual pieces of machinery that allowed him to control each part of the process.

Now, every part of the Chocolarder process is made and managed by hand. Every new batch of beans is roasted, split, separated, tasted, checked, adjusted and then turned into different bars and boxes. Try them; they will surprise and delight you. Snap a corner off, as I did this morning, and your mouth will fill with a complex array of flavours. Tasting notes for the Ashaninka

72% bar reads, ‘early notes of green and red fruit with undertones of hazelnut. Middle tones of apple peel and raspberry slowly give way to a long ending of burnt sugar caramel’. For the Wild Gorse Flower 50% milk (and my breakfast), ‘warming toasted coconut with hints of fudge and roast night, ending in light red fruit.’

Over the past ten years of our coffee revolution, we have become accustomed to and educated in the subtleties of a great cup, and the pleasure it can bring. Is it now chocolate’s turn?

teals.co.uk

chocolarder.com

THE WINES OF MADEIRA

David Copp

Madeira, a small volcanic island off the coast of West Africa, 500 miles southwest of Lisbon, is famous for its wonderful climate, abundance of fruit and fine dry and sweet fortified wines which can be consumed as aperitif or digestif.

The development of the island’s wine industry is largely due to the fact that Madeira was the last port of call for ships crossing the Atlantic or going around the Cape of South Africa.

The naturally dry white wines were very light and they needed spirit as fortification to protect them from excessive heat and movement on long voyages.

Madeira is still noted for its unique winemaking process. Its fortified wines became extremely popular in the cooler climates of the American colonies, Britain and Russia.

Prohibition in the USA destroyed the market for wine and many Madeiran vineyards were uprooted and planted with sugar cane, some of which was used

to produce white spirit and such wine that was made became known as the Forgotten Island Wine.

It was not until 1988 when the Symington family from Portugal invested heavily in the industry that Madeira wine resumed its place on wine shop shelves.

The Symingtons focused on producing quality wines, planting their vineyards with ‘noble grape’ varieties. Madeira is still best known for its fortified wines and its primary markets are France, where it is extensively used in cuisine, USA where it is a favourite of cocktail bartenders and Germany and Japan where it is consumed as an aperitif.

Its wines are produced from such red grape varieties as Bastardo, Complexa, Tinto Negra, Bual and Malvasia which are often fermented on their skins. Drier wines – from Sercial, Verdelho, and Negra Mole – are separated from their skins prior to fermentation, depending on the level of sweetness desired. Fermentation is halted by the addition of neutral grape spirit before undergoing the heating

process which produces Madeira’s distinctive flavour. The major styles of fortified Madeira wine are synonymous with the names of the three bestknown white grapes - Bual, Malvasia (also known as Malmsey with a dark colour and rich texture) and Sercial which is completely dry, with very little residual sugar and characterised by good colour,

almond flavours, and smoky notes.

Madeira can be consumed in many different styles as an aperitif or a digestive. Waitrose offers a good selection with many interesting styles sold in 50cl bottles. If you have not already done so I would encourage you to try Madeira wines. I am sure you will find a style that suits you.

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FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN

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

Iwas sitting outside the other night, looking up at the crescent moon. Using just a pair of binoculars, the craters are clearly visible, pock-marking the surface and reminding me of the tremendous impacts that have occurred over the millennia. As most of us know, the same has happened to Earth, causing mass extinction events and ending the era of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although 70% of life on Earth was destroyed, lower life forms survived and among them, the fungi. Largely ignored by biologists in the past, fungi are now being recognised for their importance in our ecosystems and increasingly for their role in medicine. One of the members of the Penicillium genus

was made famous by Fleming (and also Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, who shared the Nobel prize for penicillin) but there are many not-so-helpful species in this ubiquitous group.

Mushrooms, yeasts and moulds are all fungi and are familiar to us, even though precise identification requires expertise, especially when foraging for something edible. Dogs are not very choosy when it comes to eating, as we all know, and vets spend a good deal of time treating the results of canine pica, sometimes due to the ingestion of a poisonous mushroom or mould. The common names of our most toxic mushrooms leave no doubt about their nature, for

example ‘death cap’, ‘destroying angel’ (the Amanitas) and ‘funeral bell’ (Galerina). If you visit the Woodland Trust website there are some excellent photos of these with notes on the habitats that they favour. Obviously to be avoided but try telling your dog whose knowledge of mycology extends as far as ‘if I eat it and it makes me sick, it’s toxic’. Not as though they think in quite those terms!

Mushrooms are easy to spot but other fungi are far less visible, existing in the soil and on organic material, releasing invisible spores and toxins that can be inhaled and ingested. Our old ally Penicillium is often the mould found on food but these species are

different from Fleming’s classic and secrete toxins, not antibiotics. Our food-recycle bins are picnic hampers for dogs and a Petri dish for fungi and bacteria. The simple handle-up locking device on the kerb-side recycle containers is no match for many dogs and many of us have seen the evidence strewn across the road. So what sort of harm can be caused by eating mouldy food or a poisonous mushroom? Well, fungal toxins usually cause gastrointestinal and neurological signs, and like many poisons, symptoms start a few hours after ingestion.

An example happened just the other day. One of the busiest breeds in the business, a young working Cocker spaniel, had been out with her owners exploring the countryside at great speed. As usual, nothing unusual was seen on the walk but a few hours later poor Olive was shaking like a leaf in a gale and was clearly ‘altered’ although still conscious. No sign of vomiting so low blood glucose (not uncommon in highly active breeds after excessive exercise) was also a possibility. However, Olive had not been out for long and had eaten that day so hypoglycaemia was not top of my list. As I was arranging an emergency referral to the on-call service, poor Olive went into a full-blown seizure. Luckily I had some diazepam (Valium) on hand and managed to give her an intra-venous dose despite all the tremors. The vet on call took over the case management and Olive made a full recovery, although it took several days. This was a lucky escape as some more severe cases of fungal toxicity suffer permanent brain damage and of course, can die. As there is no specific antidote for these poisons, the outcome depends on the particular toxin, the dose ingested and the speed of treatment. We don’t know what Olive ate, as is usual in such cases unless some material is vomited up for inspection. The delay in the onset of symptoms makes this unlikely, adding further uncertainty but as we know, veterinary medicine and uncertainty go hand-in-hand.

So much for fungal toxicology. Important as they are often forgotten, are actual fungal infections that can affect the skin and the ear (quite common and caused by ringworm and a yeast called Malassezia) and much more rarely the nasal passages in long-nosed dogs (Aspergillus). This latter condition used to be almost incurable without radical surgery but the development of effective anti-fungal treatments has given us powerful weapons against those fungi who are not our friends, even though the vast majority are.

Laura Rose Creative/Shutterstock

Animal Care

Friars Moor Vet, Martha Twist following a successful lamb caesarean

SPRING INTO ACTION

Rebecca Price BVetSci MRCVS, Friars Moor Livestock Health

Now that the coldest winter days are (hopefully!) behind us, we at the practice are gearing up towards spring and the plethora of calls associated with it.

Spring is our busiest time of year, as we not only see spring-block calvers and sheep flocks lambing in the spring months, but we also expect the number of ‘sick’ animals to increase around this period too. We always have two vets on call at night and over the weekends, and it is not uncommon in spring for both of these vets to be out on visits in the evenings and early mornings, when people are out checking their animals.

More often than not, cows and sheep give birth without issue or intervention, and those which do usually just need a bit of repositioning from the farmer. A lot of the time we get called with the expectation of performing a caesarean section – needed because the calf, or lamb, is just too big to come out the back! A caesarean, as for humans, is a large operation and coupled with the fact that farms aren’t typically the most sterile of environments, they are not a decision to be taken lightly. We try to always birth them naturally first, sometimes a second pair of hands or having waited for the vet to arrive is enough to kick things into motion.

When lambing or calving we are constantly assessing the situation as it develops – ensuring that we have a pair of legs, and not one front and one back; assessing whether the calf or lamb is alive, and how this may alter our decision-making; and constantly monitoring the mum to ensure that we are not causing damage. Where a natural delivery isn’t possible, we set up to perform surgery.

Lambings, calvings and caesareans are a constant reminder of just how resilient and hardy our cattle and sheep are – often by the time we have packed up and washed off, the mother is up, licking the calf or lamb, and having a drink of water.

During our university years, all vets spend weeks on the farm during their busy seasons, learning from the farmers themselves how to lamb, calve, and look after livestock. These placements were compulsory, but relied on the goodwill of the farming community to take you in, and teach you. I was very lucky with my placements, and have fond memories of lambing in Wales during the Beast from the East – I was covering night shifts for the 2,500 ewes they had due to lamb. My rounds took me from barn to barn, and lastly to the Welsh Mountain Ewes, in a paddock behind the house. The snow was falling thick and fast by this point, and, with the rate it was settling, soon the newborn lambs would be covered. I remember filling every pocket of my boiler suit and waterproof coat with a different lamb, and ferrying them, back and forth from the paddock to the warmth of the barn and heat lamps – there was no way I’d be able to move the ewes across the farm too! In the infinite wisdom that comes with working at 3am, I spraypainted a different symbol on every lamb and its mum, so that when morning came, and there were enough hands around to help, we stood some chance of being able to match the correct lamb to the correct ewe. The farmer was most amused the next morning at the interesting ‘art’ I had produced on the side of each ewe, but I had the last laugh when we managed to reunite all.

Spring is busy, and there may be some nights we don’t get quite as much sleep as we planned for, but I think every vet enjoys the thrill of a successful lambing or calving and bringing new life into the world.

friarsmoorlivestockhealth.co.uk

friarsmoorvets.co.uk

Silver and gold plated bee pendant £95, drop earrings £105, stud earrings £50

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| EXPRESS CACI SYNERGY EYE LIFT |

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| LEGS AND FEET MASSAGE |

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| 20 MIN BACK, NECK & SHOULDER MASSAGE |

| 30 MIN DERMALOGICA SKINSOLVER FACIAL |

SOUND ADVICE

Whilst out of sight from our direct vision our ears do a spectacular job at just being there doing what they do, but how often do you give them any care and attention? We all know that we shouldn’t go digging about with cotton buds into our actual ear canal, but there is a whole other area around that needs a bit of TLC to keep it fresh and healthy.

When cleansing or washing your face take in the ear lobes and outer ear. Daily grime, pollution, excess skincare products, make-up powders and hair products can easily find their way onto the outer ear and they need to be gently removed.

Build up of these elements over time can lead to blackheads, breakouts and a greasy-looking ear which is not pleasant to observe. If you have ever admired someone’s beautiful earrings and then as you took a closer look thought ‘Ew, she has blackheads in her ears’ then you get the picture. The point is that whilst someone may go to great lengths cleansing, exfoliating and refining the skin on their face and neck they may be completely oblivious that the flaps standing proud on either side of their face are looking less than pretty. Getting into the habit of running a cotton bud around the outside of your ear, under the rim or helix and wiping out the hollow area or concha with cotton wool will go a long way towards stopping a greasylooking build-up.

A good Facialist will observe your ears and consider extending some of the treatment they are about to

embark on to your outer ear, whether that be cleansing, extraction or massage.

If congestion or blackheads in the outer ear are discovered by yourself or a facial therapist they can be gently eased out and de-congesting and deep cleansing products applied. This could be a little bit of face mask or a topical breakout-clearing product carefully applied, then removed as necessary with damp cotton wool.

In Chinese facial diagnosis, the ears are considered to be reflective of our foetal self and many therapists will massage around the ears and include the outer ear too. Think of it like ear reflexology where areas of the ears correspond to areas of our bodies.

Pierced ears also need regular additional cleaning with an anti-bacterial skin cleanser, even if they have been pierced for years, because otherwise frankly they can smell! After an ear is pierced you should continue past the instructed minimum twice daily cleansing and turning period because they can still easily get sore and infected for many months. Once you start changing earrings in and out and begin exploring the dizzy lengths of dangly earrings, tiny rips can be created because the soft tissue of the ear has not healed a strong scar ‘tunnel’ through the ear. So I would recommend you clean the earrings as you change them and also take out all earrings fully once a week to give the front and back of the ear and the earring pieces a good sanitise.

thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk

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

Ground Picture/Shutterstock

PLACING THOUGHTS IN BUBBLES

Dawn Hart, YogaSherborne

Taking a few minutes each day to re-set yourself is well known to be essential in reducing stress and managing anxiety. There are many ways you can do this depending on where you are and what you are comfortable doing. I use mindful movement and breath work in my classes. I also often include visualisations. They don’t work for everyone but if you do find an image or a story that you connect with it can be a very simple and effective way to tune out of the daily whirl and find a little calm.

This is one of my favourite visual meditations. It’s evolved over the years but at its centre is recognising that we can step back from our thoughts and see them as just that; thoughts that are separate from us not controlling or defining us.

You can stand, sit or lie to practise this meditation. If you want to close your eyes you can but if you think you may fall asleep keep them open and lift your gaze comfortably up from the centre and find something that won’t distract you to rest your eyes on.

Try to hold the image described below for at least 30 seconds to begin with then build up to 5 or 10 minutes if you want to.

Imagine that you are sitting/standing/lying at the bottom of a beautiful still blue lake. You can breathe as easily as if you were on dry land. You are comfortable and feel safe.

Notice when a thought comes into your mind; it could be anything, a memory, something yet to happen, it could have significance emotionally or be a fleeting observation of something happening around you. Recognise it as a thought and imagine that you place it into a bubble and watch that bubble float up to the surface of the lake and burst.

All the words and images from that thought spread out over the surface of the lake and gently disperse until the surface becomes peaceful and still again.

When the next thought comes do the same thing and continue in this way with every thought that arises.

You may find to begin with you have so many thoughts there is a stream of bubbles floating up to the surface but eventually the thoughts will slow right down. There will even be moments when you are gazing at the still, calm lake and by doing so you too will become still and calm.

When you are ready to bring your attention back to the space around you take a few deep breaths and bring your awareness down through your body. Notice how you feel and thank yourself for taking the time out, however brief, to let your mind become still and quiet.

yogasherborne.co.uk

RUN, RUN, RUN… BUT MAKE IT FUN!

Craig Hardaker BSc (Hons), Communifit

The saying ‘variety is the spice of life’ is never more appropriate than when discussing running. For many, let’s be honest, running is a chore, not only because it can be very strenuous but also equally tedious – the reason perhaps why so many runners do so accompanied by ear-buds. In short, running for a set distance or time duration is productive, but can become boring, something to endure rather than enjoy. Admittedly for some, running is an absolute joy, providing both a sense of enjoyment and freedom, but for the majority I suspect, this is not the case.

‘Running’ however can take many different forms, not merely being a question of choosing a distance or a time to beat. In order to increase both motivation and

enjoyment we need to vary our training methods. Here are some tips and advice on a variety of techniques that can be achieved to improve your running, both in terms of performance and enjoyment.

Strength training

Often dismissed, strength training is a superb way of mixing up training to maximise results. It is often said that strength training is the element that will ‘take runners to the next level’. Strength training will help in three key areas. It will help you run faster by boosting neuromuscular co-ordination and power. It also helps with injury-prevention by strengthening muscles and connective tissues. Finally, there will be an improvement in ‘running economy’ through an enhancement of both

Image: Dave Bendell

co-ordination and stride efficiency. Increased strength in your muscles and joints will improve running gait, helping to preserve energy whilst limiting impact on joints.

Hill training

Our running group recently completed a gruelling running drill up and down Bristol Road. The feedback was very positive and most said it wasn’t something they would have achieved, or even contemplated normally. Hill training will improve leg muscle strength, and quicken and expand stride, whilst also developing the cardiovascular system. Even with all these benefits the problems we can still face are those of boredom and strenuous challenge, so we tend to avoid this type of running. However, we shouldn’t!

Fartlek training

Fartlek running is a mix of fast and slow running. Running at a continuous pace can be very boring. Small bursts of increased speed won’t only make your run more enjoyable but will also improve your aerobic fitness. When road running, using lampposts as markers gives us the perfect opportunity to experiment with a

Camelot Challenge

• 10K or half marathon distances

• Beautiful scenery • Walk it, run it

• Dogs allowed • T-shirt and medal for all 21st May

communifit communi_fit communifit.co.uk @communifit

change of speed. Fartlek training is normally associated with running at your normal pace and then moving to a faster pace. However, running slower than your normal pace for longer periods of time is also an effective training method but one often dismissed as being ‘lazy’.

Group training

Whether you are out running or want to mix up your training with any of the above methods, it is always more enjoyable to do this with others. Training in a group is very sociable, and you can often push yourselves more than when training alone. Running with like-minded individuals can help maintain motivation, whilst keeping you running for longer. Signing up for events in groups is also a fun way of maintaining motivation and performance.

Keep on running!

communifit.co.uk

Communifit run a variety of events throughout the year, many of which support charities local to Sherborne. Visit their website for details of forthcoming events.

This month if you are able, please consider visiting the Just Giving website to donate money, which you can gift aid. Your cash donations are valuable and enable us to buy items for babies, children and people with special dietary needs.

www.justgiving.com/sherborne-foodbank

Thank you.

www.sherbornefoodbank.org

07854 163869 help@sherbornefoodbank.org

Reiki is a Japanese energy healing modality that is natural and holistic.

Reiki can help relieve stress, anxiety and depression. Book your appointment today at Reiki Wellness and begin your journey to inner joy and peace.

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07966 720007

GET BACK THE REAL SOUNDS OF LIFE

When hearing works like it should, your brain gets the rich input it needs to understand the sounds around you. Without the real sounds of life your brain has to work harder to fill in the gaps, which can be tiring. We have the technology and experience to help you.

Book a no-obligation demo with your local, independent hearing care experts.

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INTERNAL SUNSHINE

Annabelle Hunt, Colour Consultant, Bridport Timber

At the first hint of warm spring sunshine the thought of shedding winter layers can be quite thrilling, but it’s so easy to be a little too optimistic. If the weather takes a sudden turn for the chilly, you needn’t get caught out in the cold though, because just as we change our clothes from season to season, our homes can benefit from a bit of a spring refresh too.

The wardrobe analogy is actually rather useful and works on many levels when it comes to interiors. Regardless of whether we seek out the latest fashion or follow our own path, every single one of us has colours and styles that we feel good in. Take a quick look at your wardrobe and it will probably be quite obvious if you naturally gravitate towards bold pattern and colour or are more of a pared-back minimalist.

After years of chilly, Scandinavian greys, followed by calm, soothing neutrals, this spring eclectic combinations of stronger, simpler colours are making a big, bold comeback. Rich, vibrant shades bring excitement, energy and instant ambience to rooms, making them fabulous for entertaining. Colour-drenching is a strong interiors trend, but if that’s not your cup of tea, you don’t need to paint an entire room in a single bright colour to create impact. Smaller amounts of colour can be cleverly used to draw your eye towards a subtle but cheerful detail, perhaps a front door, a bookcase, or a kitchen island.

Although I’d struggle to find much of it in my wardrobe, at this time of year there is very little that is more cheerful than bright and perky yellow. From soft, buttery shades to sharp acidic lemon and elegant mustard, yellow is officially the ‘world’s happiest colour’. It is optimistic and joyful, bringing an instant dose of sunshine to even the dullest of spaces, attracting the eye and lighting up any corner. Painting architectural details such as an alcove, or highlighting a fireplace surround in a striking colour that makes you happy will give a room a truly personal touch. Using yellow to paint window frames, or colour-blocking around windows magically creates the illusion of sunshine flooding into a room. It also works particularly well on ceilings in rooms that lack natural sunlight as it conjures the gentle wash of sunshine across the whole area.

Yellow schemes can range from delicate and subtle, to bold and striking and can be complemented with light or dark contrasts, or other golden tones. Whatever your personal style, it can be helpful to think about dressing a room just like you would put an outfit together. There are three main elements to consider when painting a room: the walls, the woodwork, and the ceiling. Once you have chosen the main colour for your walls, don’t forget to give the woodwork, or the ‘accessories’, some thought. You wouldn’t wear bright white shoes and socks with every outfit in your wardrobe, so why would you default to painting all of your skirting boards brilliant white?

For example, for a room that feels like it is filled with sunlight choose a refreshing, pale shade, such as F&B’s Dayroom Yellow No. 233, which would indeed be perfect combined with crisp, bright All White No. 2005. A restful bedroom scheme of a soft, desaturated yellow such as modest Hay No. 37, would be much more subtle and understated when paired with muted Lime White No. 1. Finally, cheerful, egg yolk bright Babouche No. 223 looks fabulous paired with inky blue-black Railings No. 31, and will bring a sumptuous, modern look and irrepressible joy to a kitchen. bridporttimber.co.uk

Amime BP4402 (Archive Collection) Wallpaper

Ciara Yellow No. 73 (Archive Collection) Estate Emulsion

Babouche No. 223 Modern Eggshell

India Yellow No. 66 Estate Emulsion

READY FOR SCHOOL?

Attending private school is a privilege that comes at a high financial cost, but with the right planning in place, it could be an achievable investment.

With school fees on average £5,132 per term, and due to rise by 3% over the coming year, it is important to plan ahead and establish a sizeable savings pot to help pay fees when they become due.

How much do I need to save and when should I start? Cash flow modelling can help answer these questions by projecting the future cost of the education, modelled against savings accumulated to date.

Take an example of a couple who wishes to send their five-year-old child to a private secondary school in Southwest England. Assuming fees rise at an annual average of 4% per annum, when the child starts secondary school, the fees would be £17,465 pa. Cash flow modelling projects that a sum of £79,297 today would be sufficient to cover the school fees, assuming average net investment returns of 5% per annum.

Are there tax-efficient ways of saving towards school fees?

A simple way to save for school fees is within a Stocks and Shares Individual Savings Account (ISA), within

which an adult can save up to £20,000 each tax year. By using ISAs, a couple can save up to £40,000 pa completely tax-free.

Are grandparents able to contribute?

Each grandparent can make annual gifts of up to £3,000, being immediately exempt from Inheritance Tax (IHT). Larger sums can be gifted free from IHT provided the grandparent survives the gift by seven years.

Grandparents could also benefit from ‘normal expenditure out of income’ rules. Essentially, any income surplus to their needs can be gifted away. However, the rules are strict and it is essential that specialist advice is taken.

Grandparents can also set up a ‘bare trust’ to hold assets gifted for the payment of school fees. This has the benefit of the income or gains being taxed in the grandchild’s hands rather than the grandparents.

What else should be considered?

It would be worthwhile looking into establishing suitable protection cover to ensure that school fees can continue to be paid in the event of death or inability to work.

mogersdrewett.com

Daniel Gornall, Chartered Financial Planner, Mogers Drewett

APRIL SHOWERS AND THE INVESTMENT MARKETS

Mark Salter CFP, Chartered FCSI, Fort Financial Planning

April does have more showers than other months, regardless of where you are in the country. During the month of April, a band of strong winds, known as the jet stream, moves northwards. This changes the air pressure and leads to an explosion of cumulus clouds — the type of clouds that create rain showers. It is very difficult to predict exactly where and when showers will occur, and how long they will last – should you take your umbrella or your sun hat!

It’s a similar story with investment markets. We know with near certainty that they will rise and fall, sometimes rapidly, occasionally by a sizeable percentage, but that over the long term they are likely to rise. What we don’t know, like April showers, is exactly when the individual rises and falls will occur, by how much, or how long they will each last.

The weather cannot be controlled much like the markets but by focusing on the factors you can control, long-term results can be achievable. Focus on what you can control. Pack your umbrella and your sun hat and if you follow these four main principles you’ll be prepared for all weathers…

Goals

Create clear, appropriate investment goals. The investment process begins by setting measurable and attainable investment goals and developing plans for reaching those goals.

Balance

Develop a suitable asset allocation using broadly diversified funds. A successful investment strategy starts with an asset allocation suitable for its objective. Investors should establish an asset allocation using reasonable expectations for risk and potential returns. The use of diversified investments helps to limit exposure to unnecessary risks.

Cost

Minimise cost. You can’t control the markets, but you can control how much you pay to invest. Every pound that you pay in costs and charges comes directly out of your potential return. Indeed, research suggests that lower-cost investments have tended to outperform higher-cost alternatives.

Discipline

Maintain perspective and long-term discipline. Investing evokes emotion that can disrupt the plans of even the most sophisticated investors. Some make rash decisions based on market volatility. But you can counter emotions with discipline and a long-term perspective. This can help you stick to your plan. Investing is a dynamic process and a lifelong journey. If you stick with these principles, stay disciplined, control what you can control and keep a long-term view, you will be able to focus on what really matters and enjoy life come rain or shine.

ffp.org.uk

Here we go again – once more unto the breach. There’s no hiding that times are tough but fret not, we’ve been here before and together, we can find ways to protect your finances and look to the future. Let’s hatch a plan.

Apple’s transition from Intel processors to their own custom-designed Apple Silicon has been one of the most significant developments in the tech industry. This shift was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC) in June 2020 and has since then generated a lot of excitement and curiosity amongst tech enthusiasts and consumers alike.

Apple Silicon is a term used to describe Apple’s custom-designed processors that power the company’s devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and now the Mac. The first Apple Silicon-powered Macs were released in November 2020, and since then, Apple has gradually been replacing Intel processors with its own customdesigned chips in its Mac product line.

The advantages of Apple Silicon are many. Firstly, it allows Apple to have complete control over the design and manufacturing of its processors. This means that Apple can optimise the processors specifically for its devices, resulting in better performance, improved battery life, and enhanced security.

Apple Silicon also allows for seamless integration across all Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. This is because the chips share a similar architecture and use the same development tools, making it easier for developers to create applications that work across multiple devices. Another advantage of Apple Silicon is its ability to run both iOS and macOS applications natively. This means that users can download and use their favourite iPhone and iPad apps

APPLE SILICON

THE FUTURE OF MAC COMPUTING

James Flynn, Milborne Port Computers

directly on their Mac, without the need for emulation software or other workarounds.

One of the most impressive features of Apple Silicon is its performance. In benchmark tests, the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models featuring the M1 chip have outperformed their Intel-based predecessors in nearly every test, including CPU (processor) and GPU (graphics) performance, battery life, and heat dissipation.

However, there are also some potential drawbacks to Apple Silicon. One of the most significant is that it may not be compatible with certain software applications that were designed to run on Intel-based Macs. This is because these applications were compiled for a different architecture and may not be able to run on the new chips without being updated or recompiled.

In conclusion, Apple Silicon represents a significant step forward for Apple’s line of computers. The technology offers improved performance, energy efficiency, and compatibility across all Apple devices, as well as a more secure computing environment. While there may be some compatibility issues with older software, the benefits of Apple Silicon far outweigh the potential drawbacks. As Apple continues to develop and refine its custom-designed chips, we can expect to see even more impressive performance gains and new features in future Mac models.

computing-mp.co.uk

Your mortgage is most probably the largest commitment and investment that you will ever make.

That is why it is so important to make sure you have the right mortgage for you that suits your individual circumstances.

Fully independent, and directly authorised, our adviser Chris Towell, is able to research every mortgage product available to the independent market, including those which are not available on the high street.

The first appointment is free of charge and we will then provide you with a tailor-made solution for your needs.

We believe in making the mortgage application process easy and straightforward for our clients, helping you to understand mortgages.

We provide our clients with an outstanding supportive service throughout the whole of the mortgage process. Existing clients return to us at renewal and are happy to refer new clients to us.

THE CHORISTER

Jan Pain, Sherborne Scribblers

The Crawfords were a musical family and there was little doubting that Henry could have mapped out a career as a concert pianist had not the lure of the stockbroking business founded by his grandfather proved too strong. He had married the snobbish daughter of a wealthy industrialist, a stunning blonde soprano with aspirations. Situated close to the city’s cathedral, they lived in an imposing between-the-wars mansion boasting an inand-out drive and extensive garden.

Their only son, Quentin, had inherited his mother’s good looks and both parents’ musical abilities. From the age of four, he had been encouraged to play the grand piano in the music room and, when not in a petulant mood, could be heard accompanying himself and singing sweetly. By the time he was eight, he had entered the city’s prestigious Choir School where he started making music to the highest standard and adapted to the régime of singing almost as soon as he got out of bed. His probation period over, and aged twelve, he was appointed Head Chorister, assuming a self-important demeanour not dissimilar to his mother’s.

From a terraced house in the less affluent part of town, Alfie Brown’s mum, a single parent, had raised her son – a thin, hollow-eyed boy with a shock of black hair, who now also found himself in the company of Quentin’s choristers. The selection process did not involve class distinction. Any boy who performed almost to perfection at the requisite audition stood a chance of being chosen. The lad was suddenly propelled into the world of privilege and esteem. Like Quentin, he had shown an early precocious talent and an even greater aptitude by being able to play by ear on the old upright piano in the front room, inherited from his grandparents. He was also blessed with the voice of an angel.

The social divide, alas, was soon made apparent by the superior attitude adopted by the snide Head Chorister who, in the confines of the weekly boarding house, applied subtle bullying tactics. These came to the fore, particularly after Alfie had been singled out for a solo or taken aside and coached by Mrs Armitage, checking on his breathing and deportment. He stood out, too, because he was industrious in his general studies, which not only comprised music practice but also included French, Art and English, affording an occasional exciting visit to exhibitions and galleries in London, which he had never visited before. Quentin would jibe,

‘Enjoyed another trip to town, then, Alfie? You’re still wet behind the ears. Most of us have been going up to London for years. My old man’s even got a pied-a-terre in Mayfair. Learnt enough French to know what that is, then? Don’t make a literal translation in your ignorance!’

Alfie, an affable, shy boy, never retaliated and no one ever came to his defence, though as things turned out Quentin’s behaviour didn’t go totally unnoticed.

The regimented life of the choristers delighted Alfie, although he missed his mum who worked shifts to ensure she was able to attend evensong at the cathedral at least twice a week when the choir was deployed. She crept into the chapel, trying to appear unobtrusive in her old beige mackintosh and sat in wonderment as she heard the collective voices of the choir of

which her beloved son was now a part. Moreover, she was thrilled Alfie could indulge in so many activities specially reserved for the choristers –opportunities that would never have come his way in a mainstream city school. He could practise any instrument of his choice, play rugby, football and cricket and enjoy time set aside for reading, a pastime she enjoyed herself.

Each commemorative occasion on the calendar was marked by the presence of the choir, including Remembrance Sunday, when Alfie’s mum felt the tears welling as they sang Pie Jesu following a reading from the roll of honour on which were the names of those choristers who had died in conflict.

But the really special event of the year was undoubtedly Christmas Eve when both the Crawfords in their finery and Alfie’s mum, still in her old mac, waited in anticipation in the darkened cathedral. Following tradition, at the last moment, they knew one talented youngster would be selected to open the service with a rendition of Once in Royal David’s City. The Choirmaster had been watching and listening to his charges carefully. He didn’t approve of the stories circulating about Quentin’s arrogance and proclamation that he was bound to be chosen for the coveted role. This time, however, he had gone too far, and impending puberty was also about to play a part in his downfall. Only a week before, the Choirmaster with his trained ear had detected the slightest of cracks in that fine soprano voice, subtly alluding that it was close to breaking.

The congregation was waiting expectantly for the spotlight to shine on the selected lone figure. In the vestry, the Choirmaster gathered the boys together, throwing a reproving glance in Quentin’s direction.

‘When you have some time,’ he said, ‘especially as it’s Christmas, I should like you to ponder this beatitude: Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth… Now, Alfie Brown, deep breaths, shoulders back, and give that treble all you’ve got! You’re on!’

SARA WHEELER

Glowing Still: A Woman’s Life on the Road

Richard Hopton, Sherborne Literary Society

Since Sara Wheeler’s first book, An Island Apart, was published in 1992, she has spent much of her life travelling, fulfilling journalistic assignments or researching books, or both at the same time, one process sustaining the other. She will be talking about her eleventh book, Glowing Still, at the Travel-Writing Festival in Sherborne on Saturday 15th April.

Glowing Still is a trawl through Wheeler’s travelwriting life. It’s a book about time and place, the journeys she’s made and the countries she’s visited but it also contains a ‘thread of memoir’. This gives us a glimpse of the woman behind the books and the articles, her background, her ideals, her joys and her frustrations. It is also a great read, full of acute observation, strongly held beliefs, good stories, and telling detail, all leavened with wry humour.

Wheeler was born and brought up in working-class east Bristol in the 1960s; she was the first member of her family to continue in education beyond the age of sixteen. Her first trip abroad was in 1971 when she

and her parents flew to Moscow on a package holiday. It was memorable as staying in the same cavernous communist hotel was the Northern Ireland football team, a coincidence which gave rise to the young Sara being photographed with George Best.

She read languages at Oxford, spending her third year living and working in Athens in the early 1980s when the ‘Greeks were at the halfway point on the arc of their leap from donkey to Mercedes’. Her first book, about the Greek island of Evia - the ancient Euboeawas a natural progression from her time in Athens.

Since then Wheeler has written two books about her travels in the polar regions, one about the Antarctic, the other about the Arctic, a book about Chile and two biographies of well-known explorers. The second of these was the life of Denys Finch-Hatton, the British aristocrat (and lover of Karen Blixen) immortalised by Robert Redford in the 1985 film Out of Africa. She has also written books about Russia and America, as well as two books of collected travel writing, her own and others’.

Glowing Still lays bare how Wheeler looks at the world and what she hoped to achieve in her travels and through her writings. ‘Two movements, feminism and environmentalism, were the lenses through which I saw the world when I started out on my actual journeys.’ But the object of her travels was simple enough: ‘I wanted only to see how other people did things… And to find out whether anything was true.’ In striving to explain the purpose, the true benefit, of travel, she cites the Anglo-Nigerian writer Noo Saro-Wiwa’s dictum that ‘travel… is not so much taking pictures of lions but uncovering layers of history we don’t know.’ By the same token, the purpose of travel writing is to ‘record the soft tissue of history: the perishable bit.’

The book has much to say about women as travel writers and how they differ from their male counterparts. ‘Men,’ she writes, ‘have always seen the travel book as a means of fostering Tanzanian appeal’; ‘seeing how dead they can get towing sledges across polar wastes’. But travel writing isn’t ‘about beating a landscape into submission like a mammoth outside the cave.’ Women, by contrast, ‘have pioneered a kind of creative non-fiction that suits the travel genre’ because it tends to be more observant, while at the same time the ‘I’ve-Got-A-Big-One’ school of travel writing ‘has ceded ground’.

In Glowing Still Wheeler demonstrates how travel writing has changed in the last thirty years. Starting in the 1980s, she tried intuitively, she writes, ‘to see things through other people’s eyes - what would be the point of any other kind of looking?’ Her goal was a mutual understanding. But now the genre is endangered by a ‘new weaponised racism’ and, even more potentially lethal to travel writing, ‘the backlash [which] would outlaw the quaint practice of looking through others’ eyes.’ Climate change, coronaviruses, and the perils of

voice appropriation are threatening the genre’s ability to thrive: ‘The form,’ she concludes, ‘might even be going extinct.’

Tourism is often cited as being an existential threat to travel writing but Wheeler disagrees: ‘mass travel has liberated the form.’ The reason for her confidence lies in the fact that no amount of package tours ‘will stop the ordinary quietly going on everywhere on Earth’ and it is this, she seems to be saying, is the living core of the genre.

There is much to enjoy in Glowing Still: Wheeler writes with perception, grace, and humour about the places she had visited. In 2016, she took passage on the last mail packet to serve St Helena, ’Something old-fashioned already clung to the simple white livery of the vessel - a whiff of another age.’ In Albania, when hiring a car and driver, she paid extra for a man with a driving licence. Her favourite parts of the United States, she confesses, are those parts of it which are ‘alien to a European’, ‘Backwaters, usually.’

The book closes with Wheeler travelling to Zanzibar in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. Here she ruminates about her advancing years - what she calls ‘the downward catwalk to old age’ - and is reminded of the everlasting truth ‘that if the observer wants to observe, she has to be alone on the road.’ This is the travel writer’s lot.

Saturday 15th April 5pm-6pm

Sara Wheeler - Glowing Still: A Woman’s Life on the Road

Sherborne Travel Writing Festival

The Powell Theatre, Abbey Road, Sherborne Tickets £12, members £10 (+ booking fee) available from sherbornetravelwritingfestival.com and at Winstone’s Books

CAMELS, STORIES AND HOW BOOKS CHANGE LIVES

Safia Shah, Kashfi’s Children

Looking at my diary for any given week can be a surreal experience. Entries include: ‘talk to camel handlers in Balochistan’, ‘send books to the donkey library/Colombia’, and ‘does anyone happen to know Madonna?’

Even more surreal, is that when I am looking at the diary, I am most often at home, living above my business

in Wincanton. The business downstairs is my scrapbased activities workshop and pizza place ‘Bootmakers’ (see ST August 2019). My office upstairs is dedicated to my non-profit Kashfi’s Children, which gifts books to some of the world’s most marginalised children.

For two decades or more, I have been involved in adapting children’s stories that originate from Central

Archie and Safia

Asia and the Middle East – having them illustrated, printed locally in dual languages in countries from Afghanistan to Mexico, and distributing them via a network of volunteers who believe, as I do, that books change lives. To date, we’ve distributed over 6 million free books - working with small organisations, libraries and educational initiatives to bring learning to families who very often have little or no access to schooling.

Our books hitch a ride with the camel libraries of southern Pakistan, they are passed from hand-to-hand in remote villages of Afghanistan, and find their way into out-of-the-way communities in Colombia, thanks to the donkey library of retired teacher Luis Soriano. KC’s team is a passionate band of translators, teachers, illustrators and cultural advisers, including myself, and my son Archie — who heads our projects in Latin America.

Archie will tell you that it comes as no surprise that I spend my time trying to get books to children I will never meet. He’ll add that many of his childhood memories centre on my handing over his food, toys and possessions to street children in holiday locations such as Morocco and downtown Detroit. But he knows that it’s a trait I’ve inherited from my mother ‘Kashfi’, hence the name of the non-profit.

My father, the Afghan writer and philosopher Idries Shah - from whose work many of the stories I use originate, was a thinker. My mother was a doer. Like me, she believed in doing something practical when faced with suffering or hardship. I’d like to think that my parents would approve of these tales — which are similar to Aesop’s Fables — returning, beautifully illustrated, to children living in war zones, to refugees and to those living difficult lives.

Our project is ever-growing. Our books are now available in 15 languages and in a dazzling number of language combinations. We supply them, for example, in Spanish and English to Mexican street children and in Afghan languages to children living in some of the most remote villages of Afghanistan. Quite often, our books are the only educational materials available to children, especially to girls.

Kashfi’s Children prints locally to pay into local economies, reaches out to cultural advisors to better assess specific regional needs, and gifts books in dual languages, offering a unique educational tool. Neither religious nor political, the stories appeal to children of all ages, and to adults reading alongside them.

Through these books we are keen to stress the commonalities between cultures and communities, as

well as celebrating our differences. Time and time again, we have seen how by using thought and understanding, we can help children steer away from radicalisation, abuse and conflict and use understanding and critical thinking to resolve difficulties in their lives.

Kashfi’s Children relies on donations and fundraising to get books into children’s hands. Last year, largely due to a massive push to get books to children caught up in the war in Ukraine, we printed and distributed over 250,000 books.

Over 50,000 books in Ukrainian/English went to refugees in Poland and the UK, with all major UK libraries requesting copies from us, and a huge number of British host families doing the same. Hosts tell us that a dual language book helps them welcome Ukrainian guests, by giving them something to share. Thanks to some very brave humanitarian convoy operators, we managed to get over 20,000 books to children still in Ukraine.

A second major programme last year saw thousands of copies in English and Spanish reach children attending community schools in Latin America. And there’s no stopping there. Donations allowing, this year Archie and I and our team are committed to reaching children in Morocco, India, Turkey and Syria, as well as continuing to supply books to the countries in which Kashfi’s Children already has a presence.

In addition to this, we have started having the artwork of our books animated. The plan is to have these animations voiced by celebrities and to make them available online to children in need, all over the world, free of charge. The English narrations will accompany on-screen subtitles in local languages, and we have a wealth of online support materials available to teachers and parents.

I started this piece by mentioning how surreal my life has become. Sitting at my desk upstairs in Wincanton, I can hear children laughing and chatting in our activity workshop below, spending quality time with friends and family.

As I write this, we have readings recorded by Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Hugh Bonneville, Lynne Franks and Olivia Colman. I’m told that Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern might consider recording for us. Madonna has in the past posted photos of herself reading our books with her own children. But if I’m honest I haven’t a clue how to ask ‘her people’ to talk to ‘my people’.

Does anyone happen to know Madonna?

kashfischildren.org

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ACROSS

1. Impel; spur on (4)

3. Symmetrical open plane curve (8)

9. Newtlike salamander (7)

10. Proposal; suggestion (5)

11. Surprise result (5)

12. Share; portion (7)

13. Inhabitant of Troy (6)

15. Winged child (6)

17. Gets back (7)

18. Lift up (5)

20. Principle or belief (5)

21. Make better (7)

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naturalbalancedt.com

Contact Sarah on 07769 705807 or sarah@naturalbalancedt.com

22. Excessively self-indulgent (8)

23. Requests (4)

DOWN

1. Pure (13)

2. Surface shine (5)

4. Doles out (6)

5. Therapeutic use of plant extracts (12)

6. Policeman or policewoman (7)

7. Pleasantness (13)

8. Showed not to be true (12)

14. Derived from living matter (7)

16. Allocate (6)

19. Golf clubs (5)

MARCH SOLUTIONS

Mark Greenstock, Sherborne Literary Society

The Earth Transformed: An Untold History by Peter Frankopan (Bloomsbury, £30 hardcover)

Sherborne Times reader offer price of £28 from Winstone’s Books

This is an astonishing project. Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University. Having established his reputation as a leading economic historian with Silk Roads (2015), he has now turned his attention to a topic of huge breadth and universal interest, which he has been ‘brewing for several decades’ and for which he is able to draw on a treasury of evidence made available through inventive technology and recently compiled ‘climate archives’. It is a magisterial survey of the planet we live on from a geological and anthropological standpoint. Weighing in at 1.3 kg, the hardback is a doorstopper of a book, and that’s without the 212 pages of Notes which you can get on the internet, supplying references but no additional material.

The 28-page Index gives a clue to the preoccupying themes of the book. The top ten subject entries are: disease (including epidemics and plague), volcanic activity, drought, floods, famine, monsoons, slavery, storms, solar activity and irrigation. This is history from an ecological point of view, touching political history at many points, where nature and humanity are engaged in a cosmic tussle, the victory continually shifting sides but inexorably tilting towards the ultimate vindication of nature. The perspective is from the dawn of time to the present day, and worldwide in its scope. The villains of the piece are Europe and the US.

Where does Frankopan stand in the climate change debate? For him it is a reality right from the start. The question is how the human race has reacted to

it, whether with adaptability, efficiency and creativity or with exploitation, corruption and intemperance. In the past there have been periods of cooling and warming, affecting different parts of the world in different ways and in varying time lengths. But things have changed. The most disturbing chapter in the book is not ‘On the Exploitation of Nature and People’, horrific though that is, nor even ‘The Little Ice Age’, with its multiple mortalities, rampant diseases and failure of civilisations, instanced most compellingly by the collapse of the Ming Dynasty – it is the final chapter ‘On the Edge of Ecological Limits (c1900 to today)’ that really chills the blood.

Like classical tragedies, this global drama spirals inexorably downwards until the point of no return is reached, and hubris is visited by nemesis. At that point you might expect a deus ex machina, a godlike figure who appears to make everything right, at least from the divine point of view. But no such figure is in view for Frankopan: the tipping-point has already passed, the earth has been ‘transformed’ through anthropogenic activity, and catastrophe awaits, whether in the form of nature’s revenge or major human warfare. The ‘Conclusion’ offers some hopeful straws in the wind, but that is all.

I have begun to recommend this book to everyone I can, accompanied by a health warning. You could end up considerably better informed, occasionally entertained, and seriously worried. But it is compulsive reading.

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PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

Reverend Jim Edie, Sherborne Team Vicar and Chaplain to the Gryphon School

Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Day are upon us. Schools have broken up for their holidays and bunnies, chicks and chocolate eggs seem to be in every shop window. As we move through Holy Week, we are welcomed into a journey. This journey starts with the excitement of Palm Sunday; as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and moves to reflection and contemplation by Maundy Thursday and Good Friday; as we think of Jesus going to the cross. Then finally, on Easter Day the elation of the resurrected Jesus brings joy and victory.

Following Easter, in Luke’s Gospel we experience another journey. This happens on the Emmaus Road. Two of Jesus’ followers were several days into their journey home. They had left Jerusalem after seeing Jesus beaten, hung on the cross and then laid to rest in the tomb on the Friday. They were most likely desperate to get home, so upset with the grief of having lost such a special friend; someone whom they thought would change their ‘world’. As they walk, they meet the risen Jesus, although they are kept from recognising him. Jesus offers to walk on their journey with them and as he does, they pour out their hearts to him; their hope, their loss, their misery at all that they had experienced. And, as they walk and talk, Jesus helps them reflect on their experience, and also reflect and reinterpret the Hebrew scriptures that showed that what they experienced fulfilled the writings they knew so well. Through the centuries, Israel had interpreted the scriptures to mean that the Messiah would redeem them from suffering, but actually the story is of how God redeems all through suffering, the suffering of Jesus. As the two travellers near their destination, still not recognising him, they invite Jesus to stay with them; to eat and rest, and it was at the table, as Jesus gave thanks and ‘broke bread’ that they recognise him for who he is. So overjoyed with their encounter, they rush back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples and other followers of their journey with Jesus.

I am a big fan of getting away to and exploring the hills and mountains with others. Apart from the beautiful scenery, one of the lovely things about heading out into the hills together is being able to walk and talk as we journey together. Walking, talking and listening always seem to work well, and the truth is that, on our journeys of life, the Emmaus Road experience is available to us too. Whoever we are, Jesus also wants to walk with us; with you and with me too, through the good times and the challenges. We just have to ask Him.