Letters to the Editor

Want to reply? Read something you feel needs commenting on? Our postbag is open! Please send emails to letters@theblackmorevale.co.uk.

When writing, please include your full name and address; we will not print this, but do require it.

Why do people in Blandford have to drive fast? Taking a few things to my car on Christmas morning, a car was coming towards me at speed. When I said to the woman who was driving ‘slow down’ I got ‘f**k off!’ back. Charming – and on Christmas morning. There just is no need for either.

Susan Holmes By email

I thought It appropriate to contact your magazine in the hope that a warning note could be posted. I have just returned from walking along the North Dorset trailway towards Shillingstone station with my five-year-old Cocker Spaniel. From a side footpath a youngish Boxer Dog appeared, stopping some 20 feet from us. A few moments later a pack of five or six dogs, including two aggressive older Boxers, chased out of the same path and went for me initially, barking and salivating, but then attacked my spaniel. The dogs were acting as a pack. The two women who were with the dogs subsequently appeared and while trying to intervene had no impact on stopping the attack. Getting my dog out from under the two larger Boxers, we managed to walk away – we will live to fight another day, but the Spaniel is a bit shaken up. I did tell the women concerned that the dogs were acting as a pack and should either be muzzled or at least on leads. This was met with a somewhat vacant look. I am flagging this up not to cause trouble but to alert others. If this were a young child or a family out with their dog or puppy the outcome could be very unpleasant. I understand these women are local so a repeat of this matter is highly likely.

Name and address supplied

Do fellow North Dorset residents feel that they receive value for their Council Tax? It recently came to my attention that we have the third highest Council Tax rates in England - but do we get the third best services? I’m failing to see whre all the money goes - I would welcome someone pointing me to the information? Council tax is for our streets, lighting, rubbish, planning, policing etc. But our streets are constantly being washed into pot holes (or, as in Sturminster Newtons case, falling into the river), there’s very little street lighting except in the towns, and there’s even less police (through no fault of their own). But we know the government have no wish to lose votes by raising the taxes required to foot the rising social care bill, so they pass it down the line to local councils - and I presume as Dorset has an aging population our social care bill is higher than most? At least the plentiful new housing developments springing up around the north of the county will be filling up the council tax coffers nicely – have spending budgets increased accordingly?

Robert Mckenzie Blandford

I very much enjoy Andrew Livingston’s articles, and the recent A Bugger’s Muddle (BV, Dec 22) was no exception. I had yet to see a lack of eggs in the shops, although I had seen much talk of empty shelves, and I felt perhaps it was another media frenzy over a non-existent issue (apologies BV!). Until I looked a little more closely and realised that the eggs in my trolley were from Italy, just as Andrew Livingston had predicted. Further reading has lead me to understand that it’s not just chicken farmers who are unable to re-invest in the next cycle of egg laying hens, it is happening across a number of food industries where the producers are seeing profits squeezed not only by rising costs but also by increasing supermarket pressures. At what point can and should the government intervene? I refuse to accept we need a ‘nanny state’ interfering – enterprise should naturally be self-regulating. But what is an industry to do when the playing field is very far from level? How can our producers - held, quite rightly, to the very highest of welfare, traceability and chemical standards – possibly compete with cheap imports from less regualted countries?

Surely if those are the standards we hold ourselves to, any product sold here should maintain the same standards? Not doing so rather makes a mockery of the system – and enforces the fact that only the wealthy can afford to eat well. If everyone had the same standards, the prices would be the same for all?

Betty Jeans Shaftesbury

(You may find George Hisford’s article in Farming this month even more illuminating Betty - Ed)

I was so surprised when I had a call just before Christmas telling me that I had won the Boxing Day racing prize. On Boxing Day we joined the queue of cars winding slowly through Wincanton to the racecourse. The going was good to soft - and that was just the car park! Thankfully there was a tractor on site to pull out anyone who got stuck. We had a great day, chatting to other racegoers, cheering on the finishers - the noise in the stands when the horses are coming in to the finish is incredible. Thank you for organising the prize, it was a great day out and one we will repeat.

Pam Ferguson By email

Above is a photo of a recent cheque presentation to the Milton Abbas Surgery. The £2,000 was raised primarily by monthly charity pub quizzes held at The Crown in Winterborne Stickland throughout 2022, the remainder being raised by a local resident who match-funded some quizzes, local donations, and the profits from local Artsreach shows. The main aim of the fundraising was to allow the Milton Abbas Surgery to buy a second online heart monitor which transfers results directly to the patient’s records, reducing administration work by the practice staff. This equipment is very rare in Dorset, so Milton Abbas are leading the field in detecting and recording heart issues. In the picture are (L to R) Ash Millar (landlady of the The Crown), Dr. Julian Rees (Senior Practice Partner), Sarah Noble (Practice Manager) and Graeme Gale (Quiz Organiser)

Graeme Gale Milton Abbas

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