The BV magazine, Sep 23

PROUD TO BE DIGITAL ONLY – WE LOVE TREES!

Looking back –Roger Guttridge

5th May 1950 to 8th August 2023

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IN THIS ISSUE

From desperation to media sensation –how Anna Hamilton’s quiet Twitter plea dramatically shifted her from financial despair to overwhelming success

Page 10

Meet Dorset’s soap star Kirsty Hearne – creator of a thriving cottage industry selling goats’ milk and the soaps she makes from it

Page 38

Bramble snacking and trail running – Lucy

Procter is using the stud’s quieter summer season to find some balance out of the saddle Page 64

The mysterious journey of Alan Turing’s documents, from Sherborne to America – and back. An astonishing tale of undercover archivists, FBI involvement and the triumphant return to Britain of the stolen Turing documents Page 16

Andrew Livingston is taking a nostalgic stroll through the Dorset County Showground –back when agri show stands were someone’s caravan with an awning.

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INDEX

We know, it’s a HUGE magazine. So we make it easy for you: just like grabbing the sections you like best from the Sunday papers, just click the number below to jump straight to the section you want. Or just make yourself a coffee and start from the beginning...

Early last month I stumbled across a peach of a story. It had intrigue, moderately salacious details, well-known names, lots of gossip and fun... and I knew immediately who else would love it. I called Roger Guttridge, who, as I had predicted, chuckled with glee and promptly said he was ‘on it’.

He spent the next few days researching the facts, interviewing descendents and those who might have had a hand in the truth of the tale, tracked down old magazines and photographs ... he checked in with regular updates, knowing I was agog to see what he discovered. He admitted he was having more fun than he’d had in a long time, that the old journo skills had been throughly dusted off and he was loving every second.

Finally he submitted the story – two days early and written perfectly, as Roger’s copy always was.

The next day I called him – to tell him I couldn’t use it. Upon reflection, the gossip was just a little too... gossipy. I expected him to throw a small mood after all his hard work.

Instead, he laughed, and said ‘I thought you might say that. But now you have a gap!’

I said it was fine, I’d manage, and he hung up saying ‘it’s OK, leave it with me’

By 10am the following day, I had the tale of Henry Hastings Champion Seducer in my inbox. Even more ridiculous than the first tale, a far more villainous villain, and in the end a better story.

When I called to thank him, I apologised again to Roger for pulling the first feature. He brushed me off with, ‘Oh, it’s fine, the chase was worth it!’. While we chatted, he proudly told me he was feeling incredibly well, better than he had for a long time. We planned the next couple of month’s columns together, and he told me he was cashing in my long overdue debt of a promised slice of cake (‘with late payment fees my slice had better be a slab!’).

I promised him the best cake and hot chocolate we could find in a few weeks time, and that we’d invite his friend and co-columnist Barry Cuff too, and make an outing of it.

Editor: Laura Hitchcock

Less then two weeks after we spoke, having held his leukaemia at bay for four years, Roger passed away. Since the launch of the BV, Roger Guttridge has been a part of every issue. I know many will miss his writing – almost as much as I’ll miss his advice, his laugh, his opinion ... and his endlessly long, winding ‘did-I-tell-you-about-the-time...’ phone calls.

by Fanny Charles

Looking back

Roger Guttridge – 5th May 1950 to 8th August 2023

Readers of The BV will be saddened to hear of the death of Roger Guttridge, the Dorset writer and local historian whose articles have been one of the great delights of the magazine since we started it during the pandemic. We send our deep and sincere condolences to his wife, Sylvie, his son, Andy, and his family. The greatest tribute we can pay to our friend and hugely respected colleague is to dedicate this month’s Looking Back to his life and work, with tributes from some of those who knew and worked with him. A journalist, a news-hound, a swimmer and swimming correspondent, a local historian with a special interest in smuggling, a lover of The Beatles, Queen and a great supporter of his son when Andy started his own band as a student ... Roger Guttridge was a man who lived life to the utmost, right up to the end, still contributing his columns to The BV. After a four-year battle he died of leukaemia on 8th August.

A journalist first

As a district and chief reporter for the Bournemouth Evening

Echo, Roger was a true newshound. Andy recalls family days out when Roger would spot a blue flashing light – ambulance, fire engine or police vehicle – and rapidly turn the car around to

follow it, keen to be first on the scene, first with the story. But he was no sensational headline seeker. He believed in the importance of the local newspaper in the community and he was involved in and concerned about many aspects of life in Bournemouth and Wimborne, where he worked for the Evening Echo, and throughout Dorset, which he mined for stories for some of his many books. His interests extended even across the Atlantic to Newfoundland, where he explored the centuries-old connection between the remote Canadian fishing community and the many families in Dorset and Poole, whose fathers, sons and brothers went west to find work

Bournemouth Evening Echo Chief Reporter, 1984

fishing the Grand Banks. John Newth, long-time editor of the sadly now defunct Dorset Life magazine, recalls his relationship with Roger, over many years and hundreds of articles. Speaking at Roger’s funeral, he praised the reliability, consistency, quality and total professionalism of Roger’s work. If John had even the wildest idea, Roger would track it down – and he never missed a deadline! John remembers their years together as filled with many laughs.

How we met

When Laura and Courtenay started The BV, Roger Guttridge was one of the local journalists they hoped to persuade to join them. Laura recalls:

‘One of the first people I was determined to track down and woo into working with us was Roger. We had never spoken before, and we arranged to meet for a coffee – it was midpandemic, so we sat on a bench in Stur market square under an umbrella in the pouring rain.

‘I thought I was there to interview Roger. I was, of course, actually there for him to interview me. Two hours and a cheese toastie later he had decided to accept my offer – and we were friends. ‘He swiftly became an essential

part of the BV – not just for his unmatchable local history columns, but also as a mentor, confidant and sounding board. It’s difficult to imagine an issue of the BV going out which will not be pre-empted by a long and winding chat with Roger as he gleefully regales me with a number of potential – and all equally bonkers – local history stories to choose from. ‘He was never just a columnist. I was proud to call him a friend, and I will miss him very much.’

From its very first edition, Roger’s Then and Now and Looking Back articles have been go-to sections of The BV – you can read the

archive here. Roger remained a true professional right to the end – just a couple of weeks before he died, Laura decided not to publish the piece he submitted for his Looking Back column. Two days later he sent another article – a hilarious tale of a 16th century East Dorset squire, Henry Hastings, described as a “champion seducer,” whose quarry was as likely to wear skirts as fur or feather.

It was much better than the first piece, but it was typical of Roger that he had (albeit perhaps unwittingly) kept the best for last.

Roger Guttridge – a brief life

Roger Guttridge was born at Redhill, Surrey. The family moved back to his mother Connie’s native Dorset in the early 1950s. He went to Blandford Grammar School before beginning a 50-year career in the media, including newspapers and magazines, book writing and publishing, PR and marketing, radio and television. He was a district reporter, chief reporter and deputy news editor of the Bournemouth Daily Echo, wrote some 20 books, including tales of smuggling and murder, and edited several others.

Roger was particularly renowned for his books on Dorset and his local history columns, in the

Far right - with other journalists in flooded Leigh Road, Wimborne 1979

Interviewing Olympic 100m breaststroke champion and world record holder Adam Peaty (left), National Arena Swimming League finals, Cardiff, 2019.

Echo (Bournemouth and Dorset), the original Blackmore Vale and Stour & Avon Magazines, Dorset Life, and latterly, here in The BV magazine.

He was the Bournemouth Daily Echo’s swimming correspondent from 1988 to 2018, contributed to Swimming Times, the national swimming magazine, and wrote about swimming for other newspapers, including the Daily and Sunday Express. He covered three Olympic Games (Athens, Beijing and London), two Commonwealth Games (Manchester and Glasgow) and many World and European Championships. He was press officer for the Great Britain Swim Team in 1999 and 2000. He took part in or advised on many television and radio programmes, including a BBC Radio 4 programme about the real-life smuggling influences behind J Meade Falkner’s classic novel Moonfleet (set in Dorset). During 2018, he appeared on the BBC 1 series Murder, Mystery and My Family, in which he revealed newly discovered documents to the grandson

of Charlotte Bryant, who was hanged in 1936 for poisoning her husband with arsenic; the BBC 4 series Beach Live: Jurassic Coast Revealed, in which he discussed Dorset’s smuggling history; and The One Show on BBC1. He appears on both parts of the twopart DVD Dorset: Along the River Stour, presented by Bonny Sartin of The Yetties.

Roger continued to work right up until his last week when he was admitted to Poole hospital. He died at the age of 73, four years after his leukaemia diagnosis. He

battled his illness with courage and determination right up until the very end.

Roger and the original BVM Roger and Fanny Charles, who edited the original Blackmore Vale Magazine for 23 years, both worked for the Bournemouth Echo (although not at the same time) – their careers criss-crossed for nearly 50 years and for many years he was the local history columnist for the BVM. Fanny says: ‘Readers love local history – if they are locals of many generations they are probably related to somebody in one of the stories; and if they are incomers, these snapshots of life in past times help them to feel part of their new community.’ She recalls that she envied the Echo having Roger, and admits that she was excited when she heard that the paper’s cost-cutting management had dispensed with his services. ‘I got on the phone to Roger as soon as I heard and persuaded him to meet me for lunch at a local pub. I asked him to bring his history column to us and he agreed. He also brought his swimming contacts and expertise. So our little magazine – which couldn’t compete with the Echo or the Western Gazette in covering football, cricket or athletics – had an authoritative and always readable stream of

The Three Rogers: photographers Roger Lane (R) and Roger Holman (L) with Roger at Knowlton Church, in 1991

Publicity shot for the launch of Dorset murders in 1986

swimming news, local, regional, national and international.

‘Roger had a much wider audience with us – because we had an enormous circulation, and his articles were appreciated by thousands of readers for years.’

Fanny was delighted to see Roger’s articles in The BV, where of course they became go-to sections for so many.

The Three Rogers

Roger was one of a trio who were affectionately known locally as The Three Rogers. The only survivor, photographer Roger Lane, remembers his great friend and colleague:

‘It is with great sadness that I mention the passing of my long-term friend Roger Guttridge with whom I shared the same birthday, albeit five years apart (me 1945 and Roger 1950).

My late fellow photographer Roger Holman and I worked with Roger Guttridge on our first book Landscapes of Dorset, and again on Villages of Dorset. We frequently toured Dorset, signing copies of the books and promoting them with talks. Sadly, I am the only Roger remaining, but in the spirit of my friends, I intend to carry on with camera and words as long as I can.

‘Roger was a tremendously generous and quiet professional with a subtle sense of humour, generous with his advice and personal help to me with my writing. He was a constant supporter for fair and reasonable terms for authors in respect of publishing contracts with the Society of Authors.

‘His knowledge of Dorset and in particular the Blackmore Vale was unsurpassed, along with his personal history of smuggling and one of Dorset’s most famous smugglers, Roger Ridout, from whom he was a direct descendent.

‘Whenever we met, Roger –knowing my life-long interest in motor-racing – always held

a detailed conversation about the last Grand Prix or the next. It amazed me how he knew so much about it when ‘his’ sport was swimming, but that was no doubt due to his enquiring mind as a journalist.’

And to Canada

Roger had a lasting interest in Newfoundland – outside his beloved Dorset, but still closely connected to it through its Poole and Dorset links. He researched the fishing trade – many men went from Dorset to fish the then vast cod stocks on the Grand Banks – and deep connections such as the old folk and sea songs and the language. The dialect spoken in the eastern Canadian province still has traces of the Dorset dialect that Thomas Hardy and William Barnes would have known.

Roger’s interviews and discoveries developed into a series of well-researched articles and proved fascinating and helpful to Fanny Charles, after she found a family connection –‘My great great grandfather went

from the Blackmore Vale to fish the Grand Banks – and he died out there.’

The exciting recent discovery of a pair of swanskin mittens – the last surving example of the fabric made uniquely in the Blackmore Vale – was directly due to Roger’s involvement with the Swanskin Seafarers of Sturminster Newton heritage project. Andy also benefitted from his father’s Newfoundland connections: ‘He arranged for me to go over to Memorial University in St Johns to do my sixth form work experience at the Geology Department there. That was an amazing experience for me at the age of 17.’

What is common to all the tributes and memories from Roger’s colleagues, past and present, is their affection, respect and admiration for a true professional, a man who loved Dorset and who was much-loved.

• We would like to thank Sylvie and Andy Guttridge for permission to reproduce the photographs of Roger.

Interviewing England cricketer lan Botham in Wimborne c.1984

Echoes of Roger

This month Barry Cuff has chosen postcards in honour of his friend Roger Guttridge, choosing places that he lived, worked and went to school: ‘Both Roger and I had a great love of Dorset, and he was willing to explore and write on some of my ideas – the

Roger’s home, with his family, was at Winterborne Kingston for many years –this card of the village was posted to Longfleet in Poole in May 1912.

This postcard of Sturminster Newton, where Roger’s grandmother lived and where he went to school, was sent to Derby in 1912.

Dorset fingerposts, a fatal shooting at Winterborne Kingston, the Cuff surname and wrigglebacks. All of them appeared in various publications! Together we had just finished a book on

Wimborne, due to be published next March – sadly Roger’s last. We were already talking about the next book, to be on the North Winterborne valley. His death is a great loss to the county.

Roger lived and worked for many years in Wimborne – in 1904 this card of East Street was sent just a few miles to Weymouth

In August 1909, this lovely street scene of Blandford Forum was sent to Ironbridge. Roger attended Blandford Grammar School.

From desperation to media sensation – how one Tweet saved Anna

Anna Hamilton’s quiet social media plea turned into an overnight sensation, shifting her from financial despair to overwhelming success

“I hate doing this, but I am desperate for sales, as currently a few hundred pounds short of being able to cover my bills this month. Please, if you’ve ever thought about buying from me, now would be a great time. Even if all you can do is retweet this, I’d be so grateful. I haven’t slept properly for days, I feel ill with stress and honestly don’t know what to do other than ask for help. Anything you can do would be so very much appreciated.”

Many people have been hit hard by the sheer cost of living over the last year. For Dorset artist Anna Hamilton, scraping by from month to month, Thursday 10th August was rock bottom. She knew that this month, ‘scraping by’ simply wasn’t going to happen. She was out of options, and desperation lead her to make that single Tweet. Anna could never have predicted what would happen next. ‘I hoped it might prompt three, perhaps four sales,’ she says. ‘Honestly, I thought it was a vain hope, but I was desperate and might just sell something to get me through the month.’

3,000 orders, her online shop had sold out, the website buckling under the strain. Every inbox was overflowing with messages.

‘I was stunned. Overwhelmed. I have no idea why it happened.’

Backed up by art which is both beautiful and accessible, it seems all Anna really needed was to be seen, and that single sad, lonely, late night message had a magical effect on the often-cynical Twittersphere. The comments and re-tweets flooded in. Compliments on her art abounded, and many also shared it on – a simple, generous act which cost them nothing. In so doing, a bigger audience than Anna could ever have dreamed of saw her work. At time of writing, the tweet has been seen by 3.2million people. It’s been reposted more than 15,000 times, and bookmarked by almost 700 people – presumably those waiting for Anna’s shop to restock.

An accidental career

Anna is entirely self-taught, and her career as a professional artist was almost accidental.

‘I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil. But I never really considered making it my job – the only artists who earn money are the dead ones, right? So I spent 12 years as a data analyst – about as far as you can get from creativity!

‘But I never stopped drawing as a hobby. A friend asked if I could draw their dog. Then another requested me to ‘do their cat’. Eventually, about

eight years ago, someone pointed out I should really stop doing them as favours and actually charge for my pet portraits!

‘In 2018 I was able to give up the day job, and become a full-time professional artist through both my pet portraits and wildlife art.’

Anna only works in pencil, ‘... mainly because I don’t like having to clean anything after I’ve been working! Sadly, art is a luxury item, and it’s an obvious thing to cut back on when times get tough. I had to take on two part time jobs to make ends meet. It’s been so incredibly stressful, and I was at a very low point. It’s tough to ask for help.’

Unexpectedly making 3,000 sales in 24 hours brings its own level of stress, however. ‘I’m now kept awake at night having a bit of a panic attack about all the emails I’m getting about orders that haven’t arrived. My tiny flat looks like a warehouse!

‘It seemed like such a good idea to individually sign and hand write the title on my limited edition prints – it was a really nice touch when I was doing a couple a month.

‘But now I have to get 300 done – once I’ve mounted them by hand – and also put together 7,000 greeting cards. I had to order complete new stock, but that arriving was a double-edged sword. I had to holepunch 1,800 bookmarks and add the tassels myself (though I did buy some posher tassels to celebrate!).

‘Even if I were to send out 100 orders a day (which in itself is impossible), it would take me a full month to get through every order that has come in. The size of the task in front of me is very scary, and now I’ve had a few people complain because

they haven’t received orders yet. It’s upsetting, I’m trying but simply can’t keep up – I’m surviving on very little sleep at the moment!

‘But most people have been really understanding and are just happy for me. And of course, I’m so grateful for the orders. It’s just been a wild, exhausting and unbelievable few weeks. This has been the hardest but best thing that’s ever happened to me and I feel incredibly lucky. I’m sure at some point I’ll look back and laugh!’

• annahamiltonart.com

Whole School Open Morning

23 September 2023

We warmly welcome you to join us for an all school Open Morning this September, to see the school ‘in action’ and discover our innovative personal development programme LEX.

Hear from the Head, Jo Thomson and the leadership team in informative presentations, and enjoy a tour of our wonderful facilities and grounds.

YEAR3& 4 YEAR10 YEAR9

YEAR5& 6 YEAR7& 8

by Rachael Rowe

The mysterious journey of Alan Turing’s documents, from Sherborne to America – and back

An astonishing tale of undercover archivists, FBI involvement and the triumphant return to Britain of the stolen Turing documents

“He does not seem to have any aptitude for languages.”

Alan Turing’s German teacher clearly had no idea that his struggling pupil would have such a significant impact on the world when he wrote his school report in 1931. His English teacher’s report wasn’t much better, criticising his handwriting and becoming frustrated at his lack of enthusiasm for discussions on the New Testament.

Alan may not have grasped German grammar and vocabulary, but his genius in the language of computing and codes quite literally transformed the world – and continues to do so with artificial intelligence.

Alan Turing is one of Sherborne School’s most famous alumni, attending the school from 1926 to 1931. However, until now, few people were aware that many of Turing’s personal documents – including school reports, his OBE and his PhD certificate –disappeared to the United States

in a bizarre incident during the 1980s. On Tuesday 22nd August this year, a repatriation ceremony was held at Sherborne School when Special Agent Greg Werstch formally handed over the material which had been taken from the school’s Turing Archive. The fascinating collection of documents can be seen on the school’s website and provides a rich insight into the young Turing. But how did they get to America in the first place, and what was the role of the FBI?

The Colorado connection

In 1965, the Turing family donated a number of Alan’s personal items to Sherborne School where they were kept in the archives. Thousands of miles away in Colorado in the 1970s, Julia Schwinghamer became fascinated by Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001 Space Odyyssey – and in particular with HAL 9000. When she looked into the

development of computers, she discovered Turing, and subsequently developed an obsession with him. This led to her taking a trip in 1984 to Sherborne School, by which time she had legally changed her surname to Turing. She managed to convince staff at the school that she was a close relation and she was allowed to “borrow” some items and she also took others without anyone knowing. At this time, the work of Alan Turing was not widely recognised – not least because his top secret work on the Enigma Machine and codebreakers at Bletchley Park during World War Two was only declassified by the government 11 years ago in 2012.

‘He’s a very grubby person at times. I hope Ireland will de-ink him.’

– 1926 Summer term report, age 14

On 10th September 2009, 55 years after Turing’s death, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown released a public apology on behalf of the UK Government for the way the mathematician, codebreaker and computer scientist had been punished in the 1950s, because of his homosexuality.

When the film about Turing’s

Alan Turing’s 1936 passport photo

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life, The Imitation Game, was released in 2014, Julia began to realise the significance of anything connected to Alan Turing. Then, in 2018, the University of Boulder, Colorado, planned an exhibition of famous people in science. Julia offered them her Turing items for display – but the archivists were suspicious.

Diligent archival community

The archival global community is responsible for preserving documents – they work closely together with constant communication networks across international boundaries. When the Boulder University team was offered a collection by someone claiming to be Turing’s relative, they contacted Sherborne School – where archive staff confirmed the items had gone missing from their archive in the 1980s. Julia Turing was arrested by the FBI.

When Alan Turing’s mother donated his reports and papers to Sherborne School, she had included a detailed inventory which was used to identify and confirm the missing documents. The possessions were seized in Colorado by the US Dept of Homeland Security Investigations. Department of Justice Assistant United States Attorney Laura Hurd and her team were instrumental in the return of the archives, with the assistance of Metropolitan Police Inspector Alan Seldon and an

‘I can forgive his writing, though it is the worst I have seen. I try to view tolerantly his ... inexactitude and slipshod, dirty work ... but I cannot forgive the stupidity of his attitude towards discussion on the New Testament’

Michaelmas report 1927 – he was top of set for maths, but bottom for English (he had been caught doing algebra during divinity lessons!).

investigator at the US Embassy in London working for the Homeland Security Investigations agency Dipesh Dattani, who also attended the recent ceremony in Sherborne.

Headmaster Dr Dominic Luckett said: ‘Few people have had a greater positive impact upon the world than Alan Turing.

‘Although denied due recognition before his life came to a tragic and premature end in 1954, the extraordinary nature of his achievements is now finally being understood and celebrated.

‘His crucial work as a cryptanalyst at Bletchley Park and his enormous contribution to the development of computing and artificial intelligence were not merely of vital practical significance at the time but continue to underpin many of today’s most important

intellectual and technological advances. As a school, we are intensely proud of our association with Alan Turing and want to do all we can to preserve and promote his legacy.

‘As part of that, we take very seriously our responsibility to look after those items in our archives which relate to his time at Sherborne School and his subsequent life and work.

‘I am most grateful to all those, both in the US and those closer to home, who have worked so hard to ensure the safe return of these precious artefacts.’

In a fitting conclusion, it is thanks to Alan Turing and his work on computers that it is now possible for anyone to view digital versions of archival documents online – including the Alan Turing page on the School Archives website here.

Alan Turing’s school report for Lent term 1931

See you at the Dorset County Show!

The rural day out is a celebration of community, countryside and tradition – and it’s a feast for the eyes, ears, and taste buds!

As the sun bids its long goodbye to the British summer (well, technically it was summer, yes?), families are looking for that final memorable excursion before the school year takes hold. This year, the Dorset County Show has emerged as the end-of-summer event that promises not just a day but a whole weekend of fun for the young and the young-at-heart alike. And the best part?

Children up to 16 go absolutely free!

Unleashing Monster-sized Fun

In a spectacle that will have your heart pounding and your children cheering, the world’s largest Monster Trucks—Big Pete and his audacious sidekick, The Grim Reaper—will roll into the

showground in all their 7.5-tonne glory. It’s more than a performance; it’s an earthquake on wheels, complete with gravity-defying stunts and the crushing of cars just to remind you of their aweinspiring power.

A Slice of Countryside Magic

But don’t think the Dorset County Show is all about loud engines and roaring crowds. There’s an entire ecosystem of rural life to explore. For instance, the Axemen Ring showcases foresters who are artists in their own right, wielding axes with surgical precision. Chainsaw craftsmen, too, will be on hand to demonstrate their intricate work, while falconers display the graceful prowess of birds of prey.

Animal Encounters

Perhaps one of the most fascinating attractions is your chance to encounter the wide array of animals at the show. From award-winning pigs and goats to captivating cattle and elegant horses, these creatures aren’t just for show and pets – they’re competing for the important (and valuable) title of Show Champion.

Pet the alpacas, and there are even sheep that can dance – look out for Nobby the Norfolk Horn and his talented friends in The Sheep Show. It’s nothing short of woolly wonderful!

And you can witness Dorset’s finest livestock parade in the heart of the County Show. The award winners will parade in the Main Ring on both days following the competitive classes and the Champions will be presented with their awards.

Equine Extravaganza

This year, prepare yourself for equestrian excitement with the Mounted Pony Club Games – a sort of high-octane sports day where fleetfooted nimble ponies are the stars. And if that wasn’t enough, Shetland Pony Racing also makes its thrilling debut as young jockeys showcase their fearless riding skills.

The showjumping is set to be a thrilling competition – don’t miss the Six Bar (sponsored by C G Fry & Son Ltd) on Saturday or the Accumulator (sponsored by Battens Charitable Trust) on the Sunday!

Rolling Down Memory Lane

The Vintage Tractor Parade is not just a procession; it’s a living timeline that trundles through agricultural history, while the nearby Steam Engine

Section fills the air with a nostalgia that even the youngest generations will find intriguing.

Food, Craft, and More!

When tummies start to rumble, a stroll around the all-new Food & Drink Area will introduce you to Dorset’s culinary treasures. With a super-sized new Food Hall and more than 100 producers, there’s bound to be something that tempts you. And for those inclined towards the creative, Crafter’s Avenue offers a glimpse into bygone skills that have shaped Dorset’s rural history.

The Carnival Awaits

As if this wasn’t enough, the fairground beckons with its dizzying helter-skelters and pulsequickening rides!

This year’s Dorset County Show isn’t just an event; it’s a mosaic of experiences that stretches over the whole weekend – September 2nd and 3rd. So why settle for a mundane end to the summer when a world of wonder awaits? It’s a summer send-off you won’t want to miss.

• Click HERE (or the image above) to see the Official Pre-show Magazine - find out more about what’s in store, discover some exclusive and behind-the-scenes interviews as well as all the info you need to plan your visit.

Ukrainian dance company’s “infinity tour” comes to North Dorset

Stranded in the west after the Russian invasion, Kyiv City Ballet is on a never-ending tour and will stop off in Shaftesbury in October

In February 2022, when Russian tanks invaded Ukraine, Kyiv City Ballet was in Paris – and the company has been in effective exile ever since, performing across Europe and making a first visit to the US. In early October, the director, artistic director and some of the dancers are coming to North Dorset.

The week-long visit will be a rare treat for lovers of classical ballet and dance in general. They will be hosted by Shaftesbury Refugee Group, whose members are drawing up a programme which aims to delight dance lovers, provide inspiring workshops for local young dancers, engage the interest of the many people sympathetic to the plight of the Ukrainian people and stimulate some illuminating discussions.

Bread and salt

It will be an opportunity for the more than 250 refugees (mainly Ukrainian) now in the Shaftesbury and North Dorset area to reconnect with the

language and the rich culture of their homeland, as well as giving a chance to many local people to learn more about the background of the people to whom they have opened their hearts and their communities. The hosts and their partners will meet the Ukrainian dance company at an opening reception at Compton McRae, the delicafe at Semley. This event will have the Ukrainian traditional theme of “bread and salt” – offering a loaf of bread and salt as a sign of respect to the person you are meeting.

City Ballet © Julia Nash

A rich, local life

During the week there will be school workshops, events attended by the Mayors of Shaftesbury and Gillingham, and a film and talk at Shaftesbury Arts Centre. There will be two discussion evenings, at Shaftesbury and Gillingham, with the ballet company director Ivan Kozlov and the artistic director, his wife Ekaterina (Katya), with a particular focus on ideas of identity and the role of culture in a time of war.

The week will culminate in an exciting celebration of Ukrainian culture at The Exchange at Sturminster Newton on Sunday 8th October. The evening will not only include ballet performances and traditional Ukrainian dances by members of Kyiv City Ballet, but also songs by locallybased Ukrainian singers and Shaftesbury’s Palida Choir, founded by composer and musician Karen Wimhurst – as well as some surprises!

‘We want to use the visit of Kyiv City Ballet to draw attention to the positive influence of refugees on our community, to show how their endeavour, cultural transfer and economic contribution makes for a richer local life,’ says Carolyn Godfrey, who chairs Shaftesbury Refugee Group. ‘It is also an opportunity to thank the local community for their support, especially the hosts involved in the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.’

There will also be some respite for the dancers, who have been living as displaced persons for nearly 18 months. ‘Maintaining a company without a base is sometimes intolerable,’ says Carolyn. For their week in North Dorset, they will be staying as guests of the Grosvenor Arms, and the SRG has arranged for two recreation days when the Ukrainian visitors will see some of the landmarks and attractions of this beautiful area.

The infinity tour

Kyiv City Ballet was founded by its director Ivan Kozlov in 2012 and now numbers about 40 dancers, some of whom are still in Ukraine. Ivan was a leading dancer with both the world-famous Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and the ballet troupe of the National Opera of Ukraine. The Kyiv company, whose two-week European visit in 2022 has turned into what Ivan calls ‘the infinity tour,’ has been delighting audiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and will be giving a number of performances in London in September.

The slogan of this brave ballet company is ‘Spreading the message of peace and love worldwide through ballet.

You can stay updated with the planned events for the week via the Shaftesbury Refugee Group website here.

• Shaftesbury Refugee Group is grateful for the generous support of The Grosvenor Arms and its owners, Stay Original Co. The project is also supported by grants from Dorset Community Foundation (Dorset Welcome Grant), Dorset Council (Community and Culture Fund Round 5), Toby’s of Shaftesbury Fund, North Dorset Partnership, Community and Inclusion fund and TLW Dance Foundation

•• As well as Shaftesbury and Gillingham Town Councils, the project has a number of partners including local schools, TLW Dance, Compton McRae, Palida Choir and Shaftesbury Arts Centre

World-class cars, family fun, and a Rev-Off to remember!

Clayesmore’s second Classic & Supercar Sunday showcased more than 450 stunning vehicles, from vintage classics to modern marvels

On Sunday 13th August, the sleepy Dorset villages around Blandford, Shaftesbury and beyond awoke to the sound of a phenomenal convoy of world class cars, all heading to exhibit at the Clayesmore Classic & Supercar Sunday event.

Over 450 of the finest, classiest, fastest and brightest cars ever made joined the exhibition; with private owners and car clubs coming from as far afield as Bristol and London (though there were of course some much more local!). One visitor commented that the supercars approaching the school on the A350 looked like a tube of smarties – every colour under the sun!

It wasn’t all brights though; the demure and classy were in town (village?) too! From 1920 Bentleys and Lagondas to a glorious array of Aston Martins from DB5s onwards, right up to the brand new DB12, thanks to event sponsor, Harwoods. This is probably the car that enthusiasts have in mind when they say ‘showstopper’!

The cars weren’t just for the adults though; children were also put through their paces by the Mini Rovers team. The 100 metre square assault course set up for the youngest drivers

was challenging and fun as they navigated the hills and markers to reach the finish. Thanks again to the Harwoods Group, the experience was free for everyone, and the little learners even earned a mini driving licence once they’d crossed the line!

The event billed two Rev Offs in the schedule, and they did not disappoint. Set outside the main house at Clayesmore, the backdrop was perfect for the competing cars to line up for the exciting showdown of noise and muscle! Crowds flocked to watch and the atmosphere was electric as they took turns to try and break the decibel record. After all that excitement, the rock music from the Replicas, along with gourmet burgers, woodfired pizza (plus gelato and crepes to die for), were the perfect vibe for the rest of the afternoon! Happy faces everywhere. Can we do it all again next Sunday please?! Roll on August 2024 …

Show sponsors Harwoods brought along the brand new Aston Martin DB12

The youngest drivers were put through their 4x4 paces

Show organiser Zander Miller recording decibels during the Rev Off

Sunshine and smiles – the 2023 Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show

The tantrum-prone 2023 weather gods were kind, and the sun actually shone on Turnpike Showground.

From early morning the cattle and sheep lines were busy, the showing areas constantly moving as the important work of finding show champions got underway. The car parks swiftly filled as visitors flooded into the ground – and they certainly weren’t disappointed!

The Shetland Pony Racing was a delight, the Jamie Squibb Freestyle Motocross was addictive (and so so high!), the Lightning Bolts Army Parachute display team, the Grand Parade … it was tricky to pull away from the big attractions just in the Gritchie Brewing Co Main Ring! Sam, from sponsors

Gritchie Brewing Co, took a few minutes out from the horsebox bar to speak with the BV. ‘We love to be part of the show! Being here is great – obviously it’s always good to actually get to chat to all the people who buy our beer. And it’s a good fun show – I’m looking forward to the stunt bike show and the parachutists!’ Peter Harding, from show sponsors Peter Harding Wealth Management, agreed. ‘The G&S Show is so great for the local community,’ he says. ‘We’ve got a number of wonderful clients who live within the show’s radius, so from a business perspective it’s always a terrific opportunity for us to meet up. Personally, I love seeing the trade stands, all the tractors,

having a catch up with the local farmers ... It’s just a great local show and a great community.’

Unique opportunities

Richard Findlay, Livestock Board chairman for the NFU agreed on the importance of the show for meeting people. ‘Shows like the G&S are really important. I get to meet the members I represent, of course, but it also gives them the opportunity to feed back into the Union. It’s particularly great for them to have direct access to myself as livestock board chairman – it means we can truly represent their views when we influence policy decisions with DEFRA and in the industry generally. As you’d expect with my day job, the bit I make sure never to miss are the cattle and sheep lines!’

In the Wool Village this year the first ever G&S Sheep Shearing Competition was an absolute hit – brilliantly entertaining, adn drawing a huge crowd who were laughing and ooh-ing (and gasping at the unexpected and

‘I get to meet the members, and it gives them the opportunity to talk directly to myself as NFU Livestock Board chairman, so we can truly represent their views when we influence policy.’

Turnpike Showground’s annual extravaganza delights visitors with its farming heritage, stunt shows and deep community spirit

spontaneously jumping sheep!) while managing to learn a few things about sheep and wool too. Helen Rogers, from Friars Moor Livestock Health, said that the Friars Moor team absolutely love the G&S Show: ‘It’s an opportunity to say thank you to all our farmers and our clients, have a drink and a lovely chat with them – often about non farming things, ironically! It’s just such a great opportunity to see everyone, it means loads to us that we can come here, support the show by sponsoring, and see everyone. I do make sure I get out of the tent to visit the cows and the sheep though, I never miss them!

Peter Beaumont, Managing Director of Cornish Mutual, said that local agricultural shows are ‘in our blood. They’re a key part of the community we support, as an insurance firm that focuses entirely on the agri sector. ‘Meeting with your customers is a really important part of any business – and this is where it’s at! The good thing about the G&S is that it’s packed, but manageable, so you don’t have to miss anything – and I love that it’s still a proper farming event! The Turnpike Ring had a whole different set of acts to split the visitors attention; the falconry display and Jonathan Marshall’s Spirit of Freedom show were popular, and there was the terrier racing, dog agility and ferret racing. The heavy horses. Live music. A funfair. ALL the food. There were aisles and aisles of trade stands to get round (garden furniture, clothing, high street brands and local producers – it was a country high street located in a field!).

The G&S is a wonderful show; and a lot of that is thanks to the fact that it never forgets that for more than 160 years it has been an agricultural show – with farming strongly at its heart. It’s a brilliant day out for everyone, whether you’re a farmer or not!

by Rachael Rowe

The pioneering Paralympian who inspired others for 60 years

Gillian Matthews, who redefined athleticism, leaving an indelible mark on Paralympic history and on grassroots disability sports, has died, aged 87

When Gillian Matthews fell from her favourite horse, Sunsketch, at the Larkhill Point to Point in 1965, she broke her back – and the high spinal fracture meant that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. But although the determined young mother, from Penselwood, near Wincanton, had four children, including three-yearold twin boys, she also found innovative ways to continue as a sportswoman. Sunsketch was uninjured in the accident and went on to win the Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown two years later. Gill spent six months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital undergoing rehabilitation. Refusing to accept her active life was over, she started training as a Paralympian. She went on to represent Great Britain in four Paralympic games. She won two bronze medals in Heidelberg in 1972 for table tennis. In 1974, Gill won a gold medal for the pentathlon at

the Commonwealth Paralympic Games in New Zealand, displaying skills in shot put, a 60yard wheelchair dash, swimming, javelin and archery. She also won bronze and silver in table tennis. In the Paralympic Games in Toronto 1976 and Arnhem 1980, she won medals in archery and lawn bowls.

Along with her collection of Paralympic achievements, in 1988 Gillian became the Paralympic World Champion table tennis player in Brisbane.

A lasting legacy

However, Gill wanted to bring the experience of the Paralympic games closer to home so that

Gillian Matthews in 2004, on the day she received her MBE for her services to charity

anyone could be inspired to have a go, particularly those who would not otherwise have had the opportunity to see disabled athletes in action. She felt that actually seeing what athletes could do would be inspirational for people with a disability. Gill met the Bath & West Show team and in 1973, the Bath & West Games for the Disabled was introduced to the annual show, where the sport remains a feature. In 1997, the Western Daily Press interviewed Gill for the 25th anniversary of the games at the Bath & West. Gill said:

‘I was already very competitive, but I became even more so when I was in a chair. I got involved in the National Games at Stoke Mandeville and competed for 26 years.

The event here is unique – no other agricultural show has anything like it. Sport can be a tremendous therapy and it has so much to offer in other ways.’

For many years, Gill remained heavily involved …. for the Disabled, and campaigned for facilities for people with disabilities. The Games were visited by

the late Queen, the then Prince Charles and also by Princess Alexandra. Gill persuaded the Prince to try some wheelchair slaloms – he managed a few obstacles, according to Gill’s son, Gerrard – but Princess Alexandra completed the entire course!

A lasting legacy

Despite her accident, Gill and her husband Franey maintained an avid interest in horses, especially racing. They raced at several courses including Wincanton, where their horse Alder Mairi won the Handicap Hurdle in 2014.

The couple had four children – Sarah (deceased), Belinda, Gerrard and Nicholas. Gill was grandmother to Venetia, Emily, Charlie, Jamie, Antonia, Tom and Elizabeth, and greatgrandmother to Isabella.

As well as her extraordinary achievements as a Paralympian, Gillian was a Justice of the Peace and magistrate in Dorset from 1978 to 2006. In 2004, she was awarded the MBE for her services to charity.

Gill was also a trustee and patron of the Inspire Foundation which champions independence and quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries. When life changes in an instant, none of us know how we would react. Gillian Matthews made the most of every moment and has left a sporting legacy that will inspire generations to come.

Gillian, far left, behind Prince Charles trying the wheelchair basketball at the Bath & West Games for the Disabled

‘I was already very competitive, but I became even more so when I was in a chair’

by Rachael Rowe

Who makes your clothes?

Rachel Joseph uses vibrant, planet-friendly fabrics from Rajasthan to make ethical and comfortable clothes for her local customers

Natural dyes and fair working conditions are allimportant in Rachel Joseph’ clothing. She brings the brilliant colours of an Indian bazaar to Dorset – a journey that begins deep in rural Rajasthan. She has travelled into the heart of India, both figuratively and physically, to learn how the clothes she sells are produced. She has stalls at the monthly Sherborne and Shaftesbury markets, and is stocked in a shop in Frome.

In the winter months she returns to Jaipur, where she designs her fabrics and clothing range. And the rest of that paragraph goes. where she designs her fabrics and clothing range. Her stall is easy to spot – the riot of vibrant colour brings the bright shades of an Indian bazaar to Dorset. For ten years, Rachel had an Indian textiles emporium called House of Eunice on London’s South Bank. ‘During those years I went on an amazing journey. I wanted to travel to the source of my textiles rather than using middle men. I wanted to see where the money was going,’ she says. ’There are some incredibly talented artisans but often they only get a pittance for their work. Whenever I travelled to India I took an extra excursion, into the interior. I wanted to bring back the story.

‘I saw what was happening on the ground, and the more I saw the more I was motivated to work within a fair trade ethos. These are the real core values of my business.

‘I effectively gave myself an apprenticeship in how to make clothes. I’m totally self-taught. At first I bought some clothes off the peg from Indian wholesalers, but the fit just wasn’t right. The fabric was beautiful but the fit just wasn’t there. For example, Western women have broader shoulders. And as we age, there are body parts that we’re sensitive about. I quickly realised that I needed to design clothes to cater to my western customers. Through necessity, I learned to make patterns.’

Kinder processes

When the lease on Rachel’s London shop ran out, she decided to relocate to Frome, just before Covid hit. After lockdown, her business continued to evolve with a rebrand to Jaipur Joy and she sold direct from market stalls. Her direct contact with India has helped her in developing her business and given her a second chance, she says. Her focus is on the environment and the impact of the clothing industry. She sees countless examples of poor working conditions in India and is determined

to work fairly and directly with the artisans. ‘I discovered ugly dyeing processes, such as an acidbased bath where workers were operating barefoot and had no protection. It has a terrible impact on both the people and the environment. I felt that there had to be a better way – I didn’t want my fabrics to depend on these processes. Then I found a wonderful community of printers who work in a more humane way, using natural dyes. They bake the designs on the fabric using rollers in an oven. Fabric gets through the rollers in five minutes and it fixes the dyes.

‘I also work with artisans who are using plant enzyme technology, which is far kinder to the environment. Significant amounts of water are used in the process and a lot of dyes end up in rivers. I’m working with artisans who use a natural process – they’re using the calla lily in the water, because it produces natural enzymes which effectively ‘eat’ the waste material, making the water almost drinkable so it can then be reused. It is much cleaner.

That’s really important in a desert state like Rajasthan.’

Rachel Jefferies modelling her Harper dress

Madamji

Jaipur is famous for its colourful sandstone buildings, earning it the name of The Pink City. It inspired Rachel to design an initial capsule collection of clothing,and, to her amazement, she sold out of the six designs and four colours. Rachel loves Jaipur: ‘There’s so much beautiful architecture, and the history of the Mughals, the Maharajahs, the palaces, the art ... and, of course, the people. They are so warm and joyful.’

When Rachel started working with artisans she encountered several people greeted as masterji – a term of respect for a male teacher. ‘You really have to work with a masterji. There is a masterji for printing, for dyeing and for pattern cutting. They are the experts and they command significant respect. You need your masterji to get things done. In fact, when I was there they called me madamji!’ The patterns and processes of some of Rachel’s textiles are embedded in Indian culture. For example, some designs use Kantha stitching –

‘essentially a running stitch and used to quilt fabrics together. We’re only just getting started with recycling in this country, but other nations have been doing things a lot longer. Typically, old saris or curtains were sewn together to make a bedspread or bed cushion, to make a further use of the fabric. It’s originally from West Bengal, a region known for its monsoon rains – when they sew Kantha stitching they try to imitate the monsoon rainfall in the embroidery. It’s very dense, vertical embroidery.’

Rachel has Kantha-stitched jackets and throws in stock, as well as a range of pintuck shirts, tunics and comfortable loosest dresses, and bags dyed with natural indigo and pomegranate.

At the end of September, Rachel will head back to Jaipur, but her fabrics and clothing will still be on sale in Sherborne, Shaftesbury and Frome, as well as being available to buy direct on her website. • jaipurjoy.com

Rachel’s colourful stall on Abbey Walk at the monthly Shaftesbury Market

Jaipur Joy’s Bengali housecoats, featuring the Kantha stitching that imitates monsoon rainfall

Composer and Artmusic director Helen Ottaway selects her Dorset Island Discs

From folk to installation art: Helen Ottaway talks about about her multidimensional journey in music as she chooses the discs she can’t live without

Frome-based composer Helen

Ottaway is a sound installation artist and founder-director of Artmusic, which creates collaborative, participatory, and site-specific art. Among her many musical interests she loves folk music, and has been described as a folk minimalist. She has two audio installations at this month’s Inside Out Dorset Festival. The first, Lachrymae, was created through Artmusic in 1999. In the original installation, the movement of people around the space triggered the sounds. Helen collaborated with visual artist Rowena Pierce, who made the wonderful teardrop hangings (lachrymae is Latin for tears). Visitors could walk through the wood, see the amber drops of the sculptures in the trees, and hear the music. The second installation, Saeflod, is a walking requiem.

‘It started in 2017,’ says Helen. ‘My mother had died, and I went on an artist residency in Sri Lanka. I had always thought that her death would be when I would feel like writing a requiem – and I did. I started sketching in Sri Lanka, by the sea. I’ve carried on, supported by Artmusic and Inside Out Dorset Festival, and it’s come to fruition this year. Again, this is an installation that includes music and some visual elements – you discover it in the woods. There’ll be interactive elements and a choir, which performs at particular times.

A life in music

And so to Helen’s eight music choices, in no particular order,

along with how and why they have stuck in her life:

Love’s Old Sweet Song

Kathy Durkin

This is a song that my mother used to sing to me and my sister at bath time and bedtime. I’ve got really clear memories as a little girl sitting on her lap, wrapped in a towel, hearing her sing this song. Both of my parents were very musical – my father sang in the Oxford Bach Choir. My mother had been a really good pianist at school and often played in assembly. She never took it much further, but she was always playing. And we had inherited a lovely Blüthner grand piano from one of my father’s aunts, ‘musical aunt Lucy’. So I grew up surrounded by music.

My father was a vicar, and my parents met on stage – they were both in the amateur

dramatics society, and they played opposite each other, that was the beginning of their relationship! There was always music, and my mother was always singing and humming.

Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610 Duo Seraphim, The King’s Consort Choir under Robert King.

I took a little while to really love classical music, although it was it was in my blood and I played a lot. I don’t remember many concerts until this one. I had an inspirational school music teacher who brought music to life in a brilliant way – he took the class to Coventry Cathedral for a performance of Monteverdi Vespers. It was around the time when John Eliot Gardiner had started the Monteverdi Singers and it may actually have been them. It was just beautiful. And the one piece that I really love is

Helen Ottaway

where the voices of the baritone and countertenor dance with each other. It just stayed with me, this beautiful environment, the beautiful music – and then I found this particular version of it. The baritone is James Gilchrist, and later on in my career I was lucky enough to have James perform my music. I wrote a choral piece called the Echoing Green, it was the opening concert of Salisbury Festival, in the cathedral, in 2003 – and James Gilchrist was the soloist.

Bring Him Back Home

Hugh Masekela

I went to college in London, and it was a politically tortured time really. There was Margaret Thatcher coming to power, the National Front were marching through South London, there was the New Cross fire, the Brixton riots ... And through all of this, people were trying to get Nelson Mandela freed from prison. Hugh Masekala had corresponded with him when Mandela was in prison. He wrote this song about freeing Mandela and London in the late 70s. Throughout the 80s London was a really interesting place to be – I saw lots of first performances of major works, and lots of touring bands. And I managed to see Hugh Masekela play on a couple of occasions. He and his band made a really exciting sound. And it had this backstory as well,

it was revolutionary, a political protest.

Excerpt from Inlets

John Cage

John Cage was an amazing person, not only a great philosophical thinker, a conceptual artist and a musician, but he was also just a lovely man. I was really fortunate to meet him twice – once when I just left college. He and his collaborating partner, choreographer Merce Cunningham, came to Goldsmiths, where I had just finished. We musicians had a week with John Cage, and the dancers had a week with Cunningham. They performed for us and we performed for them. His ideas are just very liberating. The way he thinks ... it gives you permission to allow chance to take a part in your work –it’s been something that I’ve incorporated ever since. So in the

case of the original Lachrymae installation in the woods in Inside Out Dorset, people walked around and triggered the sounds by their movement. It meant that the arrangement of sound couldn’t ever be predicted. It was different every time. And this is really critical to the way John Cage used to work. This piece I’ve chosen, Inlets, is also a really beautiful thing to watch. He plays a conch shell, and he fills it with water. And in front of the microphone, he manipulates the conch shell, moves it around and it makes lovely musical gurgling sounds – but the performer can’t control it. It’s really chance, what happens, because you can’t see the inside of the conch shell, you can’t see where the walls and curves are. And so it’s totally unexpected.

The Third Dream

Jeremy Peyton Jones

Regular Music was a band formed by me, Jeremy Peyton Jones and Andrew Poppy in 1980. We’d just finished Goldsmith –the three of us had been on the music course together. They were both composing, and I was mostly playing other people’s music at that time – often one of theirs! Regular Music was an example of the kind of avantgarde, contemporary art rock band that was around at that time. We toured and played in London for more than ten years. Jeremy became quite involved

in experimental theatre and was regularly asked to write for cutting-edge companies’ shows. The Third Dream, the piece that that I’ve chosen, was from a theatre piece called Lulu Unchained, which was an Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) commission, written by the American writer Kathy Acker and directed by Pete Brooks. It was on for three or four weeks – something totally unheard of now. We were the stage band, I was the pianist for that production and we played this work every night. It was great! The other thing that happened was as a result of working in theatre at the ICA, I met my partner Steve, who was at the time the finance controller at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. The ICA was really, really important to all of us.

English Idyll No.1

George Butterworth

This was a really hard choice!

I’m sometimes described as a folk minimalist, and I’ve often talked about the influence of people like Michael Nyman and Gavin Bryars. Also the American minimalists like Philip Glass and Steve Reich.

But folk music is somehow in my blood. I think there is such a thing as an English composer. I think we’ve all got a bit of that English pastoral in us. Vaughan Williams used a particular mode

– I think it was mixolydian – and, as a result, his music is pretty unmistakable. It was really hard to choose one English composer influenced by folk music – it could have been Vaughan Williams, it could have been Cecil Sharp or Percy Grainger, whose music I absolutely love. But in the end I chose Butterworth, because we don’t get enough of Butterworth! He went off to the First World War and was killed in battle, and that was the end of Butterworth’s music. It’s debatable whether he was going to carry on writing when he came back from the war. But before he went, he collected folk songs, in Sussex mainly. I have a long connection with Sussex –we always went to Sussex in the summer because as a vicar, my father didn’t own the vicarage. So my parents had a house in Sussex and we would go there

once or twice a year. I found that these folk songs that Butterworth collected really spoke to me. This piece, the first of the English Idylls, has three folk songs in it. They’re Dabbling in the Dew, Just as the Tide Was Flowing, and Henry Martin. Those last two, Butterworth collected himself, and you can hear them – the folk songs are very evident in the piece of music.

It’s just a beautiful thing that our folk tradition comes bubbling up through the work of newer composers and it’s been preserved in that way.

I don’t collect folk songs – I don’t know if there’s anybody still singing the old folk songs actually in the vernacular. But people sometimes say that the tunes I write are like folk songs.

Blow The Wind/Pie Jesu

Jocelyn Pook

Kathleen Ferrier was my mother’s favourite singer – again it comes back to my mother. This piece, ‘Blow the Wind / Pie Jesu’ by Jocelyn Pook uses words from the requiem. Joc took a sample from Kathleen Ferrier singing Blow the Wind Southerly and mixed it with the voice of Melanie Pappenheim, who we both (Jocelyn and I) have worked with over many years.

So in this piece you have the blend of the original Kathleen Ferrier song and Jocelyn’s new material sung by Melanie.

Take Me To The River The Commitments

I don’t know if it’s come through or not, but I’m obsessed with water! Everything I write has got something to do with water – the very first piano and viola piece I wrote was called I Hear Water. And it keeps coming back. The walking requiem, Saeflod, is all about flooding.

It’s a requiem not just for our personal losses, like mine of my mother, but also the environmental loss that we’re currently suffering, with climate change and species loss and loss of environment. And of course the fact that the seas are rising. When I started doing a local radio show, I decided to play only music that was related to water in some way – it could have been the title, the kind of material, it could even be the picture on the album cover. For my theme tune, I chose Al Green’s Take Me to the River. I started by using just his version, but then I found lots of other people had covered it. There’s a great one by Annie Lennox, there’s a wonderful cover by Talking Heads. And this one appears in the film, The Commitments – it’s a really lovely, exuberant version. But the reason I knew the song in the first place was back when I was living in London. Before I really put all my energy into writing music I worked as a picture researcher for Grove Dictionary of Music – a lot of the people working there were musicians as well as editors, copywriters or researchers. One day, we had a Grove Dictionary company party on one of those party river boats. And Antony, my friend, said “why don’t we be the band? We can play Take Me to the River!”

So I was the bass part on my keyboard, and he played all the other parts on his keyboard. And there was a lovely singer, who worked in the post room. And that was my introduction to the

song – and I’ve always loved it. By the way, if I had more choices, you’d have a lot more pop – it was really hard to choose!

A book?

I have one book that I always say is my favourite – and it’s back to water again! It’s Waterlog by Roger Deakin, and it’s about what people now call wild swimming which in the old days, we just called swimming!

He did a tour of the UK, and found wonderful places to swim, high up tarns in Yorkshire, lovely waterfalls in Wales, his own moat (because he used to live in a moated house in Suffolk).

He was a journalist, and he came to see an installation piece I did with Jocelyn Pook and Melanie Pappenheim. We did this piece that was all about the sunken bells off the coast of Suffolk at Dunwich – there are apparently 55 churches underwater in the North Sea. And in certain circumstances, you can hear the bells ringing.

It inspired a trilogy of works that we created. Roger Deakin was really interested in it and he wrote about our work; if he had lived longer, we hoped that we would make a film with him about the sunken bells.

So this is what I have of him, this wonderful book Waterlog, signed by him. And on my Dorset island, I guess I would be looking for places to swim other than the sea (obviously, I’d swim in the sea).

A luxury item

I would like a grand piano – a Blüthner if possible. But a Blüthner with a treated soundboard so that it wouldn’t crack in the heat. I have just come back from a festival in Spain, where my latest piano piece was premiered. The festival is all outside, and the piano is sitting under the oak trees. Two years ago, when they had the first festival, the piano warped – but it has recovered! It’s the same piano that’s there this year. So I have faith that a piano can survive on a Dorset island!

• Inside Out Dorset returns 15th to 24th September 2023. Experience thoughtprovoking installations at Moors Valley Country Park & Forest (including both of Helen’s pieces, Lachrymae and Saeflod). Gather at the rewilding spot in Bere Regis for food, stories and performances. Capture the imaginations of little ones at familyfriendly circus shows in Poole and Wimborne. And see Weymouth come to life at night with giant singing dolls and expert drummers. See more at inside-out-dorset/

Click to listen to Helen’s playlist on YouTube

by Tracie Beardsley

Milking a clean image

Meet Dorset’s soap star Kirsty Hearne – creator of a thriving cottage industry selling goats’ milk and the soaps she makes from it

Most of us nip to the local shop when we run out of milk. Not Kirsty Hearne – she pops down the garden and milks one of her 13 goats. The result is ‘foamy and makes just the best coffee,’ she says. 'Raw goat’s milk is great for your gut and full of good bacteria.’

She has seen a huge increase in sales from her garden gate to both locals and holidaymakers. 'Last winter I had to limit people to five litres each, I just couldn’t keep up with demand. Especially with so many people making their own kefir.'

Her Maycottage milk – and her range of beautiful handmade soaps – began life accidently 14 years ago.

'I bought a goat and her daughter just for the milk for my family. I was up the pub, chatting to a friend about how we might make some extra money, as you do. I’d heard that you could make soap with goats’ milk and said I was going to have a go.

'So I started making some and going to craft fairs.

I quickly discovered that I was quite creative about dressing the soaps and the stall. I use baskets, flowers and plants to create the cottage-like backdrop of where the soaps

come from – it's a pretty idyllic lifestyle look.”

Kirsty then invested in an online shop. 'I now post soaps all over the UK – particularly to Scotland. I’ve no idea why the Scots love it so much!'

Her soaps are also sold in shops in Wimborne and Bournemouth.

Now from a single goat, she has a herd and business is booming. 'I’d been a riding instructor for 30 years and thought this would give me something to do when it’s raining or through the winter. It was just supposed to be a sideline! But it swiftly took over

‘There’s a fierce hierarchy – 13 year old Honeybee is the matriarch. Chilli is pesky and so nosy.’

and I actually gave up teaching.' Her real life cottage home epitomises a genuine cottage industry. She milks all her ‘girls’

by hand, and mornings are always early. Sometimes as early as 4am if Kirsty's at a rural show or market that day.

Her goats are all registered British Guernseys and Toggenburgs. They enjoy idyllic free ranging with the chickens, and at night they sleep in stables at the bottom of the garden. They’re given no antibiotics, chemical wormers or vaccinations. 'I only use homeopathic methods,' says Kirsty, who’s also trained in Reiki for animals. It seems to be working – she hasn’t needed a vet for three years.

'My girls have very different characters. There’s a fierce hierarchy and Honeybee, 13 years old and still going strong, is the matriarch. Chilli, my latest addition, is very pesky. She follows me everywhere and is so nosy.'

But don’t goats have a reputation for being a tad petulant? Kirsty says: 'You can’t make goats do anything they don’t want to. Patience is essential. You need softness, to ask them nicely. If you pull or drag them, they simply dig in their heels and win!' Every Maycottage soap contains 25 per cent goats’ milk along with

Honeybee having a happy moment All images: Kirsty Hearne

a gorgeous variety of natural scents, all concocted by Kirsty. Her neroli orange blossom is proving a favourite this year. She believes goats’ milk soap is so popular because it’s extremely kind to skin conditions. 'Eczema, psoriasis, sensitive skin – my soap is incredibly gentle and moisturising. It’s the same pH as your skin and it also contains 30 per cent olive oil which is antiinflammatory.

Repeat customers tell me that it makes such a difference to their skin issues. It's not a cure, obviously, but it helps keep the skin in better condition. And my soap doesn’t have all the chemicals that commercial soaps contain.’

Kirsty makes all the soaps at her kitchen table, packaging them in pretty fabric tied with rustic twine. Using the traditional cold-pressed method, soaps are poured into loaf moulds and rested for 48 hours before being carefully cut up and then left in the spare room to cure for four weeks. 'It used to be my son’s bedroom, so I was glad when he moved out!' says Kirsty.

'It can get lonely working from your kitchen table. My other half, Keith, works all day so I can get to 6pm and have only spoken to goats or my dogs all day!'

• maycottagegoatsmilk

soaps.co.uk

Quick fire questions:

A-list dinner party guest?

American horse trainer

Mark Rashid – Aikido for horsemanship is a big part of his work. It’s about softness, and works with goats as well as horses! He’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.

Book by your bedside?

Curlew Moon by Mary Colwel. It’s about the plight of these beautiful birds and their struggle for survival.

by Edwina Baines

In the studio with Carolyne Moran

Inspired by post-Impressionists, Carolyne captures intimate, light-filled interiors in her Shaftesbury studio

During lockdown, we were plunged into a world where both work and social life were played out in a virtual world – and we suddenly had the opportunity to sneak a look into the personal spaces of our friends, of colleagues and celebrities.

This intimate snapshot into the lives of others is not entirely new – artists have always taken inspiration from their immediate surroundings, often revealing much about their everyday lives. The things we have in our homes say a lot about both us and the

lives we lead. Interiors become a portrait of the owner; the human essence that is left behind when the room empties.

Carolyne Moran is an artist drawn to interiors: ‘But it has to be the right interior. It’s to do with light against dark, or certain reflections. Older properties inspire me … and I get very attached to chairs and odd pieces of furniture,’ she says. In her studio, at the foot of Shaftesbury’s Tout Hill, alongside her paintings is an eclectic mix of antique chairs and objets d’art.

Antiques and art

Carolyne studied Fine Art at Bournemouth and Exeter colleges of art. After six years of training, she worked for some years with the influential Bath artist Saied Dai. She completed her PGCE at Cardiff College before embarking on a career as head of the art department in several Dorset schools.

Carolyne’s studio is filled with an eclectic array of objets d’art

All images: Edwina Baines

She has had regular exhibitions at the Mall and Bankside Galleries in London, where she has won two awards. Her work has been featured in numerous art publications including The Artist magazine, and she is listed in Who’s Who in Art. Some years ago she ran an antique shop in Blandford where her love of beautiful furniture led to a constant hunt for new finds – many of which are included in her paintings.

Putting in the work

Carolyne is inspired by the Post-Impressionists Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard, founder members with other young artists of the avantgarde brotherhood Les Nabis (The Prophets). This Parisian group played a large part in the transition from Impressionism to Abstract art.

After Les Nabis disbanded, Bonnard and Vuillard were involved in the Intimism movement, which is known for the depiction of everyday scenes,

Carolyne Moran in her garden

The Red Aga – a work in progress

particularly within domestic interiors. ‘The first Bonnard exhibition I went to, I cried the whole way around,’ Carolyne says. ‘I found his paintings so moving.’

The influence of Bonnard is evident in many of Carolyne’s paintings – his interiors with their characteristic intimate and cosy atmosphere and his use of colour to capture the play of light and shadow. Vuillard was also known for his small-scale interior works, combining flat patterns with delicate colours. Carolyne’s favourite place to paint is sitting by the window with views of her garden: ‘I try to have discipline in my art. Painting is hard work. You have to set aside the time,’ she says.Once at work on a painting, she will often stay at the easel until late at night – and then lie awake thinking about the next stage. Painting mainly in gouache and oils, she will spend a day working out the composition in pencil or charcoal before applying a tint to the paper. Work may continue on several pieces at once and it could take up to a month to finish a complete painting.

‘Shapes, patterns and colours are important to me. I don’t do big landscapes. Often my flowers and garden paintings are like rooms. I’m often looking

through the window … It’s your personality that you put on a piece of paper or a canvas,’ she says. Holidays in France offer further time for painting. Each of Carolyne’s works tells a story. In Looking Through to the Little Stone Conservatory, someone may have just walked out of the room into the sunlight, leaving the door open behind them. Another shows a soft glow from table lamps –perhaps showing a favourite spot for the owner to sit and read.

Carolyne’s own garden – full of flowers, especially foxgloves – is also a source of inspiration. Everyday objects with a particular shape, pattern or colour can also capture her imagination. Her striped kimono hanging on the back of her bedroom door has been the source of several paintings and the red Aga – central in a current work in progress –has been featured several times. The kimono and the Aga both symbolise comfort and a familiar warmth.

Open studio

Carolyne opens her studio for the second Blackmore Vale Art Trail which runs from 9th to 17th September. Participants all live within a tenmile radius of Shaftesbury.

Artists across a wide range of disciplines, from painting to jewellery, are opening their studios. Brochures are free and available in shops, pubs, cafes and libraries.

Looking Through to the Little Stone Conservatory

Studio Interior With The Green Chair

‘I cried the whole way around. I found his paintings so moving.’

MATTERS

Development land for up to 130 homes recently sold in Stalbridge

All images: Jane Westbrook

Stalbridge Drowning Under New Housing

The small historic Dorset town with fewer than 3,000 residents faces 550 new homes – CPRE have deep concerns around insufficient infrastructure

The small historic town of Stalbridge is now suffering from massive overdevelopment –seemingly much more than any other North Dorset town. There have been applications for 550 new dwellings in the last seven years – in a town with a population of under 3,000.

The most recent is a 160-home estate applied for by Gladman. There is the usual promise “to work with the local community, for the benefit of everyone”, but the development appears more for the benefit of the landowner and their agents.

There are certainly no visible benefits to Stalbridge itself in saturating this small town with yet more housing. There is a housing need – throughout Dorset there are currently 4,500 households in need of a home. But Dorset’s housing enablement officer states that only 35 of these have a connection to Stalbridge and it would be “better to deliver any further affordable homes in areas where there is greater demand and better infrastructure”.

The flood risk engineer’s report can be summarised as seeing “an element of flood risk which will be hard to dispel”.

Climate change experts report that the south west will be prone to heavier rainfall and a likelihood of more flooding so, following common sense, housing should not be built where any flood risk exists. Education services confirm a new school “must be delivered” within the development, but S106 monies allocated will not be sufficient to pay for this school, so who will fund the rest, when nationwide our schools are seriously underfunded?

What Bus Service?

The transport report for the new application

suggests a good bus service through Stalbridge – but this is not the case.

Dorset Council (DC) policy states that new houses should be built where there is sustainable public transport, as well as employment opportunities and amenities in order to avoid car usage.

In this development, S106 money (developer contributions) is allocated to build one bus shelter, a flag pole and real time information – who will then be paying for the extra buses required to make this a viable mode of travel?

Without adequate bus services, new homes will mean a high number of car journeys, not just damaging for the environment but causing congestion through the constricted town centre.

Traffic queuing down the A357 through the town

As an ancient town, Stalbridge has a narrow main street which is also the busy A357 route from the A303/Wincanton through to Sturminster Newton and on to Blandford and other southern destinations. Do we see any provision for safety crossings, new footpaths, and traffic signals for the single lane area?

DC Highways on 17 May posted a deferral on any comment. At time of writing there is still no comment. This may be a good indication that they realize the implications of a further loading of car journeys to an already crumbling road system. The proposed houses all have very small gardens – yet we see no plans for land to be set aside for allotments, even though c£306 per dwelling has been allocated for this.

Lack of Facilities

It is reported that Stalbridge has a wide choice of shops and facilities, but locals are very aware this is not the case. Families will undoubtedly drive to shop at the many discount supermarkets available in Wincanton and other larger towns. The one existing supermarket has limited parking to accommodate a great increase in households, and the relatively few shops are mostly on the High Street, where parking is extremely restricted. Heavy goods and farm vehicles pass frequently along the A357, and any cars parked on the High Street cause rapid traffic disruption. Add this to the single traffic lane in the centre of town and Highways need a genius plan to avoid total gridlock.

Dorset Council promise to build the “right homes in the right places”, to protect our natural environment and aim for a zero carbon future. Building a further 160 houses in a small town that does not need them, does not have the infrastructure to support them nor a wide range of employment opportunities,

within a conservation area, on a tract of land that is prone to flooding, delivering a known increase of many hundreds of polluting car journeys onto an already constricted road system – why would Dorset Council even consider allowing this?

Time to say no

S106 money is to build one bus shelter, a flag pole and real time information – who

Unfortunately, due to lack of housing delivery over many years, it would seem that there is now a thin line of defense against any new housing proposals. Wherever land can be acquired by strategic land agents from an interested landowner, that is where the houses will be built – rather than where they are needed. With the financial resources to go to appeal on every contested planning application, land agents and developers have seen that Dorset Council is in fear of the legal costs incurred in fighting the appeals. It should be noted that most people who actually live in Stalbridge, including Ward Councillor Graham Carr Jones, are vehemently against this latest development. Dorset CPRE works to protect and enhance the countryside, and we cannot be supportive of this application. We want to see new houses built for those who urgently need them – but families need to live in a place where they can find jobs, schools, doctors and dentists, a wide choice of shops and some leisure facilities – and public transport to gain access to all of these. Stalbridge is a small town with Saxon origins, and it simply does not have these facilities. It is not the right place to build more houses – enough is enough.

Jane Westbrook North

Dorset CPRE

Housing estate currently under construction in Stalbridge

New housing estate under construction in Stalbridge

will be paying for the buses?

Breaking silence: the power of sharing your feelings

After a personal depressive episode, Dorset Mind volunteer Annabel Goddard emphasises the importance of discussing feelings and worries.

A few years ago, after a string of bad events, I found myself at an all-time low point, battling to keep myself going.

I’d experienced low moods before, but I was told this was now within the realm of a depressive episode. It was a struggle to get out of bed every day, let alone go to work. I found myself focusing simply on survival and not taking any enjoyment in my life.

I felt as though I was permanently in transition – I didn’t once look around and appreciate the present because I was constantly thinking the future would be better. After a while, I started confiding in my friends and family about my fears and uncertainty around the future. At first, I was scared of being a burden, but after letting my family know I was struggling, it began to get easier to share my struggles with them which in turn alleviated a lot of my worries and stress.

In your own time

Talking about your feelings and worries isn’t easy – but it is so important not to bottle your emotions up, as they need to find an outlet. Allowing your feelings to weigh on you will only drag you down further. Go at your own pace - it might be that you mention you’ve been struggling a bit lately and allow the person you’re confiding in to ask questions.

Try not to feel like you’re weighing other people down –they would much rather help you than leave you to struggle,

even if you’re not showing symptoms of depression or anxiety. No one is expected to ‘therapise’ you – all you need is to be listened to, and from there you can decide what steps to take to get better. If there isn’t anyone you feel you can talk to, visit your GP.

Time to talk

Opening up to someone can be hard. However, letting others know what is going on with your mental wellbeing is important, in case you begin to feel worse and need more support than just talking can offer. Having a support system of friends and family is helpful, but not everyone has access to this. That’s why it’s also important to check in with your coworkers and other people you might see regularly, especially if they don’t

seem like themselves. If you give out kindness, it will come back to you. Often, we don’t know what is going on in someone’s personal life, so if you or someone you know is struggling, it is important to stay connected and tuned in. Talking about your feelings is the first step to finding support - we urge you to share this message and #GetDorsetTalking.

Support for you:

• Visit dorsetmind.uk for local mental health support and ways to keep mentally healthy

• Call Samaritans on 116 123 for free 24/7

emotional support

• Call Dorset’s mental health helpline Connection for support on NHS 111

by Karen

Nutrition myths you don’t need to worry about (much ...)

This month I thought I’d look at some of my current favourite nutrition ‘myths’. However, things are never straightforward – each one has a plot twist!

Carbs make you fat

Carbohydrates are now the villain in the same way as fat was in the 1970s. They are actually necessary for high-intensity efforts, proven to improve performance for exercise lasting longer than 45 minutes. Complex carbs are also a great source of fuel for a healthy microbiome, and a healthy gut affects our overall health.

BUT ... if you have type 2 diabetes or certain chronic conditions, there is a case to keep carbs low. For weight loss, it really isn’t necessary to follow a lowcarb diet, but if you are both overweight and have type 2 diabetes, then you are likely to benefit. Low-carb diets also reduce hunger – over a few days, your blood sugar begins to regulate more naturally. Carbs do not necessarily give you type 2 diabetes; just be sure you aren’t eating a calorie surplus or consuming a diet that is very high in carbs (especially the ones high in sugar).

Probiotics are a complete waste of money

It is true that probiotics do not take up permanent residence

in your stomach. They are a bit like hair conditioner – once you stop taking them, your gut composition finds its own way, depending on the food you eat. BUT ... they are incredibly complex and powerful supplements. Adding probiotics can actually worsen gut issues. You need to identify the root cause of your gut symptoms and understand what strains are needed rather than taking them indiscriminately – that actually is a waste of money! Used correctly, they can be extremely beneficial for certain conditions and during recovery from illness.

Aspartame gives you cancer

This one is topical, with wide media coverage following a recent study in which the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) designated the low-calorie sweetener as ‘possibly carcinogenic’.

What they actually concluded is that, from the evidence they reviewed, ‘aspartame warrants further investigation’.

The quality of some of the studies appears questionable –such as the Ramazzini Institute’s mouse studies and certain human nutritional epidemiology studies. In 2019, a meta-analysis of several studies concluded that there is no solid evidence base to

suggest that aspartame poses a risk of cancer.

So, for now, the alarm seems unwarranted – there is no solid evidence base currently suggesting that aspartame poses a risk of cancer.

Indeed, diet products have been helpful to millions in achieving metabolic health and weight loss. BUT ... the plot twist here is that aspartame (and other types of sweeteners) do alter the composition of a healthy gut microbiome, so if you do use them, try not to overdo it. The dose makes the poison.

It’s not calories, but nutrients This is one of my favourites –there are some who believe that nutrients take priority over calories for overall health. Equally, there are some who assume that it’s only calories that are important for overall health and optimal weight.

The reality is that BOTH are true. You can certainly overeat highquality nutrients and become or stay overweight.

However, consuming a highquality diet (‘real’ food) makes you less likely to feel hungry and therefore more likely to stay within your own energy requirements.

What’s missing from this equation? Consistency. Consistency is the foundation of any beneficial dietary approach.

Expert Karen Geary investigates the complex facts – it’s not as simple as bad carbs and sad sweeteners

Friday Lunchtime Recitals

15th September Meet the Music Staff

22nd September Instrumental and Vocal Soloists I

29th September Woodwind I

6th October Strings

13th October Instrumental and Vocal Soloists II

3rd November Pianists

10th November Brass

17th November Instrumental and Vocal Soloists III

24th November Woodwind II

1st December ‘Mince Pies’ Chamber Music (Tindall Recital Hall)

1.45pm Cheap Street Church (unless otherwise stated) FREE ADMISSION ALL WELCOME

Somerset Open Studios 2023

This month, more than 300 makers and artists will be taking part in the first full the Somerset Art Weeks Open Studios event for five years

THIS year’s Somerset Art Weeks, from 16th September to 1st October, will be the first full Open Studios event since 2018, with more than 300 makers and artists across the county, from Wincanton to Watchet, wil be inviting the public into their work-places. Organised by Somerset Art Works, since its inception in 1994, the the open studios fortnight has become an important event in Somerset’s cultural calendar. Traditionally biennial, alternating with group and gallery shows, it is an invitation to meet some of the area’s most exciting and original creative people in their own place – studio, workshop, home or shed. Painters, photographers, printmakers, sculptors, potters, woodworkers and textile artists will all be opening their space to show their work.

It’s not only an opportunity to meet interesting, creative people but also to explore the county and discover places you didn’t know! It’s the perfect chance for the casual and curious visitor to see what goes on behind normally-closed studio

doors. Artists value the engagement that the event provides; a chance comment or connection can sometimes provide invaluable encouragement. In Batcombe, a collection of artists are working together: Jo Addison creates linocuts, etchings and watercolours of natural subjects. Camilla Frederick is a portrait artist who works in oils. Alison Harrison is a sculptor works in bronze and mixed media. Debbie Hart specialises in tesxtile art with patchwork and quilting. Jade Ogden makes handwoven scarves and soft furnishings using dyed and undyed local and Shetland wool. Jan Pitt creates her work in pastels and oils. Peter Sheldon’s is showing a collection of quirky illustration and newsprint collages.

Castle Cary hosts an exciting cluster of creatives at Pithers Yard, including photographer Dave Watts, painter Franny Watts, prop maker Charlotte Austin as well as Tom Baskeyfield and Lotte Scott, who create works informed by interests in ecology, spirituality, matter and place.

Near Frome, ceramicists Christine-Ann Richards and Lutz Krainhoefner have a joint studio venue, with work, inspired by their travels to China and Japan, featuring burnished, smoke-fired pottery and glazed stoneware.

The Somerset Open Studios 2023 Guide is online here and Somerset Art Weeks (SAW) venue signs will guide you to the sometimes hidden venues. SAW is also working with Visit Somerset to give an increased profile for the event and its artists on the Visit Somerset website. For more details and to plan your visit, please visit somersetartworks.org. uk or visitsomerset.co.uk

Jannette Kerr – known for depiction of wild seas – is opening her studio in Coleford

Stunning settings for an eclectic festival

Classic film noir, forgotten Yiddish voices and a star soprano –some of the delights at Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival

Audiences at the 2023 Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival, from 7th to 10th September, will be taken on an amazing journey through centuries of cultural and social upheaval and creativity – from the traditional songs and stories of London’s Yiddish community to the refined recitals of 19th century Europe, from 1940s Hollywood to the dramatic folk music of the Hungarian plains. The festival, under its artistic director, the internationally renowned, Dorset-born cellist, Natalie Clein – a former Young Musician of the Year – has one of the country’s most eclectic and exciting programmes, with concerts and events in venues as different as Sandpit Field at Swanage, an Art Deco cinema and the ancient church of St Nicholas at Worth Matravers. This year, with a theme of Forgotten Voices, the festival breaks new ground with the launch of a book about London’s Yiddishtown and two of the star performers playing live accompaniment for a classic cinematic thriller.

On Saturday 9th from 3.30pm, Wareham’s Art Deco Rex Cinema hosts an afternoon of time travel for music and film noir fans with a screening of the 1946 black and white classic, Deception, starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains.

The film, a tangled love triangle, has strong musical themes, including a new cello concerto. The screening will feature live excerpts of the score, including Korngold’s Cello Concerto, with Natalie Clein on cello, and Marianna Shirinyan on piano. Also on Saturday 9th, in the morning, chamber music

Festival artistic director, internationallyrenowned Natalie Clein

meets Eastern European folk at Swanage’s Sandpit Field, for a free family concert by violinists Nurit Stark and Marc Danel, who will play Hungarian and English folk songs in a collection curated by the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok in 1931. The performance is a joint event between PICMF and Swanage Folk Festival. Historian, researcher and Yiddish performer Vivi Lachs will be at Dorset Museum in Dorchester on Friday 8th September. At 5pm, Vivi will launch her new book, London Yiddishtown, and in the evening, from 7pm, she will be one of the performers capturing the unique sounds and language of London’s Cockney Yiddish community.

The other musicians taking part in this year’s festival are the Dorset-born star soprano Kate Royal, and the Danel Quartet. The venues include Lulworth Castle Chapel, St George’s Church at Langton Matravers, St Nicholas Church at Studland, the Priory Church of Lady St Mary at Wareham, St Nicholas Church at Worth Matravers and St James at Kingston near Swanage.

• For a full progamme of events, please see picmf.org

The festival includes live accompaniment to the classic Bette Davis thriller Deception at Wareham’s Art Deco Rex Cinema

W H A T ' S O N @ T H E E X C H A N G E

OLD TIME SAILORS

FRI 8TH SEPTEMBER

An immersive evening of traditional seafaring music Sing and dance along like a drunken sailor as the Old Time Sailors crew of 17 talented musicians transport you back to the 19th century with their mesmerising performance of centuries old folk and shanty songs. (Standing with unreserved seating) (£18)

MAD DOG MCREA

SAT 30TH SEPT

Blending a unique mixture of folk rock, pop, gypsy jazz, bluegrass and ‘shake your ass’ music –Mad Dog never fail to capture their audience with their infectious songs. (£21)

ED SHEERAN EXPERIENCE

FRI 6TH OCTOBER

Featuring the ballads, the beats, the ginger hair, the loop pedal magic and a live band! Sing-alongs, slow songs and all the hits the Ed Sheeran Experience is a show not to be missed. (£22.50)

JOHN SUCHET - BEETHOVEN

WEDS 11TH OCTOBER

Ludwig van Beethoven, born well, we cannot be entirely sure what day he was born on. That is the first of many surprises that John Suchet will bring you, as he presents ‘Beethoven The Man

Revealed’, an intimate portrait of the man he believes to be the greatest composer of them all. (£17)

Mayhem, mystery, murder –and a magical cat

Wiltshire Creative’s autumn season has something for all tastes – from comedy to A Christmas Carol, puppetry to pantomime

Wiltshire Creative’s autumn programme – at its two venues, Salisbury Playhouse and Salisbury Arts Centre – is packed with stand-up comedy, children’s entertainment, drama and one of the best-loved of all pantomimes. The season curtainraiser is a free community event at the Playhouse on Saturday 2nd September, from 10am to 1pm, with activities for children, insight into programming for the autumn, a look at the work Wiltshire Creative does as a charity and opportunities to win tickets for this year’s pantomime, Dick Whittington.

Perfect Nonsense

This autumn marks a welcome return to in-house productions at the theatre, with curtain up on 1st September for a hilarious romp with PG Wodehouse’s greatest characters, the airhead Bertie Jeeves and his indispensable valet, Jeeves. Running to 23rd September, Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense has a deliciously farcical premise: Bertie Wooster comes up with a super wheeze to put on a play at a country house weekend at Totleigh Towers. The action revolves around

Bertie’s efforts to play matchmaker between his newt-fancying friend Gussie Fink-Nottle and the girl of his dreams, Madeline Bassett, with predictable opposition and disruption from Bertie’s formidable Aunt Dahlia and the appalling Sir Watkyn Bassett. There is a cast of three – Luke Barton plays Wooster, with Patrick Warner as Jeeves and Alistair Cope as Aunt Dahlia’s butler Seppings, playing around 12 characters between them. The trio have been enjoying the rehearsal period enormously – ‘It is SO funny,’ says Patrick.

Girl on the Train

The delightful Wodehouse comedy is followed by the thriller, The Girl on the Train, based on the best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins (and subsequent film), which runs from 19th October through to 11th November.

The Girl on the Train is the story of an ordinary young woman –every day on her way to work, Rachel watches a seemingly perfect couple from the train

window, dreaming of her perfect love story. Suddenly she finds herself embroiled in a dark, twisted drama, when the woman she has been watching goes missing mysteriously. Was Rachel responsible? Where did the blood come from? If only Rachel could remember the missing pieces in her memory, if only she hadn’t had too much to drink...

Panto time

The season culminates with Dick Whittington (and his magical cat), from 25th November to 7th January 2024, directed by artistic director Gareth Machin and written by Plested, Brown and Wilsher, the trio responsible for last year’s successful Cinderella. Other autumn events at the two venues include comedy with Phil Wang, Fiona Allen. Chris McCausland, Geoff Norcott and Living Spit’s A Christmas Carol. For music fans there are perfromances from Swinging At The Cotton Club, The Unravelling Wilburys, Tom Robinson and Mad Dog McRea.

• wiltshirecreative.co.uk

Wooster (Luke Barton) and Jeeves (Patrick Warner) in rehearsal for Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense. Photograph by Ash Mills

6.9 miles

Take a Hike: Beautifully quiet walk near Sherborne |

Starting in the tiny hamlet of Folke, this circular route takes a delightful walk through Dorset countryside that feels undisturbed for a century, often following green lanes.

It’s a deliciously quiet walk through Dorset fields and lanes. As expected in summer, a few stiles were overgrown with bramble and nettle, and one stream crossing was slightly difficult to track down in an overgrown corner of a field on the approach to Butterwick Dairy House Farm. Keep an eye on the phone to stick to our tracks and you won’t miss it.

Apart from those few small hiccups the route was well signed and easy to follow, taking in surprise views across much of the way.

NB - the photos will appear ‘backwards’ as we decided, having walked the route, that it would be better in reverse. The first mile (now) is the by far the least interesting – it was our final mile, and a slightly deflating conclusion to what had been a truly beautiful walk. A small amount of parking is available beside the church at Folke, where the route starts. Do take a minute to step into the church for a visit – it’s beautiful, and has a couple of stunning windows.

CLICK HERE for more images and an interactive map (plus a downloadable gpx file)

We have always created and recently walked the routes we feature (See all previouslypublished routes here), so you know you can trust them. You can see all our routes (including many which are unpublished in The BV) on Outdoor Active, and all include a downloadable gpx file.

All images © Laura Hitchcock

It’s always the same at this time of year with hedgerow stiles!

Blues for the blue shark

Recently I was lucky enough to swim with blue sharks in the south west. While standing on the boat looking into the sea, the biggest thing that hit me when I saw the graceful outline of a shark below me was how incredibly BLUE it was! While the blue back of the animal was so noticeable, the sides, fins and snout were all picked out in pure silver. As a ray of sun peeped between blankets of grey cloud, the shark appeared lit from within as its colours burst through the choppy sea’s surface. Then it was gone. Blue sharks are a highly migratory, open-ocean species that follow the Gulf Stream to visit UK seas, including Lyme Bay, in the summer months. They are here from June to October and usually travelling in all-female groups. What a privilege to swim with these masters of the high seas, so effortlessly graceful in their element, so powerful and in

control and yet at the same time so vulnerable and threatened by our careless attitude and ignorance. So timid and sensitive – how did they ever acquire such an erroneous and unjust reputation?

Scary as a cushion

The blue shark has to be the most beautiful of all sharks. With its stunning blue colour, its graceful shape and big puppydog eyes, how could you not fall in love with it?

As for being scary ... this shark was as as scary as a fluffy cushion. Rather, it was to be admired, treasured and appreciated as a thing of wonder, of evolutionary perfection. It is the apex of an entire food web, a precious and yet fragile being. Unfortunately, open-ocean sharks have declined by an estimated 71 per cent in the last 50 years and overfishing is the biggest threat to sharks globally.

Blue sharks are being decimated right here in our North Atlantic. In fact, blues are the most heavily fished species of shark, with most countries having no restriction on the number that can be taken. They are disappearing, almost unnoticed, right in front of us. It is heartbreaking to think that this wonder of nature may, in a few more decades, no longer be a summer visitor in our waters.

What can we do to help them?

Seafood-eaters can choose sustainably-caught, local species and avoid any type of shark meat. Sharks produce few offspring, mature late and may not reproduce every year. Blue sharks are mostly caught on long lines with a devastating bycatch of seabirds and turtles. And if you are in two minds about sharks in Dorset, remember, you are more likely to die from falling out of bed than from a shark attack!

• Find out more about these blue beauties on the DWT site here dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

Swimming with blue sharks reveals their stunning beauty, says DWT’s Julie Hatcher – but lack of regulation makes them deeply vulnerable

Effortlessly graceful, so powerful ... and yet so vulnerable and threatened

Image: ©Dan Bolt

The blue shark visits UK seas in the summer months. In the Atlantic, they appear to take a clockwise route, following the Gulf Stream from the Caribbean. They return on the Atlantic North Equatorial Current.

Earlier this year, TV gardener and Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) vice-president Alan Titchmarsh caused quite a stir when he urged the RHS to stop ‘pandering to current trends’ that seem to welcome weeds into gardens.

But what exactly is a weed? The Cambridge Dictionary defines them as ‘any wild plant that grows in an unwanted place.’ I assume Mr T was making a stand for cultivated plants, and isn’t against wild plants per se. In spite of that, does it really need to be an all-or-nothing debate? With 53 per cent of our native plants in decline, surely there’s room for both wild and cultivated plants in our gardens. Take my garden.

It’s a mishmash of gardencentre-bought plants and long and short grass with quite a few wild flowering plants (*cough* weeds) in between.

I love my garden – and so, it seems, does the wildlife; more than 300 species call it home. Most of us will never have (or even aspire to) a ‘perfect’ garden, with neatly tended flowerbeds, zero weeds, neatly trimmed lawns and perfectly clipped hedges. Personally, I think that’s okay.

Take ivy. A weed, yes? I’ve had a love-hate relationship with it for years. It creeps through the garden and, if I don’t watch it like a hawk, it makes a dash up the walls of the house. But at the bottom of the garden where it has climbed a longdead apple tree, it explodes each autumn with a firework display of blooms that fizz with pollinators (more than 100 species of insect feed on ivy). At this time of year, my ivy is a veritable smorgasbord for them; from honeybees to angle shade moths and ivy mining bees to holly blue butterflies, they can’t get enough of it. Not to

mention the blackbirds that eat its berries, and birds and insects that nest and hibernate in its dense foliage. Not bad for a weed.

What might help?

We won’t fix the massive declines in flying insect populations (a shocking 60 per cent in the last 20 years) by allowing a few dandelions, ivy plants and nettles to grow in our gardens, or by letting the grass grow taller in places. But neither are these things ‘a trend’ or wrong. They’re just the evolution of everyday gardening.

Shouldn’t we instead be more worried about the garden centres and DIY stores still promoting the sale of weedkiller and insecticide?

Shouldn’t we educate ourselves on how to use natural pest

deterrents in our gardens? Everyone’s outdoor spaces can be beneficial to disappearing wildlife and wildflowers, as well as attractive and useful places for their people.

Further reading:

• There are 23 million gardens in the UK, covering 433,000 hectares (an area a third the size of Wales) according to estimates.

• A total of 87 per cent of UK households have a garden.

• In England alone, gardens cover an area four and a half times larger than National Nature Reserves

• For advice on gardening for wildlife, visit the Wildlife Gardening Forum wlgf.org

• The ivy mining bee arrived in Dorset in 2001, more at bumblebeeconservation.org

Hornet on an ivy flower

Mud, foals, coats and dreams

Life outside the stud

Bramble snacking and trail running – Lucy Procter is using the stud’s quieter summer season to find some balance out of the saddle

In a welcome change from my usual monthly stud life, trail running, strength and conditioning sessions in the gym and blackberry picking have been my summer highlights.

All three Procter offspring have now left home – our youngest

has gone to Australia to work on a large stud in the Hunter Valley – so I am trying to re-balance my life and spend time each day away from horses! This is relatively easy in July and August as these months consist largely of maintenance

on the stud, so time is more flexible. Summer is about keeping the mares, foals and youngstock healthy and growing well. Our main tasks are on the maintenace side – cutting hedges and mowing tracks, and carefully managing the grazing through poo-picking, harrowing, topping and regularly moving horses onto fresh pasture.

Alongside the routine work, we have brought two young racehorses – Inspector Maigret and Rinjani Bay – back into ridden work after their early summer break. They have completed three months of pretraining in preparation to move to their licensed trainers. Much of their exercise has been up on the downs just south of the stud, utilising the steep hills to help build muscle.

For the past couple of weeks, both horses and riders have been enjoying munching blackberries from the hedgerows each day before loading back onto the lorry and heading home!

Woolstone One’s Bathyrhon colt foal, Onion, and friend. All images: Lucy Procter

Inspector Maigret enjoying the view, during pre-training on the downs.

Universal Cooley’s Castlefield Kingston sport horse (nonthoroughbred) colt foal, enjoying a sticky snack during in hand rehabilitation for very slack lower hind legs - full story with an extraordinarily successful outcome, next month.

EQUESTRIAN

We have also been prepping two 2-year-olds for a sale in early September. This involves six weeks of regular exercise on the horse walker and lunging to help build up their fitness and improve their muscle tone as well as daily grooming. We shod them in front to help stop them getting foot sore, which might result in their not showing themselves to their best advantage on the sales ground. As they are unbroken young horses, the main feature that the buyers are looking for is a big, striding, athletic walk. A horse’s walk is fourtime – meaning all four feet land on the ground individually. The gallop is also a four-time pace, so it is considered that if a horse walks impressively, it should also have a good gallop and therefore be more likely to make a successful racehorse than would a horse with a poor walk.

Equine Dyspepsia

One of the youngsters I started under saddle in June was a 3-year-old Thoroughbred filly who had been a nutter as a 2-year-old when we first tried to work with her. Eventually we had just turned her out again to mature!

A year later, and the same filly happily co-operated with her initial lunging and long-reining and after a few weeks, she accepted me on her back. We progressed to hacking up the road in company and lightly cantering, but she was becoming increasingly difficult about the initial mounting. Suspecting stomach ulcers, we are treating her with equine omeprazole and giving her a few weeks

break before starting again. Working with horses rarely follows a defined plan and you just have to treat each one individually.

On the run

Earlier in the year I joined SPFit, a running club based in Sherborne. In May I was inspired to run The Camelot Challenge, a local half marathon. To help improve my fitness, SPFit’s owner and personal trainer, Simon Partridge, created a

It must have been a rough night – the youngsters were still snoozing at breakfast time! From left Sambac, Dissy (Dissavril’s yearling filly) and Onion. Both these two foals are now happily weaned and enjoying life without mum, with some older youngsters for company.

Lucy (in blue) trail running on Dartmoor

Blackberries are a favourite snack for Inspector Maigret (whose stable name is Monkey!)

specially tailored strength and conditioning gym programme for me to complement my training runs – I get away from the stud, and still I’m all about the conditioning programmes! Contrary to my many previous attempts to train – which have always resulted in my giving up after just a few weeks – with the support of Simon in the gym, and Kate, the club’s running coach, I am still running and training! On top of which I have made some lovely new friends within the gym and the club. Recently, we organised a day out – four of us met Simon and Kate on Dartmoor and spent a hugely fun day practicing running on moorland terrain. We plan to return in October to run the 12 miles

from Belstone to Postbridge.

Although we’re a mixed bag of fitness levels, we all start and finish together (those who are fitter are happy to just run a little further).

Getting involved in activities outside of the stud has helped reinvigorate me this summer and reminded me that there is a bigger world beyond our modest stud acreage and racing itself.

I highly recommend getting out there and trying something new – it’s so good to get away from your usual day-to-day routine.

If you’re interested in joining us, get in touch and join us in the running club or on Dartmoor. Everyone is welcome!

Quiet August, Big Plans

Team TB is prepping for the autumn season with some rigorous training (both equine and human!) – and a new home’s needed for Cherry and Sebastian

It’s been a quiet month for team TB – lots of training, with fine tuning of each phase as we look forward and plan for the autumn event season.

Wellington was our only event in the August diary – sadly a bad case of human tonsillitis for me means we are unable to attend. Instead we have turned our attention to Cornbury House for the International and Young Horse Championship, from 6th to 10th September.

We have had to say a sad goodbye to head girl Eve Mitchell this month as she moves back up north with her family. She left a hole in our team, but thankfully it was swiftly filled by Rodger, a Sicilian who has been working for Paul Nicholls in his racing yard for the last seven years. We are already benefitting from his experience and knowledge – he is an incredibly hard worker and brings lots of enthusiasm and motivation to the yard!

Time off

With such a quiet month in terms of competing it’s been vital to maintain the horses’ fitness ahead of their autumn schedule. They follow a strict fitness program, galloping for

three lots of intervals every four days, as well as some serious hill road inclines once a week, which we do at a slow trot. This helps to strengthen the back end of the horses, making them really engage their muscles and building their top line as well as improving their cardiovascular fitness.

We also managed to have our first family holiday for many years, which was so relaxing. Mallorca was warm and filled with lovely food and wine. However, this has meant I have had to increase my own fitness regime ahead of our next Internationals! I’m working out at least six days a week after work, splitting between long slow runs, short and fast 5km runs

and sessions in the gym working on core, glutes and upper body strength. In eventing, the rider’s fitness is just as important as the horse’s – it’s not just them strengthening the back end! Hopefully all the training will pay off at Cornbury House – both Freestyle R and Cor Y Taran take on the CCI3*s.

Cherry and Sebastian

We also have two gorgeous miniature Shetland Ponies back to re-home. Three years ago we rescued 11 of them, finding wonderful homes for nine and keeping Jack Jack and Bilbo as turn-out companions for the eventers. We find them hugely beneficial on the yard – and how could you not love them?!

Cherry and Sebastian, through absolutely no fault of their own, are now looking for a new knowledgeable home. If you think you have the time and the experience, please do get in touch 07478 339300.

I have been sponsored by professional photographerLuke Perrett – I look forward to sharing his photography across the season, and we hope to join up with Blackfort Equestrian, my clothing sponsor, too.

Exciting times!

tootsbartletteventing.com

Toots Bartlett and Cor y Taran competing in July. Image: Luke Perrett Photography

Can you give Cherry and Sebastian a home?

School Dreads to Farming Threads

This month Andrew Livingston is taking a nostalgic stroll through the Dorset County Showground

As a young child, the news that ‘Dorset County Show is this weekend!’ was always met with sadness. Never a reflection on the show, I hasten to add – it simply signalled the final weekend of the school summer holidays.

Every year, in the days leading up to the show, I would be dragged by my mother to Dorchester or Yeovil to buy new school uniform. “I don’t need to go back to school!” I would protest (thankfully my mother knew better than me).

Some of my earliest memories are of exploring the county showground, walking around in the shadow of my Dad – he was a feed rep for Mole Valley Farmers, and would alwaysbe working on the day.

Well – he would refer to it as work, but what he called ‘networking’ just looked like listening to farmers moan to me. Why were they so miserable? They worked outdoors and they didn’t have the threat of going to school next week!

How naïve I was. If I’d known then what I know now about the struggles of modern farming I would have suggested they start writing a column in The BV

magazine to air their grievances. I certainly find it therapeutic these days!

Times change

For so many at the show, this is their one big day out of the year. Some are up every day at the crack of dawn milking, while others have been contracting evry hour they can through the summer in a mad rush to earn every penny possible. And for hours on end, my Dad would be at the Mole Valley stand, handing out cups of tea and chatting with these farmers.

(I’ll be honest, standing next to him – and eating all the biscuits, obviously – the conversations went straight over my head. Not because of the content – I simply

couldn’t understand a word they said in their deep Dorset dialect.) Eventually, I got older and was finally trusted to roam the site on my own. I would meet with friends and only return to my dad to reach into his pockets and steal another handful of change to spend on sweets or carnival games.

When my dad’s pockets eventually emptied, the game became who could collect the most and best freebies from the stands. Simply listen to a vendor’s spiel for two minutes and scamper off with your thousandth pen of the day. What was my greatest freebie of all time you ask? I’m too polite to say. But I will say that I got it from the NHS stand and, since about the age of 13, it’s had pride of place in every wallet I’ve ever owned, but has never been touched.

It’s all changed now. My days of going to the show and picking my Dad’s pocket are long gone – instead my own pockets get swiftly empties by my two small children. Thinking about it … maybe I should have used my favourite Dorset County Show freebie at some point. It would have saved me a fortune on school uniforms in the future!

Andrew’s Dad Guy was a feed rep who had a stand at the local shows – back when an agri stand was a caravan with awning

Andrew (left) with his big brother at a local Show

Dairy farm businesses under threat, according to NFU survey

Britain’s dairy farmers are being forced to think seriously about their future, a new NFU survey shows, thanks to increasing concerns over insufficient returns, volatile markets and the scale of on-farm investment. A survey of the intentions of nearly 600 dairy farmers reveals that 9% of producers believe they are likely to stop producing milk by 2025 – up from 7% last year. A further 23% said they were ‘unsure’ if their business would continue producing milk beyond 2025 – just two more years. Of the dairy farmers who responded, 87% said they are concerned about the impact of government regulation, with feed prices (84%), energy prices (83%) and cash flow and profitability (80%) other key factors that would curtail milk supplies. Meanwhile, 91% of dairy farmers said the main factor preventing them increasing milk production was the scale of investment needed for things such as suitable slurry storage to ensure their farms comply with current regulations. This supports the NFU call for DEFRA’s Slurry Infrastructure Grant to be extended to cover more areas and to reduce the minimum spend threshold needed to access the funding.

NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes says: ‘It’s clear that significant inflationary pressures, combined with below-cost-of-production prices are continuing to threaten the resilience of British dairy farming businesses. We are now facing a crisis of confidence among

Britain’s dairy farmers.

‘The results of this survey show that, now more than ever, we need resilient and collaborative dairy supply chains. It’s vital that we invest and reverse this trend of boom or bust. The new industry-wide regulation on contracts – expected to be introduced later this year – must support fairer, more transparent and accountable supply chains. But regulation isn’t a silver bullet.

‘With increasing global demand for British dairy produce, we know that the long-term future is bright for our sector. To ensure we maximise this potential, it’s imperative that the government continues to work with us to ensure we have the right environmental, regulatory and trade framework in place to support the production of high quality, nutritious and sustainable food.’

There’s growing uncertainty among the UK’s dairy farmers and little confidence to face the challenges, says county advisor Gemma Harvey

After three years, George has successfully established herbal plants into an aged and worn-out permanent pasture which has had very little grazing as it has slowly rooted

Insect adventures, a tricky harvest and sustainable farming

George Hosford’s summer farm diary is an insight into farming life – a constant battle with the weather, and always planning ahead

• Grasshopper: long word – short antennae

• Cricket: short word – long antennae

• Katydid: odd word, also known as a bush cricket, definitely confusing the issue

It’s a Meadow Grasshopper on the thumb and a long winged meadow Katydid in the image below – and they’re on the hand of the teacher who brought a class from Durweston to the farm at the beginning of July. That’s what the ‘Picture Insect’ app tells me at least – and yes,

a proper student of wildlife would cross-check in a book, but life is too short to be buried in reference books. Apps like this one, the ‘Merlin bird song app’, and ‘Picture This’ for plants and trees, have revolutionised my life ... and increased my screen time and shortened my phone battery life alarmingly!

It was a lovely sunny day for this particular school visit. We had great fun looking at crops approaching harvest and wild flowers on chalk downland, and spent ages catching (mostly) grasshoppers plus quite a few other mini beasts. A sunny day in

July is perfect for crawling about on hands and knees trying to catch insects for identification, and for learning new plants. After that it was time to pull on the rubber gloves and find a suitable cowpat for excavation. We needed one not too old, not too fresh ... as Goldilocks said, it needs to be just right. Covered in holes on the surface, firm enough to be a little crusty, but still soft enough inside to be populated with a variety of insect life, hopefully including some dung beetles.

If we don’t dose our animals with wormers then there will be a better chance of dung beetle presence – they are an indicator of, and contributor towards, soil health, carrying dung deep into the soil with their burrowing activity. On this occasion we found a couple of beetles who rapidly tried to burrow away from daylight, numerous small unidentifiable flies and one mealworm from another beetle species. At least a bird not worried about a dirty beak would be very pleased to find it!

It’s always the weather

We have been pushing on with harvest when the weather has given us a chance. We nibbled at the Wildfarmed* winter wheat, which has ripened earlier than the other wheats, but it wasn’t quite ready so we moved on to the spring barley, which is equally weather-sensitive. Once milling wheat or malting barley is properly ripe, it is important to gather it swiftly, before the weather breaks and essential quality levels deteriorate. We also try to keep one eye on the straw, so that our long-suffering straw contractor stands a chance of baling the straw before it gets soaked. If it looks as though rain is imminent, it’s a bit unfair to race through a damp crop with the combine leaving line after line of soaking straw – just delaying our return to the field to sow the next crop. It pays to be patient. The baler running right behind the combine on a sunny day, dust flying, is the best of all. Once the harvest is in, some decent damp weather means the oilseed rape or cover crops – which will be sown as soon as possible afterwards –have a greater chance of swift emergence and growing away while the sun is still high in the

sky. Every week’s delay in sowing reduces the sunshine hours available for important early growth before winter. By the end of July we had cut all of the winter barley and the oilseed rape, the earlysown spring barleys, and the Wildfarmed winter wheat – and in all cases the heaps in the shed are sadly rather smaller than we had hoped. We are still debating why this is; the usual suspect is the weather, and it’s no different this year. A wet and cold winter, late cool spring and a boiling hot June have conspired to depress yield prospects. Once again we have been experimenting with fertiliser and spray inputs. So we have yet to discover what the main wheat crop has in store.

Grow Your Own for next year

We have sown a selection of crops in one field, in order to save the seed and use it to sow our over-wintering cover crops. This will be the third year we have done so and it is amazing how well the combine copes with such variation (admittedly it is possibly something to do with the operator?!).

The seeds are very different from our other crops, and the straw is variable in texture and quantity, yet we have ended up with usable samples. Some of this year’s crops won’t be cut until after their seeds would need to have been sown, so we will dry and store those until next year. The turnips on the far left of the image have already been cut and cleaned with our ancient Rutherford cleaner, and are ready to sow again soon.

Farming or marketing?

This summer we became the proud parents of another graduate in the family. In the ceremony lists of graduates I found it a little odd that there were twice as many students of consumer behaviour and marketing than there were of agriculture. I can’t help feeling that this could reflect the reducing numbers of people occupied in grass-roots food production across the world.

• See George’s full diary here

Not quite ready - ‘having a nibble’ at the Wildfarmed wheat

by Laura Hitchcock

The Pilgrim Fryer

Driving community connections: how Paul Futcher’s fish and chip van has become a weekly staple in local villages. Rachael Rowe reports

Around 5.30pm on a certain night, the unmistakable aroma of fish and chips fills the air in villages north of Blandford Forum, enticing people out for their weekly treat. The man responsible is Paul Futcher, owner of the Pilgrim Fryer fish and chip van.

‘It all started about 15 years ago. I was working for Scottish and Southern Electric, driving trucks –and never a thought for working in the fish and chip industry! The previous owner of the fish and chip van found God and decided to train to be a vicar. I got home from work one day and my (now ex) wife said: “Do you want to buy a fish and chip van?” It went from there – needless to say I ended up buying the van!

‘We’ve always worked north of Blandford Forum and the Stour Valley. There were four original stops: Child Okeford, Shillingstone, Iwerne Minster and Stourpaine. We’ve recently added Okeford Fitzpaine.

‘With a shop, you are stuck in

one place. The beauty of a van is that it fits with our ethos of being able to provide something to communities that are not big enough to have a fish and chip shop of their own. There has been a fish and chip van outside the Bakers Arms in Child Okeford

every Thursday since 1998. The whole village knows that Thursdays is fish and chips night! We visit each village and it fills a lovely gap in the market. Some older people don’t have transport to get to a fish and chips shop.’ You can’t help but hear that the

Paul Futcher (left) has run the Pilgrim Fryer for 15 years

staff on the Pilgrim Fryer call some older residents by name.

‘We know a lot of the regular customers, especially the elderly. We know their orders and what time they are coming to collect them. When people place an order they have around 20 minutes to wait – it’s a nice opportunity to catch up with others who are waiting, usually from their own community. A lot of the elderly don’t see many other people. We chat to them and I know it means a lot that they have this in the village. We become part of the community.’ What is the most popular choice? ‘Cod and chips. It is what we focus on and without a shadow of a doubt it’s what people order most of. It’s very traditional. There is a tendency for people down south to go for cod while haddock is more popular up north. You can spot a northerner who’s moved south, they still prefer haddock,’ says Paul.

Shop local

‘We use local suppliers where we can. There are actually only two main fish and chip suppliers in this country – all the local shops use the same supplier. We use Fryers Pride, as it has a depot in Poole. The industry is really mechanised with fish caught in the Arctic on huge trawler boats. We used to get fish from the North Sea but it has moved because of the fishing quotas. Once the fish is caught, it is blast-

frozen really fast and we get the fish in packs which we portion. Because the fish has been frozen so quickly, the quality is really good, it is actually better than fresh, even though it has been stored on a trawler for three days. We get our potatoes from Alan Frout at Verwood.’

The idyllic roaming chip van life isn’t without its struggles, however.

‘It’s a challenge to get to each site and provide a consistent product day in and day out. With a van, things do go wrong – I always

have a toolbox with me. Once we turned up in Child Okeford in six inches of snow! But we felt a responsibility to be there for our customers. Another issue is working on propane; it’s not like a physical shop with mains gas and electric. It’s more challenging to produce consistency. And then there are the problems with no phone signal for taking payments, of course ...

‘But I’m proud of our connection with the local people. I never thought I would run a fish and chip van, but to be able to make a difference in people’s lives is very rewarding. We’ve become a real part of the community.’

The Pilgrim Fryer, 5 to 7.30pm:

• Mondays – Stourpaine

• Tuesdays – Shillingstone

• Wednesdays – Okeford

Fitzpaine

• Thursdays – Child Okeford

• Fridays – Iwerne Minster

The Pilgrim Fryer, coming to a village near you!

‘ We’re working on propane; without mains gas and electric, it’s challenging to produce consistency

Chocolate eclairs

These are such a decadent treat – even better because they are made with a handful of simple ingredients. I love my stand mixer as much as any other baker does, but these really work well with a simple wooden spoon and some elbow grease. Be prepared to beat the mixture really well –if your arm isn’t aching by the end, then you haven’t beaten it well enough! This recipe is for the traditional cream and chocolate version but you can fill eclairs with any combination of ingredients – toffee sauce, Nutella, fruit, coffee cream … the list goes on and on! Just try and keep the centre to some kind of soft cream and the top to something more set in nature, otherwise they become very tricky to eat! Heather

Ingredients (makes 10 to 12)

• 70g plain flour

• 55g butter

• 2 eggs (beaten)

• 120ml water

• pinch of salt

• 300ml whipping cream

• 200g chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas 6/200ºC. Grease and line a baking tray.

2. Sift the flour into a bowl and leave to one side.

3. Melt the water, butter and salt together in a large saucepan until the butter has completely melted; then bring the mixture to a boil.

4. Once boiling, take the pan off the heat and add the flour. Beat this mixture hard with a wooden spoon until it is well combined (1 to 2 minutes).

5. Return to the heat and continue beating for another minute.

6. Tip the mixture into a bowl so that it cools slightly. Slowly add the eggs a bit at a time, beating really well between each addition until the mixture is shiny and paste-like. Eventually it should drop nicely off the end of the spoon.

7. Put the mixture in a piping bag and pipe onto the tray into strips about 10cm long.

8. Sprinkle tray with some water and pop in the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to gas 3/170ºC and cook for a further 10 minutes.

9. The shells are done when they have browned and are crispy to the touch – they should have risen nicely too.

10. Remove from the oven and pierce the shells with a skewer to make a small hole, so that the steam can escape when cooling. This should help them not to collapse as they cool.

11. Once the shells are cold, they can be stored in an airtight box and will keep for a couple of days in a cool, dry place.

12. To finish the eclairs, whip the cream until it is stiff and melt the chocolate. If you are using dark chocolate, you can add some cream to the melted chocolate to make a softer ganache which won’t set as hard as melted chocolate might.

13. You can either slice the eclairs and pipe in the cream (as you would a bread roll to make a sandwich), or pipe the cream into a hole at one end (as you would when filling a doughnut).

14. Liberally drizzle the chocolate onto the eclairs.

15. Eclairs are best eaten the day the cream and chocolate are added as the moisture quickly softens the crisp shells.

Heather Brown is a food writer, photographer and stylist. A committee member of The Guild of Food Writers, Heather runs Dorset Foodie Feed, as well as working one-to-one with clients.

Images: Heather Brown

Dissatisfaction is a common thread

August has served up a strong reminder of the size and diversity of the North Dorset constituency – even after the Boundary Commission has wrought its most recent changes (the latest proposals are on their website now). I say this because August has seen the Liberal Democrat team mount a presence at both the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show and the Verwood Rustic Fayre. The two events are a long way apart in geographical terms and they also feel quite different: one is deeply rural and agricultural while the other has an air of New Forest edge-of-metropolis. What is interesting is that with exactly the same stand and precisely the same approach – asking some pertinent questions and listening hard – we had a very similar response.

There is that age-old issue that when you have lost your car keys at night you only look for them under the lamppost where there is light. We did not do that. We talked to people long and hard right across the spectrum of age, gender and the rest of the demographic niceties. We stood our ground against the diehards, meeting them with a rueful grin or two but mostly we had good amicable and engaged discussions. Over two days at the G & S and through the day in Verwood, we had something approaching 200 conversations – about one every five minutes. There were some big ticket issues from these conversations: Why doesn’t anything work properly; the self-seeking nature of politics; how out of touch our politicians are; why can’t we find a decent solution to the asylum seeker crisis; how could we have let Brexit end up like this; why can’t we come together as a nation to stop us going downhill; why

do governments do things mostly for the minority that put them there; there must be a better way of doing all this.

You get the picture? Quite a lot of despair and even more disdain for the political classes. Lessons for all.

I am delighted, therefore, to watch Sarah Dyke, our new local MP for Somerton & Frome embark on a constituency wide tour as the first thing she does. To see, hear and seek to understand about all of her constituency. My goodness me, she is a force. Still, on the lighter side, we asked attendees at both shows whether the current lot deserve another five years. The best answer we got was from the Daleks. I leave you to imagine the one-word answer…

Mike Chapman Blackmore Vale LibDems

I don’t love the solar farms either

The recent decision by Dorset Council to approve the development of a solar farm, close to where I live in the Blackmore Vale, prompted an exchange of views on social media after someone posted an article from the Daily Mail which was headlined ‘Fury as huge solar farm given the go-ahead in Hardy Country’. Not so long ago all the comments would have been strongly against the development, but this time there were a number of comments in favour. A reflection perhaps of an increasing awareness of the urgency of the situation?

It’s certainly getting harder to deny that the climate is changing, as evidenced by extreme weather-related events this year, including here in the UK and in Europe. Weather has always fluctuated of course, but the increasing trend to severe events is obvious. Some commentators were also clearly aware of the way the government has failed us so badly in the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels. The failure to develop the necessary infrastructure in renewable energy was also considered to be reflected in the ever-growing problems with health, education,

sewerage and water etc.

To those who call for development to be placed anywhere but in our own back yard, I would point out that we are all in the same boat. We all have to play our part if we are to avoid sinking together.

I doubt anyone thinks solar farms are visually attractive – or wind turbines for that matter.

I certainly don’t.

I would much rather we didn’t have to have them. But the fact of the matter is that humanity has boxed itself into a corner. Or rather, we’ve been boxed into a corner by corporations greedily pursuing profit before people and planet, and by governments failing to regulate those corporations to prevent the damage they cause. We now have to throw everything we can at the problem of global warming, in order to have any chance of stopping it getting out of hand. Co-operation needs to extend internationally of course; thankfully there are signs that’s happening as catastrophe knocks on everyone’s doors.

Ken Huggins North Dorset Green Party

Cash vs contactless: the uncertain future of banking in Dorset

The declining use of cash particularly affects the elderly and rural dwellers, says MP Chris Loder, but new regulations aim to protect access to cash

Over the last few decades, we have seen a fundamental shift in the patterns of personal banking. Cash has dominated our financial behaviour for centuries, but it has been overtaken in less than 40 years by the popularity of credit and debit cards – and, recently, contactless payments. It puts users of cash in the Blackmore Vale and wider West Dorset in an untenable situation, and raises important questions about the future role of cash in the local and national economy. The Covid pandemic accelerated these trends. In 2021, only 15 per cent of payments were made with cash. The decreased reliance on physical cash is one of the main reasons bank branches and building societies have re-structured their business models and withdrawn from our high streets. Here in the South West, we have felt this hardest: in the last decade, our region has experienced the largest fall in the number of bank and building societies by comparison with the rest of the UK. Sherborne is no exception –the town now only has a Lloyds Bank, which operates with reduced hours and doesn’t open on a Saturday. The Post Office on Cheap Street deals with cash, but only provides limited banking services. Natwest, Barclays and TSB have all come and gone, leaving users

of cash and abandoned buildings in their wake.

Cash still required

Yet, for a market town, cash in integral in transactions between Sherborne’s traders and customers. It is a reliable, secure and simple form of payment, particularly so for those who are aged over 65, who live in rural areas, use cash for smaller purchases or budgeting; and those who are not used to using – or do not have access to – digital technology and the internet. There is, therefore, still an evident need for banks and building societies to remain on our high streets. Many constituents have told me how important it is for them to be served in person when dealing with something as sensitive as their personal finances. Automated teller machines (ATMs) can bridge the gap between digital and physical banking and fill the void left behind by bank closures. In Sherborne, there are five ATMs located across the town, but for rural-dwellers outside the town,

it means a journey, perhaps up to 7km or more, just to access cash.

Have your say

Under a new framework recently announced by the Treasury, the vast majority of people and businesses should be no further than three miles (4.8km) away from withdrawing cash. This is a step in the right direction and will ensure that the most vulnerable cash users are protected. The Financial Conduct Authority has also been given new powers to ensure that banks and building societies protect access to cash.

Nonetheless, a blanket approach to the digitisation of personal banking risks excluding the most vulnerable and will disproportionately affect residents in rural areas. Many of my constituents, from Sherborne to Bridport and Dorchester, have no wish to manage their finances digitally but have effectively been forced to succumb to the changes of the banking and finance sector.

I’d be interested to know what your views are on this issue, what your preference is, and in what direction you think personal banking is going. You can submit your views to my dedicated survey at chrisloder. co.uk/banking, or you can write to me at:

Chris Loder MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

Many of my constituents have no wish to manage their finances digitally but have effectively been forced to succumb

This month’s news from the unofficial capital of the Blackmore Vale...

FREE school uniform exchange, and your shopping pays for free parking!

Pauline Batstone shares her monthly round up of what’s happening among the town’s collection of community enterprises and events

Its Back To School season – and the small people have typically grown, a lot, even in a few weeks. Recycling is good for the planet and your purse – come to our School Uniform Hub in the old Barclays Bank. Opening hours are on the window or pop in and ask at The Emporium. You can get next term’s uniform for FREE – in exchange, we aks that you think of others in turn and please do bring last term’s outgrown but good condition items with you – and don’t forget scouts or cubs uniforms too. While you’re there, have a quick look round. We have an amazing mix of useful or upcyclable furniture and large household items in the old Barclays Bank –all at excellent value.

The Boutique has just come to the end of its summer sale – if you didn’t manage to get a

summer bargain come and see the new range of excellent items we have in stock ready for the

colder weather.

Meanwhile The Emporium continues to provide a fun shopping experience – all those things you never knew you needed (or, in fact, knew you needed but never thought you’d find) – plus help yourself to the freebies in the Community Fridge and help us reduce food waste while you’re at it.

The wonderful 1855 is changing all the time thanks to our wonderful traders – if you’ve not been in for a wander for a few weeks, treat yourself to a mosey round. It’s the perfect spot for picking up a small gift, something to spoil yourself with or simply start to get ahead for ... you know what.

All three of the community

The FREE school uniform exchange inside the old Barclays Bank

shops are always ready to receive donations – and they are always ready to welcome new volunteers into the team. Do you have even a couple of hours to spare occasionally? It’s fun, it’s sociable, it gets you out of the house and your whole community will benefit.

Free parking on the first Saturday

There is always free parking – all day, both car parks – on the first Saturday of every month thanks to SturAction. By random chance *cough* it also happens to be the same day that the 200 or so car and bike enthusiasts have a friendly morning meet in the Rec ...

The Cheese Festival

9th and 10th September

We are aware that there are some who don’t realise there is a whole town attached to it! Do come up and see for yourself – the whole town will be open as usual on the Saturday and

Candys, 1855, Harts of Stur, Poets Corner Café, Oxfords Bakery and both pubs will be open on the Sunday.

The C word

When the Cheese Festival ends we swiftly turn our faces towards Christmas (sorry) – those Christmas Angels are beginning to flock, ready to fly out in December. But before that the lights will have been switched

on by Father Christmas on 25th November. We’re excited that this year Father Christmas will be in 1855 to meet the children who want to see him on each Saturday until Christmas Eve. Keep an eye open to find out what is happening when. From late night shopping on 24th November right through to the traditional Classic Car Run on New Years Day, it’s a whole month of Christmas fun in Stur!

Inside 1855 in Sturminster Newton, the town’s artisan bank with more than 70 traders

Large item furniture perfectly good for a new home, or even for upcycling projects

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.

Michael Cannon.

It was with sadness that I heard that Michael Cannon had passed away, and my sympathy is extended to Sally and his family. I first made the acquaintance of Michael in early 2018 when I approached him about purchasing Sherborne House. At the time, he decided not to, but towards the end of that year he did indeed purchase the house through a Trust he set up. I was then fortunate, soon afterwards, to meet him and Sally at the house, to be shown around the (very run down!) building and to hear about his plans for its future. We then remained in intermittent contact via email and conversations when we met - often at the Garden Centre! I witnessed the change in ideas for the building and was able to support them, as a minor player, with the relevant authorities. It was a real joy this summer to have another visit and to see the impressive progress that has been made. Clearly no expense has been spared and the work ensures the conservation of what is probably the most important secular building in Sherborne after the two Castles.

The Pet of the Month Facebook post was once again a happy parade of good pets. Would you like your pet to be featured? Share them on Facebook or send an email to photos@bvmagazine. co.uk.

Please be sure to include your pet’s name, age, and a couple of fun details about them.

It is, therefore, a real tragedy that Michael has not seen the completion of the project – but one hopes he felt secure in the knowledge of what it will become. He has left a wonderful legacy for the town and indeed the county. The opening of The Sherborne should be a fitting memorial to him – and, of course, to his mother who was, I understood, the inspiration behind what he wished to achieve.

Peter Neal, president, Sherborne and District Society CPRE

Save the ticket offices!

I am writing to highlight the proposed closure of rail ticket offices across England, that will have a devastating impact on blind and partially sighted people’s ability to travel independently: stopping people getting to work, health appointments, and seeing friends. Ticket offices are not just about selling tickets. They provide a reliable first point of contact for many kinds of staff assistance, such as arranging sighted guidance through the station and safely on to the train, to advising on any changes to journeys.

Modernisation of our railways doesn’t just mean apps and touchscreens; modernisation means inclusivity and not leaving anyone behind. These proposals must be scrapped.

Paul Glennon, Shaftesbury.

On the solar farm

The recent approval of the Hazelbury Bryan solar farm is a positive step. It may be unsightly for a few in the very short term, when you take the expected 30 years in context.

Renewable energy is crucial for combating climate change, and this project offers the chance of innovative ways to integrate solar panels with agriculture. Recent studies show that such setups can even benefit livestock and crops. Before dismissing new energy solutions, let’s consider their potential to enhance both our energy security and our countryside. Education and open-mindedness could lead us to invest in promising, sustainable ventures.

However, I’d like to see Dorset Council placing strictures and covenants on the planning to ensure the land IS used as much as possible, and isn’t simply left (with a cash cow the only livestock required for the investors).

Alan Bearns, Sturminter Newton

I’m delighted that the Council is finally taking our green energy needs seriously. However, their approach as usual appears to be an ‘all-ornothing’ solution.

When it comes to housing, for example, they seem content to simply add hundreds of homes to the outskirts of small rural communities in instant, characterless estates, without adequately considering the existing infrastructure and turning a blind eye to the struggling community. The same ‘all-or-nothing’ mindset seems to apply to the recent solar farm planning application. While solar energy is a resource that should be wholeheartedly embraced, allocating 190 acres of valuable farmland for a solar farm seems irresponsible. Particularly when this so-called ‘environmentally-conscious’ council has no mandatory requirement for new builds; the developers of the new homes springing up across Dorset have absolutely no need to include the use of solar panels.

We need a more balanced approach that both respects the environment and considers the long-term sustainability of our communities.

Anna Cours, Wimborne Minster

Have confidence in the decisions you make.

When it comes to giving advice, we take the time to get to know you and what you want to achieve, whilst making sure that we explain your options in everyday language.

Crossword Simply click to complete on your tablet, computer or phone - or there’s a download option if you prefer pen and paper.

Jigsaw

Just click to complete! Image is of the sheep waiting to be sheared at the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show – and yes it’s as fun as it looks it might be. If you get stuck, an icon at the top of the screen reveals the ‘top of the box’ picture for you to work from!

A local expert from Citizen’s Advice provides timely tips on consumer issues. In the postbag this month:

When the school costs start to stack up

Q:‘My children are starting new schools in September, one in primary and the other secondary. Between uniforms, PE kit and catching the bus each day, the costs are adding up and I’m not sure how to cover it all. Is there any help I can get?’

A: The new school year puts pressure on budgets for many families – and yes, there is help available.

A good place to start is the Citizens Advice website. There you’ll find lots of useful information on the support you might be entitled to for school-related costs.

The help you can get to cover school lunches will vary, depending on how old your children are and whether you claim benefits. Children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 automatically get free school meals.

You can also apply for free school meals for older children if you claim certain types of benefits, including Universal Credit, Child Tax Credit and Income Support.

Transport

If your child can’t walk to school because of special educational needs or disabilities they should get free school transport.

If your children can’t walk because it’s dangerous or too far, you may also be able to get help with transport costs

from your Local Education Authority (LEA).

Your LEA is the part of your local council that deals with education in your area. Contact it directly to find out exactly what support it offers.

Uniform options

If you’re on a low income, your LEA may also be able to help with activity and school uniform costs. You’re likely to be considered to be on a low income if you get

means-tested benefits like Universal Credit or Housing Benefit. There may also be a local charitable scheme that can help (for example, the community-run Boutique in Sturminster Newton collects and distributes free secondhand unforms for the local schools).

A good place to find out about this is the school itself or the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) – both will know if these kinds of schemes exist locally.

Employ My Ability offers vocational training for students with learning disabilities and special educational needs and disabilities. One of their students, Maddie Walters, spent her work experinece with us, and now writes a regular column - Ed

Back to school time for parents

Summer is officially over – and if you are a stay-at-home mum (either worried about or looking forward to) your kids going back to school, this month’s article is for you! I have been thinking about some activities mums can do while their kids are in school. Being a stay-at-home mum can be overwhelming.

When your children finally head off to school, either for the first time or after a long summer holiday, you might feel at a loose end. But now is your opportunity for some muchneeded “ME” time!

Do you find regular exercise hard to fit in? It might be time to check out your local gym! Book into a regaulr class, and make new friends while you’re at it. If a hard work-out isn’t for

you, look out for a yoga or Tai Chi class. These are more gentle forms of exercise to help you relax and get fit. Have you been missing time with friends that wasn’t centred around the kids? I bet your freinds have too. Why not set up a weekly coffee date in a local cafe with freinds or neighbours. If you’re stuck for who to meet, try the MumsMeetUp site to connect with local mums. If you have a toddler still at home, maybe with a busy schedule of morning jobs, take a break during nap time to catch up on a box set or a film. Yes it is important to get some jobs done but you also need to find some time for yourself! Learning a new skill or taking up a hobby is agreat idea – there’s

masses of information on YouTube for free. Lots of people learn new skills that way.

Formal learning (online or inperson) is another great option. You can find details of adult learning courses on the Adult Community Education website SkillsandLearning here, with a huge range of subjectes from maths and creative writing to counselling and barbering. Online classes can be done at your own pace, and are easy to fit in when you have the time. In-person classes are a great way to meet people with the same interests as you. Check your local library – Gillingham has a very active Craft Club that meets every Friday, and most local libraries have similar groups.

RBL raises £1,400 in one weekend!

The August Bank Holiday weekend saw the Sturminster Newton Royal British Legion Branch manning a stall at the Stock Gaylard Oak Fair. The Poppy Appeal organisers, Anthony and Tracy Walsh, organised a fantastic draw – with the star prize being a unique bottle of gin made for, and donated by, the Royal Marines in Poole. It came complete with a Commando dagger in the neck that the gin gets poured through! That along with 12 other prizes, a name the Teddies competition and some generous donations raised just over £1400, split between the Poppy Appeal and the Military Association. The branch would like to extend a huge thank you to all the

organisations who donated prizes and to everyone who stopped by to buy a ticket, name the teddies or just to say hello.

It was very much appreciated and made all the hard work extremely worthwhile!

£2,500 for Lewis Manning Hospice from Peter Harding Wealth Management

Peter Harding Wealth Management (PHWM), an appointed representative of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, has donated £2,500 to Lewis-Manning Hospice Care. Peter Harding and Clair Smith, representatives of PHWM, visited the hospice for a guided tour and were updated by CEO Clare Gallie on the hospice’s expansion over recent years. Peter Harding expressed admiration for the hospice’s dedication to local communities, stating, ‘It’s been great to hear about the impressive growth of the hospice’s services to the local communities that it serves, supporting patients and their families with life-limiting illnesses. We are committed to continuing our support to Lewis Manning – it’s important

to us as a business and brilliant to know that it is making a positive difference to them. We’re proud to facilitate these funds via the St. James’s Place Wealth Management Charitable Foundation.’

In response, Clare Gallie conveyed her immense gratitude: ‘We are deeply thankful to Peter Harding Wealth Management for their continued support, which is helping us bring our services closer to patients’ homes.’

Wessex Internet Dorset Cricket joins the Premier League!

Dorset is to hold the country’s 32nd ECB Premier League – after years of meticulous planning and consultations with the ECB. The initiative aims to elevate standards in the Wessex Iontenret Dorset Cricket league both on the pitch and off it. To qualify for top division play, clubs must meet specific criteria focused on ground facilities and long-term sustainability.

The league retains an ‘allthrough’ structure, meaning teams gain promotion based on performance.

The shift acknowledges a longstanding trend: ambitious young talents within the county have often sought opportunities in clubs from other leagues. Many local clubs have also opted to compete ‘out of county,’ notably in the Hampshire and Southern

Leagues—the latter already enjoying ECB Premier League status. The ultimate aim is to foster a Dorset League robust enough to keep the majority of the county team’s players playing locally.

Ben Skipworth, Cricket Dorset Ltd managing director, said ‘This is a

massively exciting development in the grassroots game and should provide a highly competitive environment for our best club players to thrive. It is a testament to the efforts of the committee, especially Alan Graham, to finally realise this level of league being in place in the county.’

L-R: Peter Harding, Clare Galley and Clair Smith

Transforming Lives Through Farming

How the Dorset charity Future roots is cultivating a new generation of resilient youths out of those abandoned by an inflexible system

Registered social worker Julie Plumley grew up on a farm – 15 years ago she saw the potential of the farming environment for helping young people who were not coping in a main stream school environment.

Future Roots has now seen over 1,200 youngsters, aged from as young as 8 up to 18, through its gates since it began in 2008.

It’s not you

Julie is quick to point out that the young attendees aren’t the problem—it’s society’s lack of both understanding and flexibility toward their unique needs. ‘Young people come to Future Roots not because they are “naughty” or “bad,” but because they need a secure learning space where they can truly flourish,’ she says. One of the charity’s notable collaborations is Branching Out, a project in association with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) that supports those who fall outside the criteria for Core CAMHS – referrals are strictly through CAMHS.

Julie believes that farming is a gateway which offers an alternative learning opportunity and prepares young people for future life.

Future work

Some of the youngsters who have attended Future Roots have themselves become farmers and thanks to the lottery funded Youth Ambassador programme young people who have attended Future Roots will be able to have their say about what things impacted most on their life in a positive and negative way. This will include what has worked, what they would have liked to happen and what they think might have worked for them, resulting in a book of life stories and a video. These materials will be used as training tools when approaching teachers, social workers, and youth workers. The lottery has also funded Rural Remedies at Future Roots, which supports very young people from nine to 13 years who don’t have statutory intervention but are referred via families, teachers or other people who know them and feel they are struggling. As a result of Covid, the team at Future Roots is finding that there are many young people

struggling and too anxious to even go out the door. The Rural Remedies work is around improving confidence, resilience and helping these young people to catch up.

The charity recently received two year funding for its Futures programme from the John Lewis partnership and the Police Crime Commissioners Fixing the Future Fund which is centred on supporting Future Roots young people into adulthood, assisting them into suitable work or training settings.

‘Over 17 years of work at Future Roots, we have demonstarted that farming can be one of the greatest learning opportunities and untapped health and social care services.’ says Julie. ‘It enables young people to become resilient, purposeful, confident, caring members of society, providing stability and direction.’

Director needed

Future Roots is currently on the hunt for a Deputy Director to increase the capacity of its management team and to help run a number of new projects that have developed over the past couple of years. If you’te inetrested, more info and full job description here.

Future Roots students are expected to participate in all aspects of farming

Julie believes in the innate benefits of simply learning to look after livestock

Monday on Boscombe Pier Paul Waterkeyn

Godwit ballet Sarah McNulty

Perseid meteor over a lone tree near Wincanton with the Milky Way

Simon Lewis

Big sky, big wheel

Debs Baker

Heron Kate Fry

Gulp

Helen Sly

Fireworks over Bournemouth

Brian Wareham

Lulworth Cove

Danny Howe

Whimbrel landing

Alan Searle

We welcome photography submissions from readers - the only rule is that they must have been taken locally in the last month. Our cover shot is usually selected from our submissions pile. If you’d like to join in, please share it in The BV community Facebook Group or simply email it to us on photos@bvmagazine.co.uk

Sunflowers Jull Bramley

Beautiful Demoiselle

Warren Port

Summer picnic Rebecca Cooke

Get sowing!

Sow hardy annuals like cornflowers and calendula now for robust, early blooms, says farmer Charlotte Tombs – but protect them from winter frost

If you sow hardy annuals such as cornflowers (centaurea), Bishop’s flower (Queen Anne’s lace or ammi majus) or pot marigold (calendula) from mid August to early September the plants will be big enough to plant out in mid to late October. The soil will still be warm enough then for the roots to establish themselves – be warned the plants will sit and sulk over the winter months and you will no doubt think ‘what was Charlotte on about’! Stick with me – as soon as the temperatures start to improve those sulky little plants will

Amazing Grey poppy

All images: Charlotte Tombs

Calendula with a small guest

rocket into life and you will have bigger, stronger, earlierflowering plants. Be aware that if we have some of those hideous cold snaps like we did in December last year, these babies will need a little bit of frost protection. I lost a few shrubs myself last winter as we’d had such a mild autumn then bang; they got frost burned and never came back. Actually I’ve yet to meet a gardener who didn’t lose something over last winter, climate change is visibly happening around us. For this reason I will be growing more perennials from seed this year – they seem to be able to cope better with our changing climate. Then when October comes you can sow your autumn sweet peas. Don’t be tempted now –it’s still too warm and they will get over-excited and try and flower and set seed. Other annuals you may want to try are honeywort (cerinthe) and love-in-a-mist (nigella). Poppies (papaver) are also wonderful –look out for one called Amazing Grey, it’s incredible, it looks like crushed silk to tissue paper and as the name hints it comes in an array of grey (not quite 50 shades though!!). Others to try are florist’s dill (anethum

graveolens) and if you’re keen on wild carrot (daucus), look out for Purple Kisses. You can see

it far more clearly on the white variety but the red spot in the middle of the flower is allegedly the blood from where Queen Anne pricked her finger while making lace.

Also don’t dismiss the lovely little snapdragons (antirrhinum) and give them a go. I do a second sowing of these in February. Not all of these can be planted out in the autumn unless you are in a very sheltered spot, but all of them can be overwintered in a cold green house.

If you are interested in getting ahead with your annual flowers, I found the book Cool Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler invaluable. As always, please do feel free to ask me any questions and I will try my best to help!

Bishop’s flower – also known as Ammi majus or Queen Anne’s lace

Charlotte’s cornflowers in some rare 2023 sunshine

Time to start thinking ahead

There are still jobs to be done in September, but it’s also the month when we begin to prepare for next year, says gardener Pete Harcom

Believe it or not, preparing for spring is what’s on the cards in September!

Spring bulbs – daffodils, crocus and hyacinths –wallflowers, pansies and forget -me-nots can all be planted from now through into the autumn. They all give an early boost for insects, birds and small animals in the spring, and play a vital role in helping a healthy garden thrive.

Jobs for September:

• Collect ripe seeds from your favourite flowers and store in labelled envelopes, ready to sow in spring. No, you really won’t ‘just remember’ if you don’t write it down now!

• Trim conifer hedges to control their height.

• Leave sunflower heads in place and let them go to seed for birds to feed on.

The birds and the bees

Attracting butterflies and insects into the garden can be very rewarding. As September is a great month for planning ahead, I’ve pulled together a list of plants which can help:

Verbena bonariensis – I can personally testify that this plant is an exceptional attraction for butterflies!

Lavender – always a great pollinator for honey bees.

Honeysuckle – not just for the bees, this is a lovely plant for scent in your garden.

Hawthorn – another great early flower which will help

give our insects a boost (and the birds love the berries too). Sedums - never overlook the little guy; these can attract multiple butterflies and other insects at the same time! Vipers Bugloss – you’ll have seen it on your walks, it is a native wildflower and bees go wild for it, but do note that it is poisonous.

Allium – with their large ballshaped heads of flowers, they make a real statement as well as attracting insects. Snapdragon – it may be short-lived, but it’s an easyto-grow perennial (though it’s often used as an annual). The snapdragon conjures up images of typical English country gardens, and, just like the foxglove, it’s fun to watch bees climbing in and out of the flower heads.

The buddleia problem

Commonly known as the ‘butterfly bush’, it has become increasingly clear that buddleia davidii can be highly invasive. It produces lots of small, light seeds which

spread extremely easily. It can grow in many places – even in cracks in buildings several floors up.

Buddleia davidii does attract many butterflies, but if it is at the expense of rare invertebrates that would otherwise be living there, it is preferable to plant noninvasive flowers to provide nectar for the butterflies.. That being said, if you like your buddleia davidii, you don’t have to remove it! Do prune it severely as soon as the flowers have faded –that means it doesn’t have a chance to spread its seeds – and dispose of the pruning carefully. When your buddleia dies, consider replacing it with non-invasive shrubs. Also try buddleia x weyeriana, which has sterile yellow flowers that won’t set seed (a much better option in my humble opinion!).

Also – some varieties of cotoneaster have become invasive. Check with your local garden centre for the most appropriate varieties.

Painted Lady butterfly on Buddleia x weyeriana “Sungold”

The Voice of the Allotment We’ve never had it so good!

The warm, wet summer hasn’t been a pleasure for most of us, but the veg approve – Barry Cuff has never had such a good harvest

A very damp July was followed by a damp August – perfect conditions for potato and tomato blight. Coupled with high humidity and warm nights, it was inevitable that there would be an outbreak of the disease. First signs on the potato leaves were spotted at the end of July, but the spread from plant to plant was unusually slow. However, by 15th August it had spread to all the potatoes on the site. This disease can be difficult to spot and can be confused with magnesium deficiency, which was common this season and probably due to the high summer rainfall. Once blight is seen it is best to remove the haulms* to prevent the disease from reaching the tubers.

We always plant our potatoes early in the season so as to avoid the worst of the blight, and we remove the haulms ten days before lifting. Our maincrop varieties were all dug and stored by the 20th, and the earlies and second earlies were dug in July.

Crop round up

The wet summer has ensured there was good growth of vegetables and fruit – in more than 30 years on the plot I cannot remember such good yields from most of our crops!

• Beetroot: these have simply been harvested as needed for salads and pickling.

• Brassicas: All are doing well and protected from pigeons by a net! There has been less Cabbage White caterpillar damage than some years – these are just removed by hand when seen.

• Carrot: We are lifting good roots of Early Nantes. We made a last sowing on 18th.

• Celeriac: The plants growing well. We mulched with compost on 20th.

• Celery: Loving the rain! Dug one plant on 20th.

• Chinese Leaves: Sown on the 13th (Mustards, Mizuna) after potatoes were lifted.

• Chinese radishes: Four varieties were sown on 13th – will need to keep an eye out for flea beetle.

• Courgette: Plentiful harvest!

• French Beans: Finally slowed down by 25th.

• Gherkins: Plentiful picking every third day.

• Leeks: Growing well.

• Lettuce: Excellent hearted plants of Little Gem from successional sowings.

• Mange tout: Still picking twice a week.

• Onion: Excellent bulbs of both Golden Bear and Bonus. Harvesting over a period to allow to dry.

• Parsnips: Amazing tops, so we should have good roots for late autumn and winter.

• Peas: Our single disappointing crop, the peas finished producing in early July.

• Raspberries: Very plump fruit picked every third day. Bees and hoverflies have been doing a wonderful job pollinating the flowers.

• Runner beans: Production has now slowed down.

• Spring onion: The last lot sown is doing well and simply being pulled as required.

• Sweetcorn: We had our first cobs on 23rd – and they were delicious!

• Squashes (winter): The patch is actually a jungle, but I have managed to spot two Crown Prince and one Butternut!

• Sweet Peppers: All varieties are doing well in the greenhouse. First fruits were picked mid month.

• Tomatoes: Large pickings from the greenhouse! *the stalks or stems

Bees enjoying a large Echinops on the allotment flower border

Embrace the rain

It might be a damp squib of a summer, but Thorngrove’s Secret Garden might be just the treat you need, says Kelsi-Dean Buck

The last days of what little Summer we’ve had are upon us! It’s been an unsettled one, but we’re delighted that so many of you still chose to stop by and see us in the garden centre and café here at Thorngrove in Gillingham. The cyclamen are looking delightful right now in the courtyard and doing their best to steal the show – plus we have plenty of beautiful summer plants such as dahlias, rudbeckias, and hebes – all looking for their new homes with you!

Prep is currently underway for the autumn and winter – yep, even Christmas will be here before

you know it (secretly we can’t wait – it’s always a feel-good time of the year!). We’ve got some work happening behind the scenes to hopefully bring a special Christmas event to Thorngrove – stay tuned, but bear with us while we iron out the details.

What’s good this month?

Looking for garden ideas this month? September means the beginning of the autumn season, so it’s a good time to focus on plants that thrive in cooler temperatures and are suited for the transition to winter. Spring bulbs, cool-season vegetables, herbs like parsley, chives, thyme and sage and of course the winter colour stalwarts of pansies and violas. We have a humongous selection of seeds and bulbs – plus all your planting tools and essentials if you’re looking to get started for the new planting season.

Got skills? Want to run a workshop?

Something else which is happening behind the scenes is our new events calendar. We’re currently working with a range of creative local craft people who will be hosting some special workshops and events at Thorngrove in the coming months. We’re keen to really build our calendar for the next 12 months, so consider this a call to action! If you’d like to utilise some of our space, and collaborate with some cross promotions and marketing support from us – please get in touch! Whether you’re looking to host something plant-themed, arts and crafts, or perhaps educational workshops – we want to hear from you!

Connecting with a diverse and creative group of local people in Gillingham and the surrounding communities is one of our top priorities. Let’s talk!

– info@thorngrovegardencentre.co.uk

I t w a s a l o v e l y a f t e r n o o n s u c h a n a f t e r n o o n a s o n l y S e p t e m b e r c a n p r o d u c e , w h e n s u m m e r h a s s t o l e n b a c k f o r o n e m o r e d a y o f d r e a m a n d g l a m o u r .

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a d v e r t i s i n g @ B V m a g a z i n e . c o . u k

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m o n t h , b o o k i n g d e a d l i n e a l w a y s t h e

F r i d a y p r i o r t o p u b l i s h i n g

– L M Montgomery