Blackmore Vale Issue 67

Lessons give refugees a vital voice

lives in large towns, where many have left professional careers.

SHAFTESBURY’S

Oksana said she was grateful Skills & Learning, the Dorset adult community education service, was able to provide the friendly and well-qualified tutors, as well as covering transport costs such as taxi or bus

Hedging our bets

Over 100km of hedgerow has already been surveyed in West Dorset, but the journey has only just begun by John Calder, GBDH Survey Lead HEDGEROWS are not a natural phenomenon. We humans invented them centuries ago to help us to manage food production. Not much else explains the presence of the 100km of hedgerows that have already been surveyed in the Great Big Dorset Hedge (GBDH) project. Those hedgerows provide many additional benefits that are now important as we collectively address both the global climate emergency and the local losses of biodiversity.

Our West Dorset hedgerows are generous in proportions and complex in their structure. We have banked hedges; we have double-planted hedges; we have speciesrich hedges; we have hedges with ditches and their scale is generally BIG. So, in these parts, it is especially urgent to restore our existing hedgerows. Planting new hedges will help too, and across England the government has a target of a 40%

increase by 2050, which is a big ask. We are constantly looking for the sites where it would be reasonable to put them.

Right now, the community network Dorset CAN (DCAN, www.dorsetcan.org) is mobilising supporters for the GBDH. We currently have over 100 volunteer hedgerow surveyors, but more are needed if we are to fulfil our mission to see our hedgerows enhanced or augmented.

In this initial survey phase, GBDH volunteers are assessing the present condition and composition of Dorset’s hedges, starting with those that are accessible from major public trails. Those results are then shared with the relevant local communities and with landowners. Wherever the response invites it, we can then move on to a collaboration with the landowner. Farm-wide hedgerow surveys can then be initiated with hedgerow restoration and the planting of new hedges as the ultimate outcomes.

All this groundwork anticipated the announcement of the Hedgerow Standard for DEFRA’s emerging Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS). The scheme should be providing the funding that would enable England’s hedgerowplanting targets to be achieved. As things stand, however, we do not see those

ambitious government goals adequately matched by the current elements of the scheme, but discussions with DEFRA are ‘ongoing’. Janet Hughes, programme director for DEFRA’s Future Farming and Countryside Programme recently reassured us, “We’ll be in touch very shortly on the specific points you’ve raised and also on the way we’re proposing to work going forward, taking into consideration everything we’ve learned so far”.

The GBDH project is currently appealing for volunteers. Every volunteer has a very important contribution to make, and can choose the level of commitment that suits them and their circumstances. We do need more who are able and willing to take on the local coordinator role, but that will come naturally as our surveyors become more experienced.

All over Dorset, volunteers who cherish our hedgerows have been inspired to train to undertake the GBDH surveys. Most of them are also eager to be out there planting hedges in due course, but the landowners first need to find the time to prioritise their hedgerows among their many other challenges. A sustained collaboration may be needed to bring through the successes we seek.

You can sign up as a GBDH surveyor online at www.dorsetcan.org/hedge/ volunteer. Enjoy the rich heritage of the Dorset countryside, explore these manmade landscape features that we have inherited from generations of practicing farmers, learn something new, and help to make a difference.

Volunteer hedge surveyors Helen and Meredith on the Jubilee Trail at Toller Fratrum

Left: Sally, Michele and John surveyed hedgerow at Kingston Maurward; Below: Simon, Tracee, Richard, Pippa, Richard and Stuart enjoy the sun at Wynford Eagle!

Paws for thought

New robotic companion puppy helps Ruby to relax

IT was a real joy to watch as Wincanton resident, Ruby Shave, was introduced to her robotic pet puppy, donated by Dementia Friendly Gillingham.

Local people will be familiar with Ruby, who has spent her life in Wincanton, and for many years played a significant role as a town councillor. Ruby also has family connections to Gillingham.

Within minutes of them being introduced, Ruby and the pup were chatting away to each other, the smile on her face proving the therapeutic effect of these pets. Ruby had to be reminded that her new puppy wouldn’t need feeding or walking, and it was very well house trained!

Multiple studies have proven that pets – in particular cats and dogs – provide a joyful, calming, mood-boosting lift to those living with Dementia-related illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease. Robotic pet therapy

is proven to reduce stress, brings smiles and reconnects with loved ones and carers.

These award-winning Joy for All pets feel and behave like real animals; when the owner sleeps they sleep, with a gentle rise and fall of their body as though they are breathing. When the person wakes and strokes their back, or talks to it, the ‘pet’ wakes. Needless to say the puppy is a bundle of fun. They can be put on mute if the gentle woof irritates.

To find out more about Dementia Friends please visit www.dementiafriends.org.uk

Dates for your diary

The Wessex Morris Men will be dancing at a pub near you over the next couple of months…

April 23

11:45am The Baker Arms, Child Okeford, DT11 8ED

1pm The Saxon Inn, Child Okeford, DT11 8HD

May 1 – May Day

5.15am Above the Giant, Cerne Abbas, DT2 7LA

7am Village Square, Cerne Abbas, DT2 7JG

May 15

7.30pm Quicksilver Mail, Yeovil, BA20 2RG

8.15pm Jack the Treacle Eater, Yeovil, BA22 9TD

9pm The Royal Oak, Stoford, BA22 9UD

May 22

7.30pm Marquis of Lorne, Nettlecombe, DT6 3SY

8.15pm The New Inn, Shipton Gorge, DT6 4LT

Frying high after award

A BLANDFORD fish and chip shop is celebrating after being awarded a prestigious quality mark.

The Forum Frier has gained a place among the UK’s top chippies after achieving the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) Quality Accreditation, sponsored by Sarsons Vinegar.

To qualify, each shop must go through a virtual inspection by an NFFF Approved Assessor who assesses the shop’s presentation, hygiene and cleanliness, staff training, equipment, frying and sales skills and most importantly the quality of the cooked product.

A Forum Frier spokesperson said: “We are delighted to gain our place in the scheme. To be recognized as one of the top fish and chip shops by the NFFF is indeed an honour and a credit to Cookie and all our hardworking staff. I would like to offer them my sincere thanks for their continued

hard work and efforts to maintain our excellent reputation.

“The accreditation process is very rigorous with every aspect of the business inspected from top to bottom with no room for error or a drop in quality throughout.

“I would personally like to thank all our customers, new and old. The support and encouragement they have offered has been great. It has motivated us to maintain our high standards which have been recognised with this accreditation.”

NFFF president, Andrew Crook, said the award signals to consumers they can buy with confidence.

“The NFFF Quality Accreditation scheme is extremely comprehensive,” he said. “Food safety is a key area that we examine together with other key aspects of the business including the preparation and cooking equipment, to the management of paperwork and the traceability of fish.

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“The Forum Frier clearly takes pride in where it sources its fish and potatoes from,” Andrew added.

“Achieving the NFFF Quality Accreditation provides reassurance to customers that they are being served cooked food using high-quality ingredients.”

Each Fish and Chip Quality Accreditation is valid for a year and retention is dependent on standards being maintained as validated by NFFF officials and appointed assessors.

Age Concer n North Dorset

400186 to advertise

(Sturminster Newton)

Age Concer n North Dorset (Sturminster Newton)

Your local charity for all age-related information and advice

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& Wednesday. Answerphone Friday

We realise talking about divorce or separation is very personal and so we are offering virtual appointments by Zoom. As an alternative, we offer a one off FREE telephone appointment for initial advice on Wednesdays 9am – 1pm

We realise talking about divorce or separation is very personal and so we are offering appointments at our offices. For new clients seeking initial advice a FREE appointment can be booked on Wednesdays 9am – 1pm.

To book an appointment please call us on 01747 852377

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Offices in Shaftesbury – Sturminster Newton – Gillingham

Age Concer n North Dorset

(Sturminster Newton)

Your local charity for all age-related information and advice

Befriending Welfare Advice

Warmwelcome

A NEW vicar has been installed for the Benefice of Sturminster Newton, Hinton St Mary and Lydlinch.

The Bishop and Archdeacon of Sherborne were on hand for the induction and installation of the Revd Mary Gubbins at St Mary’s Parish Church, Sturminster Newton, on Tuesday, March 28.

The Revd Gubbins was presented to the Bishop by Robin Gibbs, churchwarden of Hinton St Mary, representing the Benefice Patron, Anthony Pitt-Rivers.

Balance Classes

01258 475582

& Wednesday. Answerphone Friday

Telephone Support Foot Clinic info@acnorthdorset.org.uk | www.acnorthdorset.org.uk

Revd Gubbins comes to Dorset from the Lacock Benefice, where she was a Team Vicar. She is married to Andrew and they have three adult children.

She said she has a natural curiosity about people and places and is looking forward to getting to know many people in the Benefice and beyond.

The Mayor of Sturminster Newton was also at the service, organised by the Rural Dean and well attended by the Benefice churches and clergy from the Blackmore Vale Deanery.

L to R: Revd Penny Sayer, Archdeacon of Sherborne; Revd Mary Gubbins; Mr Anthony Pitt-Rivers, Patron of the Benefice; and Revd Karen Gorham, Bishop of Sherborne

Beeny’s Bruton barns

PROPERTY development star Sarah Beeny and her husband Graham Swift have resubmitted plans to change the use of a number of barns on their estate near Bruton.

The couple, who live at Stoney Stoke, have applied to change the use of a range of agricultural buildings at Stoke Farm to create five new homes.

Two barns will be converted into four dwellings – three two-bed and one threebed – with another two barns converted into a single, five-bedroom home.

Shillingstone defibrillator

A POTENTIALLY lifesaving piece of equipment has been installed at a Dorset train station.

The North Dorset Railway, in conjunction with the Dorset Village Defibrillator Scheme, has installed the device at Shillingstone Station.

The Public Access Defibrillator will be available on days the facility is open to the public.

Public Access

Defibrillators (PADs) are being installed in North Dorset villages, towns and small estates to support the ambulance service in allowing even untrained members of the public improve the chances of the survival of a person who has stopped breathing.

The members of the railway charity at Shillingstone were given an initial introduction and the defibrillator is now installed. A total of 13 volunteers have received training.

For more information on the defibrillator scheme, email dvdefib@gmail.com

For more on the North Dorset Railway, visit www. northdorsetrailway.co.uk, or shop online at www. shillingstonestationonline. co.uk

It comes three years after a previous change of use application was approved by South Somerset District Council.

It would see the homes developed near Mrs Beeny and Mr Swift’s Somerset home, on a 223-acre former dairy farm. Their journey building their dream home was the subject of the Channel 4 series, New Life in the Country.

For more information and to comment on the scheme, visit www.southsomerset.gov.uk and search for reference 23/00769/PAMB.

Exceptional Platinum Award-Winning Care Gold Standards Framework 2022

Exceptional Platinum Award-Winning Care Gold Standards Framework 2022

Lasting companionship

Elegant interiors

Warburton’s still missing in action

More than a year since Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton hit the headlines amid a slew of sleaze allegations, it seems everyone is frustrated with the lack of progress

IN April 2022, David Warburton had the Conservative whip withdrawn as allegations of sexual harassment and drug taking surfaced, with an investigation by the parliamentary harassment watchdog still being carried out – or so we believe.

But a year on, the 82,000-strong electorate in Somerton and Frome is still in limbo over the future of their elected representative.

The Liberal Democrat hoping to take his seat at the next general election is among those calling on the MP to make things clearer himself, by standing down.

Sarah Dyke said: “How an MP who has been banned from entering his own place of work and who has been missing in action for a year now could genuinely feel he is representing his constituents is baffling.

“This scandal, following dozens facing the Conservative party in recent years, has had a serious impact on the representation of local people.

“David Warburton has failed the people of Somerton and Frome for too long. He has never once put his constituents first and we are fed up of being taken for granted by him and this Conservative Government.

“He should resign immediately and allow the electorate to elect a new voice in Parliament to speak up for us.”

Following the allegations, published on April 2 last year, Mr Warburton has also faced probes into financial dealings.

In one, the 57-year-old was found to have breached the MPs’ code of conduct over a £150,000 loan, with claims of another

donation and mortgage applications also hitting the headlines in recent months.

The snowballing controversies have led to increased frustration at home.

Two councils in the constituency –Langport and Frome – have passed votes of no confidence in the MP.

Sean Dromgoole, leader of Langport Town Council and the Labour candidate against Mr Warburton at the last two elections, said: “The lack of parliamentary representation is felt right across the constituency.

“Perhaps ... we can move Mr Warburton towards considering his own position in the light of those he cannot now represent.”

But Mr Warburton remains unmoved, himself dealing with increasing levels of frustration as the saga remains unresolved after a ‘long, painful year’.

“Frustratingly for all concerned, nothing has changed other than Mr Speaker has been able to grant me a proxy vote so I continue to vote in the Commons each day,” he said.

“All Ministerial meetings, Written Questions to Govt, surgeries and casework continue as normal. I have worked on almost 4,000 pieces of casework since this all began. The investigation has now taken a long, painful year and I can only hope it concludes as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, political business continues – except, it seems, for the Conservatives in Somerton and Frome.

Tory associations across the country are announcing their candidates for the next

A walk around…

Sherborne

Soak up the scenery as you walk with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

BEGIN at Sheeplands Lane, adjacent to which is a new housing estate with room to park. Go south west down the lane then turn right, north west, up Trent Path Lane (rather muddy in places) along the boundary with Castleton. After about half a mile turn right, north east, still following the boundary until you meet the B3148, Marston Road.

Cross the road and take a lane that heads north at first then doubles round to the right heading south east then curving to the east for a while before meeting Sandford Orcas Road and heading north for half a mile. This part of the walk is in valleys between steep hills and follows the boundary. Then join, on your right, a byway, Quarr Lane,

general election – expected any time between now and summer 2024.

But not in Somerton and Frome.

We contacted the Conservative Association for the constituency, asking for an update of the selection process, but heard nothing back.

Mr Warburton is, currently, an independent MP having had the Conservative whip withdrawn.

Everyone, it seems, is in limbo.

In a letter to Mr Dromgoole the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, said, well, not very much.

Mr Greenberg said ‘all investigations carried out or overseen by my office are carried out as quickly as is compatible with rigorous collection of evidence and complete fairness of decision making’.

The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), which deals with cases of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct in the parliamentary community, has also declined to comment on the case.

A Parliament spokesperson said: “Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) operates on the basis of confidentiality for the benefit of all parties. Therefore, we cannot provide any information on any complaint, including whether or not a complaint has been received.”

So, a year on, it seems none of us is any clearer on when, or how, this will all end –save for a general election, which may well come first.

part of the Macmillan Way, which takes you uphill, still following the boundary for a while, south eastwards, although with a few bends.

When you cross the brow, continue downhill past Lower Clatcombe Farm. Soon there’s a nature reserve on your right hand side. It has paths parallel with our route so you might want to branch off to explore it. You then join a road, Blackberry Lane, that take you downhill, south south west, past a pub, The Carpenter’s Arms, a skateboard park and Cadet Scout premises.

At a junction at the bottom of the hill, turn left, south, for a short distance to join the Marston Road which takes you north westwards back to Sheeplands Lane where you started. You’ll have walked nearly four miles.

Bullock-proof hedge

A record 62 people competed at the recent 26th annual Blackmore and Sparkford Vale hunt hedge-laying competition at Babcary

THE skill of hedge-laying dates back to before medieval times and is a central feature of our unique landscape.

The upright shoot is cut just above the ground at a 45-degree angle and bent over to form a thick barrier. It is then held down by a crook driven into the ground. This style of hedging is indicative of Devon, Dorset and south Somerset. In other counties, stakes are driven into the ground instead of crooks, and in some areas hazel is wound along the top of the stakes to stop the laid trunks from rising, Our Westcountry style doesn’t achieve the heights that stakes can manage, but after a year it makes a solid mass that will withstand an aggressive bullock.

This year’s hedge was unusual because it contained a preponderance of field maple, which has the reputation of being brittle and snapping right off. The competitors were lucky, however, perhaps because the sap

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was beginning to rise.

The unique feature of this competition is that professional trainers work with the novice class, enabling anyone to enter – even if they don’t have any hedge-laying experience.

“Your staff are exemplary in every way. They care for my every need, showing genuine kindness and always go above and beyond the call of duty. The excellent chef caters for my special diet - all cooked to perfection. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

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Current resident

Stunning views

Could you help breastfeeding mums?

Dorset network is looking for mums who are passionate about breastfeeding to volunteer to support parents across the county

VOLUNTEERS are being urged to come forward to become breastfeeding peer supports for new mums in Dorset.

The Breastfeeding Network (BfN) Dorset is commissioned by Public Health Dorset to provide families with evidencebased information and support with a range of everyday breastfeeding challenges, support with positioning and attachment, as well as emotional and moral support.

“From pregnancy through to natural-term weaning, combi-feeding, expressing or exclusively breastfeeding, all parents are welcome at any stage of their journey,” said a spokesperson.

The fully-funded training gives mums the opportunity to gain an OCN accredited level 2 qualification.

They will then go on to volunteer in their community, offering friendly support and information to other parents, as well as a

safe space and a community for like-minded parents.

“Our volunteers receive regular supervision sessions to help with their ongoing training and support needs, and become part of the wider Breastfeeding Network team, as well as being able to go on and complete further training if they

want to – dependent on availability of funding,” the spokesperson added.

The next BfN Dorset Level 2 peer helpers course is running from April 20, lasting for 12 weeks, with a two-hour session a week delivered online via Zoom.

BfN Dorset is looking for volunteers across the Vale, particularly: Blandford (Friday mornings), Dorchester (day tbc) and Sherborne (Tuesday mornings).

Sam Morris, a peer helper volunteer, said: “I’m very privileged to support families when they’re growing and moving into the next stage of their life, as much as I can help others, it’s personally rewarding to be in this lucky position, too.”

BfN Dorset service manager Ashley Gallimore added: “Our service relies on our amazing volunteers to support parents, and our training courses really equip our volunteers to do this.

If you are interested in becoming a peer helper, fill in the application form at www. breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/30859-2

For more information about support groups in Dorset, visit www. breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/dorset.

Amethyst and diamond rose gold cluster ring £1050

Clement White | 8 High Street

Somerset | BA20 1RG

Jewellery Repairs | Watch Repairs | Commissions | Restringing

The Breastfeeding Network (BfN) Dorset is looking for volunteers

PHOTO: PublicDomainPictures/ Pixabay

Pig heaven?

Local nature reserve is overwhelmed with volunteers as it appeals for pig sitters to keep an eye on its newest recruits

CONSERVATION comes in many forms, and in the case of three new arrivals at Bere Marsh Farm near Shillingstone, it’s coloured sandy, has blotches of black, white legs and a long snout.

Known as the Oxford sandy and black pig, a trio of females of this rare breed has taken up residence in one of the farm’s fields with a specific job to do – rootle up the ground to create small patches of bare ground for grey willow and other wild plants to establish.

The idea, suggested by renowned ecologist Derek Gow, is part of the Countryside Regeneration Trust’s (CRT) plan to create a ‘wilder’ field where tussocky grass and scattered scrub will be encouraged to develop. This will provide a large area of new habitat for insects and field voles, and plenty more food for the farm’s barn owls.

Bere Marsh Farm volunteers will be on duty every day to feed and check on the

welfare of the pigs, following a request for people willing to take part in Operation Pig Watch.

“We’ve never had a response like it,” said Bere Marsh farm manager Elaine Spencer-White. “We needed five or six people as a minimum, but within 24 hours we had 14 pig-sitters, with two in reserve.”

The volunteers will monitor the pigs’ daily welfare, as well as feed them, but it is important there is no set routine to feeding time, other than they will be fed between 8am and noon. Nor will their food be served neatly in a trough, instead it will be scattered on the field to encourage their rootling activities.

Since pig-promoted conservation hasn’t been utilised at Bere Marsh Farm before,

there is something of the unknown about what plants will start to establish themselves in the patches the pigs create, but CRT hopes to see results reasonably quickly.

“We’ll be taking a photo from the same spot overlooking the field so we can keep a detailed record of exactly how, with the pigs’ assistance, habitats develop over future years,” added Elaine.

The CRT has 2,000 acres of land across 19 properties in England and aims to regenerate and protect the countryside and its wildlife.

Conservatories, Solid Roofs, Bi-Folds, Sealed Units, Windows, Doors, Fascia, Soffit & Guttering

Conservatories, Solid Roofs, Bi-Folds, Sealed Units, Windows, Doors, Fascia, Soffit & Guttering

Conservatories, Solid Roofs, Bi-Folds, Sealed Units, Windows, Doors, Fascia, Soffit & Guttering

Conservatories, Solid Roofs, Bi-Folds, Sealed Units, Windows, Doors, Fascia, Soffit & Guttering

Conservatories, Solid Roofs, Bi-Folds, Sealed Units, Windows, Doors, Fascia, Soffit & Guttering

Showroom in Orchard Park Garden Centre,

Conservatories, Solid Roofs, Bi-Folds, Sealed Units, Windows, Doors, Fascia, Soffit & Guttering

Showroom in Orchard Park Garden Centre,

Gillingham, SP8 5JG (Showroom by appointment only)

Gillingham, SP8 5JG (Showroom by appointment only)

Gillingham, SP8 5JG (Showroom by appointment only)

Conservatories, Solid Roofs, Bi-Folds, Sealed Units, Windows, Doors, Fascia, Soffit & Guttering

Open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm

Open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm

Gillingham, SP8 5JG (Showroom by appointment only)

Open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm

Open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm

Telephone 01747 826888

Showroom in Orchard Park Garden Centre, www.valecraft.co.uk

Telephone 01747 826888

Telephone 01747 826888

www.valecraft.co.uk

Showroom in Orchard Park Garden Centre, Showroom in Orchard Park Garden Centre, Gillingham SP8 5JG

Gillingham, SP8 5JG (Showroom by appointment only)

Telephone 01747 826888

Gillingham, SP8 5JG (Showroom by appointment only)

Showroom in Orchard Park Garden Centre, www.valecraft.co.uk

www.valecraft.co.uk

Open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm

Open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm

Open Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone 01747 826888

Telephone 01747 826888

Showroom in Orchard Park Garden Centre, www.valecraft.co.uk

www.valecraft.co.uk

Tel: 01747 826888

www.valecraft.co.uk

Volunteer Alison Chopping with the three Oxford sandy and black pigs at Bere Marsh Farm

Green-fingered friends

If you want to grow your interest and expertise in gardening, the North Cadbury and District Gardening Club would love to hear from you

YOU can be assured of a warm welcome from this friendly and inclusive local gardening club, which meets at North Cadbury village hall at 7.30pm on the third Wednesday of the month. Club members enjoy discount cards through the club’s association with Castle Gardens Garden Centre, Sherborne, and there’s a wide and varied programme of events throughout the year.

Each month sees a new guest speaker, with future talks planned on roses by garden designer and author Heidi Howcroft, and Bishop’s Palace Gardens by the head gardener.

In May, the Club holds a plant and cake sale, which is always very popular with members and non-members alike. Club members who are able supply plants, which may be seedlings or propagated cuttings of flowering, edible, fruiting or indoor plants. Equally, if you are an avid baker, the club will find good homes for your delicious creations.

During the warmer months the club likes to get out and about. By special arrangement this July, they will be looking in on Libby Russell’s Batcombe House Garden. Libby is an accomplished international garden designer who has been developing her own garden for 25 years.

This year the social calendar includes a lively gardening-themed quiz and social evening with wine and nibbles, annual Christmas pub lunch, and a village open gardens event in the summer. Some

members kindly open their gardens for an afternoon of admiration, followed by a cream tea in the village hall.

Annual membership is £15, and the club is always happy to welcome guests for a small fee. Please email susie.ncgardening @outlook.com if you’d like to know more.

The head gardener of Bishop’s Palace Gardens (right) will be a guest speaker at North Cadbury Gardening Club this year

The grass isn’t always greener…

You can help give wildlife food and shelter in your garden by allowing a few ‘weeds’ to inhabit your lawn

by Alex Hennessy of Dorset Wildlife Trust

THE very best lawns for wildlife are the ones that contain a variety of plant species. To help encourage more wildflowers and wildlife-friendly plants into your lawn, hold off mowing for as long as you can. That might mean leaving your grass to grow for a month during May or June, or until early July if you can. If you would rather not give your whole lawn over to wildlife, you can leave a patch to grow wilder.

Keep an eye out for these wildlifefriendly plant species – some would call them weeds, but we think of them as welcome additions to the garden. For more tips to make your garden a magnet for wildlife, visit dorsetwildlifetrust. org.uk/gardening.

Red clover

The purple pom-pom flowers of red clover are a familiar sight in lawns and meadows, as the plants fix nitrogen for healthy soil. Importantly for wildlife, their flowers are rich in nectar and a favourite of several bee species, including the common carder bee, honeybee and red-tailed bumblebee.

Dandelion

The dandelion has so much to offer wildlife. Leaving these vibrant plants to get on with feeding the bees early in the season is an easy way to help make your lawn a wildlife haven. Before many of the flowers in your garden are in bloom, the dandelions will be drawing in insects for a much-needed meal.

Ribwort plantain

Distinctive brown cone flowerheads with white ‘floating’ stamens top the long stalks of this common lawn plant. The flowers attract a range of moths, butterflies and hoverflies. The seedheads that follow also make great food for birds.

Oak Framing & Garden Rooms

Garden Buildings

Gates & Automation

Timber Framed

Extensions & New Builds

Fencing & Landscaping

Windows & Doors

Lee Schofield; Katrina Martin; Amy Lewis

A fascinating history

HANFORD School, Blandford, will host a talk on the Crown Jewels, ahead of next month’s coronation of King Charles III.

Rufus Bird is an art advisor at Gurr Johns, where he is director of decorative arts and heritage collections, Europe. He was appointed surveyor of the Queen’s works of art in 2018, with curatorial responsibility for the crown jewels.

Before that he had responsibility for about 500,000 works across 15 residences and oversaw all conservation of decorative art objects in three workshops.

Rufus has lectured on the history and use of the crown jewels, and led tours in the Jewel House in HM Tower of London.

Rufus will talk about the function and history of the crowns, sceptres, orbs and other items, almost all of which are kept in The Jewel House and used at coronations and other state occasions.

He will also consider their role in the coronation and explain the extraordinary history behind some of the most important precious stones.

The talk is on Thursday, April 20, the evening starting with drinks in the library at 7pm followed by Rufus’s talk at 7.30pm, which is expected to last 45 minutes to an hour.

Hanford girls will have their own talk earlier that afternoon. Tickets are free; to book yours search ‘Rufus Bird’ on www.eventbrite.co.uk. Donations on the evening to The Prince’s Trust will be most welcome.

Wingfield Court, Sherborne

Wednesday 26th April, 10am to 4pm

My Slimming World Journey

I joined Slimming World at the beginning of November as I was fed up! I’ve always put the family first, as most mums do. I decided I would focus on myself as I was very uncomfortable in my own skin. I would avoid going out with friends and to places where my husband invited me to through work, I would make excuses of why I couldn’t go… the only reason was I was at the heaviest I’ve ever been, my clothes didn’t look nice on, my whole style had changed due to my weight and I found myself buying clothes to hide myself in.

My first day at group has got to have been my best day, I walked in on my own and was greeted by the amazing Slimming World consultant Tracey. She made me feel very welcome, I was offered a hot drink before we started to discuss how the plan works. I was then buddied up with a group member for the rest of the session and was given a free raffle ticket. This made me feel part of the Slimming World family instantly.

The plan is just amazing, being able to eat as much free food as you wish which helps you lose weight, from eggs to pasta and potatoes… there are too many to list! This plan really does fit in with family life, what I love is that you can choose what to eat, whether you fancy a packet

of crisps or a chocolate bar, to add them to your meals or even some tomato ketchup with your big daddy steak, it’s ok as it can be planned in. The choice is yours, you’re in control! I have always been a very sporty person but being at my heaviest, I lost the love for running, it was just too difficult and anytime I set myself to go out for a run, I would come back disheartened as I couldn’t complete it and was out of breath. I found Run Blandford and joined their running club. I lost a dear friend to cancer in 2018. Dom was the

most amazing person, so I signed up to Ultra White-Collar Boxing, this is for Cancer research, as a group Poole and Bournemouth which have raised over £16,000.

I in such a short time, have completely changed as a person, I’m so much more confident, and I’ve

dropped three dress sizes moving from a 14 to 10/8! The best plan out there is to be able to be in control of what you eat, be satisfied and full! To my fabulous consultant Tracey and all the group members at Slimming World Blandford! I stepped foot in the door and never looked back again, thank you.

Full steam ahead!

Fingers crossed for sunshine this May as preparations for the annual Three Okefords Rally at Shillingstone get underway

THE weekend of May 20 & 21 will see all manner of vintage and classic machinery come out of the shed and make its way to Easterbrook Farm at the foot of Shillingstone Hill.

The Three Okefords Preservation Society is planning to put on a show that’s fun for all the family. It promises all the wonderful sights, sounds and smells of the steam rally, including traction engines, classic cars/commercials, tractors and tractor pulling, motorbikes, stationary engines, trade stalls and a craft and food hall. As the day turns to evening, visitors can relax with a pint from the beer tent, listen to great local bands and soak up the fantastic atmosphere.

New to this year’s event will

be a play-pen style arena in which the steam engines will be able to show off a little.

The Rally will also showcase traditional wood sawing demonstrations, with steam traction engines and vintage tractors driving a variety of saw benches and machinery, as well as a very British display of traditional steam threshing.

New this year will be a dedicated venue for the best of local craftspeople and food makers in the Rally’s craft and food hall. It’s the perfect place to browse and shop from local artisans and creators. Limited spaces are still available; entry forms are available at www. threeokefordsrally.co.uk

Early Bird tickets for the Three Okefords Rally are

available to purchase online. Camping is also available for the weekend and includes entry to the rally for both days. More details and ticket prices can be found at www.threeokefordsrally. co.uk or you can contact Thelma on 01258 456739.

The organisers are looking for local businesses to sponsor this year’s show. Please contact topsprogramme@gmail.com for more information.

Your local library

SHAFTESBURY library is a hub for a series of community activities… Regular children’s activities include Rhyme Time on Tuesdays from 2.15pm–2.45pm for pre-school children and babies, and Lego Time for an hour on Saturdays from 11am. There is no need to book (children under eight must be accompanied by a carer). For adults, there’s colouring for wellbeing every Monday between 10.30am and 12.30pm, and knit and natter on Tuesdays from 10am until midday. The library’s creative writing group meets on a Thursday between midday and 1pm. If you would like help with anything digital, the library holds helpful sessions every Thursday at 2.30pm, 3.15pm and 4pm, and Fridays at 10am, 10.45am and 11.30am.

Sherborne homeowners love sense of belonging and community feel of Platinum Skies village

A Sherborne couple have praised the community feel and sense of belonging they have experienced since moving to a Platinum Skies over 55s village.

Don, 80, and Elizabeth Tomlinson, 79, purchased a house in the independent-living community, based off the A30 and Horsecastles Lane, to downsize from their large family home in Sherborne where they had lived for 45 years. They moved to the Platinum Skies community as they felt they were ‘rattling around’ in their last home.

Homeowners in Sherborne can enjoy a host of activities organised by the dedicated onsite Community Managers such as live music events, coffee mornings, gardening talks and Pilates. The Tomlinsons also host their own quiz night in the community’s onsite bistro which is well-attended and aims to bring their fellow homeowners together.

Asked what the best bit about living in the community is, Don said: “Feeling you belong to a community. That was a selling point in terms of us coming here. Being given the opportunity to be a part of a community of people, and that’s absolutely being delivered here.”

The Platinum Skies Sherborne independent-living village features one, two, and three-bedroom apartments in Mulberry House, and neighbouring two and three-bedroom houses in Canon Woods Close. In addition to the bistro and bar, communal facilities including an activity room, treatment room, and homeowners’ lounge.

Homes are available to buy in the Sherborne over 55s community from £130,000 with the Platinum Skies shared ownership option.

Elizabeth said: “We’ve got four children and we had been thinking about moving for years. Then one day we told our children ‘Guess what? We are moving.’ They couldn’t believe it, but now they’re all so pleased for us. They feel like they don’t have to keep an eye on us quite so much as we’re safe and secure here and they think that we’re probably going to stay here forever.”

Speaking about the highlights of living in the Platinum Skies community, Don continued: “Everybody is really nice here. It may sound a bit twee, but it’s a very nice place to live. Everybody’s in the same boat to some extent and so we all want to be part of a community.”

GoodOaks Homecare named as one of the Top 20 Homecare providers in the UK!

Homecare.co.uk announced GoodOaks Homecare as one of the Top 20 Large & Mid-size Homecare Groups in the UK. This is based on verified reviews from service users, their families and friends.

Homecare.co.uk is the leading homecare review website and prides itself in the quality and trustworthiness of their reviews. Each review is read by a member of their team and checked that it complies with their policies before it is published on the site.

Co-founder of GoodOaks Homecare, Ben Ashton, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be featured in the homecare.co.uk Top 20 Homecare Groups. It is a testament to our partnership approach we have with our clients, and the passion with which our care teams provide care every single day.

“We make sure everyone who works with us shares our PRIDE Values of Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Empathy, and that shines through in the experience that both our clients and colleagues have working with us.”

GoodOaks Homecare provides premium

visiting and live-in homecare, enabling clients to remain living independently and comfortably in their own homes.

Live-in Care you can rely on

Museum celebrates the start of spring

Shaftesbury Abbey Museum is looking forward to a fascinating April, with medieval nuns and herbal medicine both on the menu

SHAFTESBURY Abbey Museum has announced two events this April: a lecture on life in a medieval convent, and a workshop on monastic medicine.

Dr John Renner is a specialist on the art of medieval and early Renaissance Italy, and will be presenting Art in the Medieval Convent: The Pictorial Life of Nuns in Italy to a fascinated audience at 7.30pm on Thursday April 27 at the Shaftesbury Arts Centre. Following a career in journalism, Dr Renner took an MA in Art History at Birkbeck College and a PhD at the Courtauld Institute. He now lectures for the Courtauld Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum, among others.

Nuns in the Middle Ages were viewers, patrons, and sometimes makers of art – but material evidence is hard to come by in this country, even for such prominent and prosperous establishments as Shaftesbury

Abbey. More survives, fortunately, in continental Europe. In this lecture, art historian Dr John Renner looks into the pictorial culture of convents in late medieval Italy to reveal the central role of images in the enclosed lives of the nuns.

Tickets are available from Shaftesbury Arts Centre (01747 854321 www. shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk) and cost £10 for Friends or £12 for adults.

Also this spring, medical herbalist Julie Wood will be running monastic medicine

workshops, making the most of the plants that are flourishing in the Abbey gardens.

The detailed, hands-ons guided workshops take place on Saturday April 29 between 10am and 1pm.

“Herbs were widely used by nuns and monks in medieval times for healing body, mind and spirit,” Julie explains. “Join me in the special grounds here at Shaftesbury Abbey to explore the plants, their historical uses, the remedies, and their relevance today.”

During the workshops you will learn about monastic and medieval herb gardens and plants, herbal preparations, and how they were used in medieval times, and the historical importance of herbs and plants for medical, sacred, culinary and utility uses.

You will enjoy a walk around the Abbey’s raised beds and tiered garden to explore the springtime herbal plants, and taster session of herbal tea blends and a herb tea blend to take home.

Tickets are £45 to include refreshments. Please book directly at https://buytickets.at/ wildhealinggarden/879276. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Wood via email: julie@wildhealinggarden.co.uk

Advertisement

‘NO-FAULT’

EVICTIONS TO BE ABOLISHED

Michelle Dixon, Partner and Head of Construction

The Conservative’s manifesto proposed to abolish ‘no-fault’ evictions in England. The coronavirus pandemic delayed that promise, but in 2022, the UK Government said it is full steam ahead.

What are ‘no-fault’ evictions?

At the moment the law enables a landlord to take back possession of their property, which is subject to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement, without having to establish any fault on the part of the tenant. The landlord can give the tenant two months’ notice (subject to satisfying certain requirements) to leave the property at the end of the fi xed term.

If the tenant refuses to vacate, the landlord can use the Court’s ‘accelerated’ procedure to get possession.

Creating more certainty for tenants

Tenants can feel insecure that their landlord could evict them with only two months’ notice; potentially leaving a family suddenly homeless in a sparse rental market.

Landlords are also accused of using the no-fault eviction process as a retaliation tactic against tenants who request repairs be undertaken to the property or challenge rent increases.

The Government want to prevent this type of conduct.

If you are a tenant with concerns about the security of your

tenancy or condition of the property, it is important to seek legal advice now on your options.

Landlords need to be ready for the changes

Not only are non-fault evictions being abolished but the Government is also planning to strengthen and extend the faultbased evictions too in order to provide more protection to tenants. With years of pandemic restrictions and now a cost of living crisis, many landlords are suffering significant periods of rent arrears caused by tenants struggling to pay; it is no surprise then that these proposed changes are causing uncertainty.

If you are a landlord, now is the window of opportunity to seek legal advice on those properties you want to gain back possession before the law changes. Now is also the time to review your current tenancy agreements to perhaps consider adding contractual break-clauses.

Professional, Expert Advice can Save Time and Cost

Whether you are a tenant or a landlord, Humphries Kirk can provide practical, expert advice on how the proposed new legislation affects you.

If you are looking for independent legal advice, get in touch with Michelle Dixon on 01202 725405.

Sustainable European nightwear now in store

SHIRLEY Allum Fashions and Lingerie - stockists of Mey nightwear and vests - has all the new spring soft blue and corrals in-store.

Mey is a familyowned company based in Southern Germany that has been manufacturing lingerie, bodywear and nightwear since 1928.

The company’s balance of tradition and innovation means they are able to produce high quality, sustainable garments.

The entire range is made in Europe and has various certifications for sustainability, meaning Mey must meet strict compliance criterea. So when you buy a Mey garment, you can be confident it really is as sustainable as it says it is!

Philip Horner, the main agent for Mey in the UK, said: “Mey

A nasty way to die?

is a fabulous brand to work with. We stock lingerie boutiques and department stores throughout the UK and Ireland and are delighted that Shirely Allum has now been one of our valued customers for several years.

“We enjoy taking part in Lingerie Week to meet Shirley’s customers and explain more about the Mey brand.

“Shirley actually visited the factory with us a couple of years ago to see for herself how the product is made.”

Mey offers a great range of basic lingerie, bodywear and nightwear/loungewear all year round and also fabulous fashion ranges in Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter.

Visit Shirley Allum fashions and Lingerie now see see the new stock.

Local author invents new genre for his debut novel, combining murder and an appreciation of fine food and drink

A new book by Yarlington resident and accompalished author Peter Coe is out now.

A Nasty Way to Die is Peter’s first novel, and was published on his 81st birthday!

The idea for the story was borne out of lockdown, and Peter’s frustration at not being able to travel. “I decided that I would visit the places I love through a novel instead,” he explains.

The story is set in Lisbon, Portugal, during the Salazar regime which, Peter explains, “largely went under the radar in the UK, and provides great material.

“I have two detectives: Commander Sam Redwood and Inspector Julia Tremaine. They meet first in Somerset, where the book starts with a murder in a village.

“Later Julia is invited to join Redwood at the Met and they both go to Lisbon to assist the Policia Judicaria on a complicated case to find the killers of three men who had a dark past. There is quite a lot of food and wine in my books… Maybe I’ve invented a new genre – GastroCrime!”

A Nasty Way to Die by Peter Coe; London: Austin Macauley Publishers.

FASHIONS & LINGERIE

Has the time come to make plans for your future?

If you have worried about becoming forgetful or confused in the future, you may have assumed that your close family will automatically be able to take over managing your money. It may surprise you to know this is not the case. Your family will only be able to take over and look after your money if you have given them written permission, in a form that banks, utility companies and other organisations will accept.

The way to give this written permission is by making a Lasting Power of Attorney

If you have already received a diagnosis of dementia, you need to make your Lasting Power of Attorney sooner rather than later.

We can help you make a Lasting Power of Attorney that is tailored to your circumstances. That gives your family all the permissions they need. And that builds in protection to prevent things going wrong.

If you would like to talk about making arrangements for the future by making a Lasting Power of Attorney, please call Christine on 01308 424808 to arrange a date for us to call on you at home. Or email christine@winterbornelegal.co.uk

Celts, mud & cake!

The Ancient Technology Centre shows what life was like in prehistoric Cranborne

THE last weekend in March saw the first of three Open Days scheduled to be held this year at the Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne.

The week-end was entitled Prehistory and showed what life was like in Britain in the centuries before the Roman invasion.

In true spring style the weather on Saturday was bright and breezy while Sunday returned to dull and damp, but at least it gave the site an authentic mud-caked feel!

While the Celts and the Romans kept out the chill by practising their sword skills against each other, visitors found the best places to keep warm were before the fire in the Celtic Roundhouse, eating home-made cake in the Viking Longhouse, listening to stories in the Earth-house or watching the blacksmith create a sword blade in the Roman Forge.

The next Open Week-end is at the end of July, when the Saxons and Vikings will be trying to beat each other on the battle field and looking for young warriors to form a shield wall.

For more information about the centre, including other open days this year, visit https://ancienttechnologycentre.com

The People’s Plan for Nature

Ahead

look

of April’s Planet Shaftesbury meeting, members

to a countrywide plan for local inspiration

by Rachel Bodle of the Planet Shaftesbury network

PLANET Shaftesbury’s April 22 meeting will discuss how we make a difference through local activities linked to climate and nature. The meeting could make plans for Great Big Green Week (June 10-18) and beyond.

The People’s Plan for Nature, launched in March by the National Trust, RSPB and WWF, is our inspiration.

The Plan came out of a collaboration with a cross-section of the UK public, and calls for immediate action to protect and restore nature in the UK.

A People’s Assembly for Nature took place over four weekends.

Expert advice was available to participants as they considered the extent of the UK’s habitats and species and how we use land, fresh water and the sea to meet people’s needs. Together they created the plan’s calls to action and vision for the future of nature.

Perhaps Planet Shaftesbury could host not only a presentation about the People’s

Plan for Nature, but also a talk or panel discussion of its implications for local farming, food production and our diets? Please get in touch via www.planetshaftesbury.org if you’d like to help.

It’s not just the content of the plan, but also the democratic process used, that could inspire us locally. Many volunteers came forward and those selected for the People’s Assembly for Nature were representative of the wider population. What they produced gives an indication of what the rest of us might also think. Yet the process was quick and free of vested interests. Perhaps a similar process could be valuable in shaping a resilient future for the Shaftesbury area?

Of course, we also need decisive action nationally. A People’s Assembly provides a democratic way forward where politicians concerned about being re-elected can’t. Planet Shaftesbury, along with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, EarthDay.org, and more

than 70 other organisations, is supporting The Big One (April 21-24), a major action coordinated by Extinction Rebellion (who have changed their tactics). The aim is to attract 100,000 people to Westminster to demonstrate support for a citizen-led democracy to end the fossil fuel era and a fair society that includes reparation.

The next Planet Shaftesbury meeting is at 7.30pm on Thursday, April 20, at Shaftesbury Town Hall. More details of the People’s Plan for Nature, of how to join The Big One, including Earth Day on April 22, and of Great Big Green Week can be found at www.planetshaftesbury.org and events are on the Planet Shaftesbury noticeboard in Swan’s Yard.

Graham Roumiou’s drawings used here are taken from the vision set out in the People’s Plan for Nature.

Shutters are designed to be installed on the inside of your windows and doors, providing excellent protection against the sun's heat and glare, as well as noise and unwanted visitors. They are made from high-quality materials that are designed to withstand harsh weather conditions, keeping your rooms cool in the summer and warm in the winter, making them a durable and long-lasting shading solution.

At Lizzie Price Shading Solutions, we o er a wide range of shutters all British made to suit every style and budget. Our shutters are available in a variety of colours, nishes, and designs, allowing you to choose the perfect option to match your home’s decor.

We can help you design and install the perfect shutters for your property, taking into account your speci c needs and preferences, allowing you to easily adjust the amount of light and privacy you need.

So why wait? Contact Lizzie Price Shading Solutions today to learn more about our shutters and how they can provide a stylish and functional shading solution for your home or business.

Our loose Canon

A very personal journey that leads to a genuine appreciation of Easter

by Canon Eric Woods

I AM often asked why I became a priest. There are many answers to that, one of which is that in fact I resisted the notion for a long time, until at last I realised that God was not going to give up and that I had better accept this vocation as just that – his call. It was hard: I had planned to be rich and famous, and being ordained was hardly the best route to either!

However, I am sure that another reason why I am a priest today is because of the death of someone close to me many years ago. On the eve of his 42nd birthday my elder brother Peter, whom I adored, lost a long and painful battle against cancer. As I knelt at his bedside I knew, as clearly as I have ever known anything in my life, that I was only looking at a shell, a husk. My much-loved brother was not there in that thin, drawn body. He, the real person, had gone. But gone where?

Equally I knew, I knew as sure and certain fact, that that real person, what I began to think of as the Peterness of Peter, was not dead. How could those 42 years of love and laughter, joy and tears, light and life, be extinguished? I knew that he had to be with God, and if with God then freed from all the painful restrictions and

limitations of the previous few months. And if he was with God, and God is with us, then in a real and profound sense Peter had still to be with me too.

And then I realised that I could only be thinking these thoughts, I could only have this conviction that my brother was “rejoicing on another shore and in a greater light”, because of the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because of Easter, and living on the right side of Easter. During Jesus’ earthly life most people, his disciples included, would have seen death as final, destructive and negative. Death was the end, and that was that. And then something happened that changed the disciples’ whole perception of death. And that something was Christ’s Resurrection. Because of the Resurrection, the death of ordinary people like you and me could no longer be seen as final or as ultimately tragic. Sadness at parting remains of course: sooner or later we all have to pay for our loving in the coinage of tears. But death itself is no longer a defeat but a victory.

What I had begun to perceive at my brother’s deathbed – and which it took many years to understand more fully – is that, because of Easter, resurrection is our destiny. It’s what we were made for. It’s where the road goes. But we will only understand that if we live on the right side of Easter. We come to it by way of the Cross, and the Empty Tomb.

Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

Live the life you choose at home

When you’re seeking support to remain independent in your own home, the most important thing is that you receive the support you need to live the life you choose.

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As a major care provider in Southern England and one of the largest notfor-profit care companies in the UK, Somerset Care’s My Willows community care teams in Wincanton and surrounding areas can help you to remain safe, happy and healthy in

your own home. We can support you as much or as little as you would like, as all care is tailored to you and your individual needs.

What matters to you, matters to us. So, wherever you are on your care journey, we are committed to supporting you every step of the way.

Our friendly customer enquiries team are on hand to answer any questions you might have, and help you to find the care that is right for you.

Call 01823 448150 to discover how we can help you to live the life you choose, in your own home.

The first day at (bee) school

New beekeepers are welcomed into the fold on a day that features classroombased education, hands-on training and plenty of cake

by Robbie Baird, North Dorset Beekeepers

SPRING is a time of new beginnings and hope. Now that the clocks have changed and we’ve all recovered from that missing hour of sleep, we can look forward to the natural world reawakening from its winter slumber. As I’m writing this at the beginning of April, the snowdrops have finished flowering, the daffodils are in full bloom and the flowering currant (Ribes) is showing its pink colours.

The flowering currant is an important indicator to all beekeepers – the arrival of its flowers means that progress into spring is sufficient to open up the hives and check how our bee colonies are doing after the long winter. Not all honey bee colonies will have made it through the winter. In fact, for all sorts of reasons, between 20% and 40% will have succumbed to the effects of winter. But for those that have survived, it’s time to get going. The queen starts laying eggs again and colony numbers increase, in a race that may lead to a swarm in early summer as one colony becomes two. It’s an exciting time!

And it’s an exciting time not only for existing beekeepers, but for new beekeepers too.

The start of the Beginners Course at North Dorset Beekeepers is planned to coincide with the beginning of the honey bee’s active season, and so some 35 people of all ages and walks of life converged on Shillingstone on Saturday, April 1, ready to start learning about the craft of beekeeping and the life of the honey bee. They were met by almost as many members of the Association – everyone eager to make our future beekeepers feel welcome!

The first day at Bee School is a bit of an open day. Only 25 of those present had managed to secure a place on the course itself. The other ten were able to join in today to see if beekeeping is for them. Maybe most will sign up for next year? Everyone was introduced to their tutors as

they arrived and met the other four beginners in their group – people who will probably become friends, brought together through a common interest in the natural world and beekeeping.

So, who are these trainee beekeepers and what makes them want to learn about the honey bee?

I spoke with a number of them and to say it’s a broad church would be an understatement! And looking at the list of names, it was obvious that family origins extended well beyond Dorset – Greece, Ireland and the Netherlands to name but three. And it’s never too young to start –Elijah was the youngest. He came along with his Grandad and will be 10 years old on his next birthday. For some, the course was a gift from a loved one – a daughter to her father and for one newly-married couple, it was a wedding gift from husband to wife. Now they’re both doing the course together. We were pleased to welcome two employees from Ashmore Estate Farm. They’ll be taking their learning back, ready to make the honey bee a bigger part of the great work that gets done there. For others, taking up beekeeping seemed like the natural thing to do – a lifetime’s fascination with insects and the natural world made them think about beekeeping. Many have family or friends who are already beekeepers or have fond memories of grandparent beekeepers where the craft has skipped a generation and now it’s time to rekindle the tradition. One even said he’d signed up for the course after reading these beekeeping articles in your New Blackmore Vale magazine!

The day is a mix of education about the Honey Bee, and time spent at the beehives. Everyone gets into a bee suit and has a chance to see the bees at work close up, as

each group opens up a hive to see what’s going on inside. With so much rain around, we were lucky that it stopped just in time. It would have been a shame if the highlight of the day had to be moved to another occasion. In the event, it all worked out just fine and it looked like everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves… including the vast array of cakes at tea time. Cake and beekeeping are inseparable!

People who keep bees without learning how to do it properly can cause disease and hardship. Good beekeepers are those who have been trained, and those on the Beekeeping Beginners Course will learn how to look after their bees successfully. By August, they will be able to take ownership of their own bees, manage them through the peak summer period and prepare them for the cold and wet of winter.

Although this year’s course is fully subscribed, you can always put your name down for next year. And if all of that seems too far away, we’re holding four “Bee Experience Days” in June and July. They’ll give you a taste of beekeeping and we’ll open up some of the hives to let you see what’s going on inside. You can find out more and make a booking at www. tickettailor.com/events/northdorsetbka

To learn more about beekeeping and the North Dorset Beekeepers Association, look for NDBKA on Facebook or visit www.northdorsetbeekeepers.org.uk The Association is raising funds to build a new honey bee centre near Blandford and welcomes donations via its JustGiving page tinyurl. com/2p8kxhwb

New recruits on the North Dorset Beekeepers’ beginners course get their first look inside the beehives

Fern Brook Lodge is filled with Food, Fun & Friendship to celebrate spring

Fern Brook Lodge residents and staff recently celebrated the change of seasons by taking part in Care South’s very own Spring Food Festival with various activities, including creating a delicious and nutritious soup as part of a Care South wide competition.

The Spring Food Festival was set up by Care South to encourage a week-long series of inclusive, themed activities including an inter-home seasonal soup competition. This encouraged homes to devise their own recipes with a focus on using fresh, local ingredients and including all residents in the fun.

The Food Festival coincided with National Nutrition and Hydration Week which is designed to help raise awareness to understand the importance of nutrition and hydration in health and social care. Good nutrition and hydration are vital parts of providing care, and all Care South homes

understand the importance of nutritious, fresh produce and take pride in sourcing, where possible, seasonal ingredients from local producers. The Spring Food Festival was set up with Food, Fun and Friendship at its heart - and residents across all Care South’s homes took part in the occasion. Care South is a not-forprofit charity and leading provider of residential and home care across the south of England. Nothing is too much trouble when it comes to the care and comfort of residents, staff always go the extra mile to help residents maintain their lifestyle and independence. A wealth of fun activities are carefully planned to provide mental and physical stimulation, encourage social interaction and contribute to the overall wellbeing of residents, who are able to participate as little or as often as they wish. Fern Brook Lodge offers residential, respite and dementia care in a safe, home-from-

home environment. The home, located in Gillingham, accommodates 75 residents and offers high quality care tailored to the needs of residents.

For further information about Fern Brook Lodge call 01747 449812 or visit www.care-south.co.uk

Golf club takes journey back in time

by Russell Mead

SELF-CONFESSED amateur sleuth and wannabe golf historian Nigel Mobbs gave an entertaining and informative talk at Sherborne Golf Club into the club’s history from 1919-39 – including its link with mathematician Alan Turing. The longstanding member and past captain pointed to significant events that impacted the club, and highlighted members notable for making the club what it is today.

In 1955, a fire destroyed the clubhouse, with the permanent loss of club records. Nigel was motivated to fill the holes created by that event.

Nigel paid particular tribute to the archivist at Sherborne School, Rachel Hassall, for her invaluable assistance. Rachel was able to provide information on past members, many of whom had taught at the school, and, going all the way back to

1894, were some of the club’s founder members.

One such member was Dr E.‘Ben’ Davis. Ben – his friends and colleagues called him Ben because his deep tenor voice reminded them of Big Ben –was an accomplished scholar who taught mathematics at Sherborne School.

One of his pupils was given permission to play at Sherborne Golf Club as his cricket ‘whites’ were in his luggage delayed by the 1926 General Strike. The pupil was none other than Alan Turing, whose later work at Bletchley Park in the Second World War helped crack the Enigma Code.

Ben Davis, who was diabetic, died at the age of 54 in 1933. Two early captains of the golf club gifted it the Ben Davis Trophy in his memory. To this day, the winners of this highly regarded men’s foursomes competition have their names

added to Ben’s trophy.

In 1936 Sherborne Golf Club commissioned five-time Open Champion and renowned golf course architect James Braid to produce an 18-hole course layout. Given Braid’s reputation, the opening of the newly designed course attracted great interest and was widely reported in the local and national press.

A few years later, the Second World War saw the course revert back to nine holes, enabling usable land to be given over to growing food in support of the war effort. The course did not return to 18 holes until 1964. If you have information that can support Nigel please contact Sherborne Golf Club at sgcoffice@sherbornegolfclub. co.uk or on 01935 814431.

Longstanding Sherborne Golf Club member Nigel Mobbs with the archivist at Sherborne School, Rachel Hassall

Head is ‘delighted’ at Ofsted report

Gillingham’s St May the Virgin CE Primary School ranked ‘Good’ by Ofsted, to the delight of teachers and pupils

STAFF, governors, pupils and parents are celebrating after a Gillingham school was ranked as ‘good’ by inspectors.

After a recent visit, Ofsted inspectors have handed the rating to St Mary the Virgin CE Primary School.

They praised the school, saying ‘learning is exciting’ and pupils ‘are ambitious and like to be challenged’.

Pupils develop ‘their ability to think critically and become independent’ and have ‘a keen sense of local and global citizenship’, inspectors added.

Teachers have ‘designed an ambitious curriculum’ and

‘worked together to decide the strategies that best meet the needs of their pupils’, the report added.

St Mary’s is a member of the Sherborne Area Schools’ Trust (SAST).

Sarah Willoughby, headteacher at the Pheasant Way school, said: “I am delighted that our recent Ofsted inspection reflects our high aspirations and innovative approaches to education in its widest sense.

“It is a privilege to be the headteacher of this school, where the dedication of my loyal leadership team, staff and governors, together with our wonderful children and supportive families, enable all to flourish.”

SAT chief executive Colin Sinclair said: “We are incredibly proud of Sarah and her team of amazing staff. They have for

many years delivered excellent education to the children of Gillingham, and they never stop striving for ways to improve even further.

“As well as running their

own school, Sarah and her team also give their time generously to support other schools in the trust, helping us to ensure all our schools deliver a truly excellent education for pupils.”

St Mary’s, Gillingham, pupils with headteacher Sarah Willoughby

School celebrates

High expectations and ambitions are in evidence at Blandford’s Archbishop Wake CofE Primary School

A BLANDFORD school remains a ‘good’ one after a visit from Ofsted inspectors.

In January, Ofsted were at the Archbishop Wake CofE Primary School and have since confirmed it retained a ‘good’ rating.

Sara Staggs, who headed up the inspection of the 394-pupil school, said in her report: “The school’s seven core values of happiness, perseverance, co-operation, kindness, courage, honesty and respect permeate throughout the school.

“Leaders have established high expectations for behaviour and pupils rise to these. Pupils understand the three rules of being ready, respectful and safe. Pupils treat each other with kindness.

“The school has high ambitions for all pupils. There is a sharp focus on ensuring that everyone has the support they need to succeed. This results in pupils achieving well.”

Strengths at the school included a well-structured and sequenced curriculum, a personalised approach to supporting children with special educational needs and a focus on inclusivity and understanding the needs of every pupil.

The report added: “Pupils’ wider development is a strength of the school. Leaders understand the value of widening pupils’ experiences to impact on their life chances.”

Headteacher at the Black Lane school, Daniel Lasbury-Carter, said: “I am so proud of everyone in our school for this excellent Ofsted report.

“The inspector was so impressed by our articulate, polite hard-working children and by our staff’s determination to support

every child to be successful.

“We will continue to ‘aim high, believe; fly high, achieve’.”

The school is part of the Diocese of Salisbury Academy Trust, whose chief executive, Mark Lacey, said: “Archbishop Wake is a school that consistently delivers on its high aspirations.

“The headteacher and his team leave no stone unturned in doing the very best for every child in their care.

“I am delighted this dedication has been recognised by Ofsted. We are so proud to have them in our trust.”

Students’ lesson in metal detecting

BOARDING students at Shaftesbury School have been busy getting to grips with local history after head of house Anita Baker started a History Club.

The first project is a metal detecting club run by Bob Dunford, a member of the house team, who provided students with metal detectors.

The youngsters were shown finds, given the rules and regulations around detecting ethically, and shown how to use the devices before being given a piece of land on-site to examine.

Anita, a member of the Midlands Archaeological Society, said: “This subject fascinated me for many years, particularly with the idea that you could well be the first person to hold an item in the palm of your hand that has not been touched by another human in hundreds of years.

“That feeling has never left me over the years and I wanted our students to be able to have that same experience.”

Anita, who said 362 finds have been recorded in Dorset since records began in 2012, added: “As one of those finds was in the grounds of our very own Barton Hill, while workmen were digging footings for the Sixth-Form block, I felt it would be an interesting way for our students to feel connected to Shaftesbury’s past, examine the history of the house, while igniting a sense of excitement about history and metal detecting.”

Next term, students will be starting a new project, researching the original Barton Hill Manor and the history of Barton Hill House.

Visits to Gold Hill Museum, spent examining old photos and

maps, have shown the location was listed on a 1941 map as on the site of Tesco, but this has since been disproved. However, the original location has still not been found.

Students will learn research and retrieval skills, have the

chance to visit the local records office and learn how to ‘read’ old maps to aid their research.

If any old Shastonians have any information or old memories/photographs to share, they are asked to get in touch with the school.

Students at Shaftesbury School have joined a metal detecting club

Events

IN AID OF WOODLANDS METHODIST CHURCH

Whist Drive April 21st at 7.30pm. Cost £3 including tea/coffee and biscuits

Phone Brian on 01202 822066

SHAFTESBURY TOWN HALL SALE

In aid of air ambulance

Variety of stalls from 9am 29th April

THE UKRANIAN SUPPORT

GROUP will be talking about their involvement with local Ukranian refugees at the Quaker Meeting House, High Street, Wincanton on Saturday15th April at 3.00pm. Light refreshments

‘CORONATION CONCERT’

Top Brass & Wind Concert Band. Arabella Heaton. St Mary’s Church, Gillingham

6.30pm. Saturday April 29th Free Entry

SHAFTESBURY ARTISAN

SPRING FAIR Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th April from 10-4 at Shaftesbury Town Hall. A lovely selection of Handmade Products FREE ENTRY

FRIENDLY SEPSIS SUPPORT GROUP FOR SURVIVORS.

Thursday 26th April at 6.30pm at the Hub, Station Road Stalbridge DT10 2RG . Come and join us for a cuppa

BINGO

Friday 21st April

RBL Hall, Coppice Street, Shaftesbury

Doors-6:45 p.m.

Eyes down-7.30 p.m. Light refreshments. Raffle

Proceeds to RBL Poppy Appeal

PLANT SALE

Thursday 11th May 10-3am

8 Grovesnor Road, DT1 2BB

Plants for sale will be very welcome beforehand by Jane Culliford

(8 Grosvenor Road)

Annette Aldridge (16 Manor Road) Rita Kennett (5 Queens Avenue) – who will collect, Tel 265432

Plants also welcome on the day. In aid of The Children’s Society

BOVINGTON MILITARY WIVES CHOIR PRESENTS

“A CHORAL CONCERT” St Mary’s Church, Charminster DT2 9RD

Saturday 22ND APRIL 2023 AT 6.00 PM

Tickets £10.00 from tel. 01305 213403 (Children Free) Wine and nibbles included

LYN’S BINGO AT MARNHULL ROYAL BRITISH LEGION on Monday 17th April. Eye’s down at 7pm.

YEOVIL RAILWAY CENTRE PROUDLY PRESENT…

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

A truly old-fashioned MODEL RAILWAY SWAPMEET

Sell-Buy-Swap

Sunday 30th April 2023

10:30am-2:30pm

Admission £3 (children under 16 FREE if accompanied by an adult)

Yeovil JTN Station, Stotford, Yeovil, BA22 9UU

Breakfast, Hot Drinks, Model Railway, Railway Shop, Cafeteria David Luesby – 01935 421107

JOIN US AT SENIOR’S CLUB

on 18th April and then every other Tuesday at the British Legion, Gillingham, 2-4pm New members very welcome Apologies for incorrect dates last issue

GILLINGHAM SINGERS PRESENT : “For the Beauty of the Earth” a concert of choral and instrumental music. East Stour Church, 7:30pm 22 April 2023

Tickets £7.50 on the door. https://gillinghamsingers.org

JUMBLE AND PLANT SALE Saturday 22nd April 10.00 – 12.30 pm

Melbury Abbas Village Hall. Jumble, Plants, Vintage, Books. Bring your unwanted goods to the Village Hall Friday 21st pm.

Stalbridge Hall

90 blackmorevale.net

Thursday 27th April

TH E VI NTAGE BAZAAR

Saturday April 22nd at the Cheese and Grain, Frome, Somerset, BA11 1BE 9am-2pm

Visiting ‘ e Vintage Bazaar’ in Frome, Somerset is a wonderful way to blow away the winter cobwebs and indulge in a bit of eco-friendly retail therapy. At this unique event you can purchase from some of the country’s best dealers in vintage textiles, decorative antiques and French brocante as well as a handpicked selection of designer makers.

For more information, please visit our dedicated website www.thevintagebazaar.co.uk

THE VINTAGE BAZ AAR

Saturday April 22nd at , Frome, Somerset

• Cheap Street Church, Sherborne: The next jazz concert is on Friday, May 5, featuring Emma Fisk (violin) and Mike Denham (piano). More details from raymondwood1949@gmail. com.

• Castleton verger: St Mary Magdalene Church, Castleton, is seeking a verger to help look after the church and friendly congregation. It needs someone five hours a week, 2½ hours of which is on Sunday mornings when the weekly service is held. This is a remunerated post. Anyone interested should phone church wardens Frances Hastings on 01963 350977 or Robert Harris on 07771 770717.

• Lower Stour Benefice: Church services for April, everyone welcome. Sunday, April 23: 9.30am Morning Worship/Baptism – Spetisbury; 9.30am Communion – Charlton Marshall; 11am Communion –Langton Long; 11am BCP Communion – Tarrant Rushton; 3pm The Well - Spetisbury. Sunday, April 30: 9.30am Pet Service – Spetisbury; 10.45am Communion – Blandford St Mary. Coffee and cake –Spetisbury 10am–11.30am April 17; coffee and cake – Blandford St Mary 10am–11.30am April 20; coffee stop – Charlton Marshall Parish Centre

10.30am-12.30pm Tuesday to Friday.

• Sherborne Abbey Festival

2023: Thursday, April 27, to Thursday, May 4, at the abbey and other venues in Sherborne. A mixture of world-famous stars, local musicians and school performances. The festival has purchased a new grand piano for the abbey with funds raised by generous patrons and concert-goers and internationally renowned pianist John Lenehan will play it for the first time in concert on Thursday, May 4. Programmes have been distributed but copies are available to pick up in the abbey and the parish office. For more details, see the festival website, https://www. sherborneabbeyfestival.org/. Tickets available online https://

www.ticketsource.co.uk/ sherborneabbeyfestival or from 0333 666 3366.

• Sherborne Abbey shop: Volunteers needed – 2½ hours alternate weeks, Wednesday 10.30am–1pm, Friday 1-3.30pm or Saturday 1–3.30pm. Full support plus cash till and card machine training given. Please email Philip.Prout@ sherborneabbey.com or pop into the shop.

• West Camel Independent Methodists: Meet at All Saints Church (BA22 7QB). Sundays, April 16, 22 and 29, 6pm –evening worship. Contact: 01935 850838 or Geoff.mead@ yahoo.com

• Anglican High Mass at Wimborne St Giles: First Sunday of each month at 11am. BH21 5LZ.

• Blandford Methodist Church: Sundays 10.45am –You are warmly invited to our services followed by refreshments. Thursdays 10am-noon – everyone is welcome to our ‘warm space’ for coffee and chat. Fridays noon – you are invited to our lunch club for the over-55s at £5 per meal; phone Joyce Wild on 07817 505543 to book. We are anxious to offer help to all those in need. If this is you, please call me or leave your message including your name and contact details. John Cornish, church steward – phone 07799 516735.

• Chalbury Church: Fourth Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

• Cheap Street Church, Sherborne, Taize Services: Half an hour of prayer, meditation and music, second Sunday of the month at 6.30pm. Everyone welcome. This informal, ecumenical service is based on the Taize Community’s worship founded by Br Roger in the 1940s in Burgundy, France, and now attracts thousands of young people each summer. . For more details email vicarlesley@outlook.com

• Churches in The Donheads, Charlton, East Knoyle, Semley and Sedgehill: A team of friendly people are available

to offer home visits. Contact Revd. Kate at rector@ benofbart.org.uk, 01747 830174.

• Gillingham Methodist Church: Sunday recitals 3pm (about one hour). Admission free, retiring collection. Superb two manual William Sweetland organ restored and enlarged in 2006/2009. Video screen. For details and updates visit the website at www.musicatgmc. org.uk or phone 07817 379006.

• Hinton Martell: Second Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

• Horton Church: First Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

• Horton & Chalbury village hall: Third Sunday of the month, 9am Breakfast Church.

• Kingston Lacy: Second Sunday of the month, 9.15am Holy Communion. Fourth Sunday of the month, 9.15am Family Service.

• Our Lady’s RC Church, Marnhull: Mass Sunday, 9.30am and 6pm.

• Shaftesbury Quakers (Society of Friends): Meets for one hour each Sunday from 10.30am at the Quaker Meeting House, Abbey Walk, Shaftesbury SP7 8BB.

• Sherborne Abbey: Monday to Saturday, 8.30am Morning Prayer; The Sepulchre Chapel. Mondays, 9am CW Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Tuesday, noon CW Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Wednesday, 10.30am Holy Communion with Homily; The Lady Chapel (alternates CW and BCP). Thursday, noon BCP Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Friday, 9am Ecumenical Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. First Friday of the month, 9am Requiem Holy Communion; The Sepulchre Chapel. Third Friday of the month, 11am Remembering the Fallen. Saturday, 9am CW Holy Communion; The Sepulchre Chapel.

• St Benedict’s RC Church, Gillingham: Sunday, 11am.

• Sacred Heart, Tisbury, and All Saints’ Wardour Catholic Parish: Sunday Mass times –

Sacred Heart, Tisbury 9am, coffee after Mass; All Saints’ Wardour 11am.

• St Mary’s, Sturminster Newton: First and third Sunday, 11am Holy Communion; 6pm BCP Evensong. Second and fourth Sunday, 9.30am Morning Prayer; 6pm BCP Evensong. Fifth Sunday, 11am Benefice Holy Communion. Wednesdays, 10am BCP Holy Communion.

• St Peter’s, Hinton St Mary: First, second and third Sundays, 9.30am Morning Prayer. Fourth Sunday, 9.30am Holy Communion.

• St Thomas’, Lydlinch: Second and fourth Sunday, 11am Holy Communion. Third Sunday, 6pm Evensong.

• Shapwick: Third Sunday of the month, 9.15am Holy Communion.

• Sherborne Quakers: Meet Sundays 10.30am in the Griffiths Room, Digby Memorial Church Hall. Everyone welcome.

• Witchampton Church: Third Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

• Sherborne Abbey Choir: New boy choristers for the Abbey Choir and girl choristers for the new Abbey Girls’ Choir are being recruited. Email james.henderson@ sherborneabbey.com or leave a paper note in the Parish Office.

• Lillington Church: The church is seeking an organist to play its newly refurbished organ occasionally or regularly at its 10am Sunday services. Anyone interested should contact the churchwarden, Mark, on 07817 845775 for more details.

• Sherborne Community Larder: Held in the grounds of St Paul’s Church, St Paul’s Close DT9 4DU every Friday 9.30-10.30am. The Larder is run by volunteers and facilitated by FareShare. Membership does not exceed £5 a week and in return members receive at least three times that value in food and sundries. To sign up –referral not needed nor is it means tested – turn up on a Friday or request a form from FSSouthernCentral@fareshare. org.uk

Welcome action on water quality and troubles north of the border

I AM so very pleased further action has now been taken against water companies discharging sewage. I don’t underestimate the challenges they face and accept that renewing our, often Victorian, drainage systems will take years and billions.

I also acknowledge improvements that have been made in recent years – fish can now live in our iconic River Thames where until quite recently and for so many years it was a toxic chemical and biological soup.

However, the job of ministers is to regulate and turn up the heat on otherwise sluggish utility companies on behalf of the public. That’s what’s happening and in a way that is

realistic and do-able in terms of outcomes and timeframe. The solution on water quality

goes beyond fines on water companies, though. I’m intimately acquainted with wet wipes, for example, after bringing up five children –fortunately now adults – and very useful they are, too. However, floating in the sea they are perfectly disgusting and definitely harmful. Time to call time on them, I fear. We have to discover and rediscover ways of greening our personal care and hygiene.

If last year was my party’s annus horribilis then 2023 has every prospect of turning out to be a similar nightmare for the Scottish Nationalists. I am an avowed unionist, emotionally and intellectually. Belief in the integrity of the United Kingdom informs my world view.

In my view the separation of the nations that comprise this great country would be a disaster that would impact not just on the citizens of these islands but much further afield.

It may not be a fashionable, metropolitan view but, taken in round, I believe our country, united, has over time been a force for good in the world and it continues to be. Splintered it would be greatly diminished.

Happily, then, the SNP’s travails look set to reverse what at one point looked like a remorseless march towards separatism.

Our membership of the European Union is now history. Time to celebrate the union that really matters – the United Kingdom.

Dorset to pilot ‘Instant Justice’

ON Friday last week, Dorset was announced as a successful recipient of almost £2.1 million of funding as part of the Rural Prosperity Fund. While Dorset is already receiving about £6 million through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, this is a separate package that provides a ‘top-up’ for rural communities like in West Dorset. Many of which, as I have argued since my election, need the ‘levelling up’ focus as much as in cities.

The Rural Prosperity Fund will provide a much-needed boost for improving digital infrastructure and productivity, job creation and the resilience of communities.

This follows on from the announcement last week of a £64,000 injection from the ‘Frequently Flooded Allowance’ to target the Upper River Piddle catchment area. Flooding from this has often affected properties in Puddletown and the surrounding area, so I am very pleased to see my escalation of these issues has materialised into getting the support we need

to tackle this long term problem.

The Government has also announced a new plan to tackle anti-social behaviour. These moves encompass so many issues – littering and flytipping, drugs, vandalism and nuisance tenants are just some of the main examples of what is being

grappled.

Last year, I met the Home Secretary to share your concerns relating to these issues and put forward the key demands for what we need in West Dorset – more policing presence, more action on county lines drug dealing and more power to deal with nuisance tenants involved in this behaviour that is affecting the lives of so many in their communities.

Under this new plan, Dorset especially has been chosen as one of 11 locations to pilot a new ‘Instant Justice’ programme, where offenders who have littered, flytipped or vandalised property will be made to clean up their mess within 48 hours of being caught. Drug testing capacity for police forces across the country will also be ramped up, with increased policing presence in areas most affected by antisocial behaviour.

On Tuesday this week, I also welcomed the launch of the Government’s action plan for

delivering a sustainable, resilient and environmentally friendly supply of water, including tackling of sewage pollution.

Water companies will now speed up their infrastructure upgrades to reduce sewage discharges, nutrient pollution and increase water resilience. This includes creating a new Water Restoration Fund, using money from water company fines and penalties to support local groups and projects.

The fundamental reality of the sewage issue is that the Government is the first to properly shine a spotlight on this issue by ramping up water monitoring and smoking out the malpractice of many of these water companies. While the opposition has, disingenuously, tried to portray this as apathy on the part of the Government, this could not be further from the truth and the reality is that no other government has done as much to restore our rivers and coastal waters as much as we are now.

Conservative MP for West Dorset Chris Loder

Conservative MP for South West Wiltshire Dr Andrew Murrison

‘A clapped out, one-trick pony party’

POWER, wrote Lord Acton, tends to corrupt. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. I lived in Scotland for seven years, on and off, before settling in Dorset. Over that period I saw the Scottish National Party morph from a party that was determined to use the powers of Holyrood to their fullest to the complacent, idealess and now corrupt monolith they are today.

I’ve written many times on the merits of devolution – local and national – but, as I see it, devolution’s main stumbling block remains the propensity of devolved leaders to simply blame their own failures on a lack of even more devolved powers.

The SNP in Scotland has perfected this art. Since the 2014 independence referendum, rather than use the even greater powers it has, instead it’s deployed the bulk of the Scottish civil service on agitating for more.

Meanwhile, literary standards have declined and drug deaths have tripled while taxes have increased more than in England. This month we witnessed the recent first minster’s husband Peter Murrell, chief executive of the SNP for a period spanning

three decades, be arrested for suspected misuse of campaign finances. Conspiracy theories will abound for years around how Sturgeon exited her role a mere week before her husband was arrested. I say years because Scotland will have to endure another three years of this clapped out, one-trick pony party before it can vote them out.

Two events in England also moved me to comment this week.

As an Anglo-Indian, I am uncomfortable with the singling out of Pakistani men by Indian heritage members of cabinet while they reflect on the failure – their failure in government – to stop child sexual exploitation.

As the NSPCC has commented, predators do not come from one background, and the focus on one race could create blind spots when tackling child abuse.

Their remarks are also highly

incendiary considering recent Indian and Pakistani violence in Leicester, and damages Britain’s relationship with Pakistan. Their dog whistle politics has to stop. Speaking of which, spare a thought for South Dorset MP Richard Drax. He has been rewarded for his years of anti-immigration rhetoric with a barge of asylum seekers moored at Portland in his own constituency.

Drax, on whose family plantations as many as 30,000 slaves died – according to the University of the West Indies –in terrible conditions, had nothing to say on the conditions in which the asylum seekers would be confined while his government plodded through their asylum claims.

No – his criticism was that the barge was in the wrong place. In his back yard. That’s compassionate conservatism for you.

Lack of substance behind the slogans

THE end of freedom of movement, eh? How ironic that it is our ability to cross the channel without let or hindrance that seems to be at risk. To the Far East, then. Europe be blowed. Who wants to go there anyway? Overnight, we seem to have become part of the Pacific region.

The near-term effect on GDP appears marginal but it is no use trumpeting longer-term opportunities if we don’t then set about creating the conditions to capitalise on them. Otherwise, precisely because these are two-way deals, we risk other nations taking advantage of our ponderous processes, our lack of infrastructure and our centralised bureaucracy.

The spin is exactly that: slogans on buses, promises on Social Care funding, getting tough on Illegal Migration, Task Forces for this and that. How does it go… “these are a

few of my favourite things.”

Fine words on selected topics and targets but in reality just a gloss on flimsy, fragile fabric.

As we head into the election season, one that will be with us for the next 12 to 18 months, we should look deeply into

what is said, think long and hard about our experience of the last 13 years and consider the qualities of the people involved.

At the end of the day, parliaments and councils at every level are made up of people. It has been said of those who run large organisations that once at the top, they need to lose the mindset and behaviours that got them there. As we look at those putting themselves up before us, we should consider the balance between personal ambition and serving the public interest, between a partisan outlook and an impartial, evidence-based approach for the good of all.

On the doorstep, the issue of balance comes up time and again – more pay for nurses, doctors, teachers and public sector workers, more investment in clean water, more investment in our

decaying roads, more money for Social Care and new hospitals and an equally passionate cry for less tax, less costly utilities, petrol, rail travel and so on.

It is often said a camel is a horse designed by a committee and what we need is ‘strong leadership’ for the ‘right’ decisions on tax and spend. The problem is such leadership quickly becomes remote because of our national mania for centralising decisionmaking. More importantly, such leadership also comes to believe what a French politician said during the 1848 revolution: “There go the people, I must follow them for I am their leader.”

Individuals cannot be perfect, but teams can get very close. So, I would prefer to hear how we can harness the strength, decency and innate fairness of people in the teams that are communities.

Greg Williams, on behalf of Dorset Labour

Mike Chapman on behalf of Liberal Democrats across the Blackmore Vale

Johnson: Hoare hits out at committee’s critics

“TRYING to delegitimise the committee and its members is wrong...It’s pure Trump.”

North Dorset MP Simon Hoare has lambasted members of his own Conservative party after several questioned the legitimacy of a committee investigating the actions of former prime minister Boris Johnson.

The Commons Privileges Committee is – at the request of MPs – investigating whether Mr Johnson misled the House when making comments in relation to the ‘partygate’ scandal, when it was revealed Downing Street had been involved in numerous breaches of lockdown rules during the Covid pandemic.

More than 100 people –including Boris Johnson and then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak – received police fines over Downing Street gatherings deemed to have broken the rules, including leaving parties and a birthday gathering held for the then-PM.

On April 21 last year, the House of Commons passed a motion calling for the Uxbridge MP to be investigated by the committee for having potentially misled parliament.

An MP deemed to have misled the House faces a range of sanctions, including a potential ban from attending Parliament, depending on the severity of the incidents concerned.

The committee is investigating whether a. the Commons was misled, b. if it was, whether that constituted a contempt of parliament, and c. if it was misled, how serious was the potential contempt.

An interim report by the committee said it was also considering whether any misleading statement by Mr Johnson was ‘inadvertent, reckless or intentional’.

However, despite the investigation being sanctioned

by MPs, several Johnson loyalists have branded it a ‘kangaroo court’ and ‘partial and unfair’.

On March 16, Mr Hoare questioned Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt (Con, Portsmouth North), about such comments.

He asked whether she agreed the committee ‘should be free and unfettered to get on with their work and free of interference or intimidation?’.

The leader agreed, promising a ‘very dim view’ would be taken of anyone attempting to prevent the committee carrying out its work, or who interferes in the probe.

“They need to be permitted to get on with their work without fear or favour,” she told the Commons.

“And I would also remind honourable and right honourable members in this House that this House asked them to do this work. We referred this matter to the committee for them to consider.

“We asked them to do this work and to do it well and they should be left to get on with this.

“That is the will of this house and I think a very dim view will be taken of either any member

who tries to prevent them from carrying out this serious work, or anyone from outside this house that interferes, and on a personal level, an even dimmer view will be taken of anyone from the ‘other place’ (the House of Lords) who attempts to do similar.”

Mr Johnson gave evidence to the committee on March 22.

As he answered questions, MP Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, North East Somerset) appeared to question the legitimacy of the investigation.

“Boris is doing very well against the marsupials,” he tweeted.

And that night, on his programme on the GB News channel, Mr Rees-Mogg said the committee was behaving ‘in a way that seems to me to be partial and unfair’.

Fellow MP and staunch Johnson ally Nadine Dorries (Con, Mid Bedfordshire) went further, claiming in a promotional video for her show on Talk TV that the committee had ‘decided early on to find him guilty’.

She went on to claim the committee ‘knew that they had not a shred of evidence to prove that he misled with intent’, that ‘Boris Johnson will be found

guilty by this kangaroo court’ and that such a verdict would be a ‘disgraceful and possibly unlawful conclusion with serious reputational consequences’.

The comments came despite reports MPs were warned against intimidating the committee by Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle.

“I would like to remind you that interference with or intimidation of a committee is potentially a contempt of the House and restraint is appropriate while the committee’s work continues,” the speaker reportedly wrote.

And Mr Hoare has also called out the comments by committee critics – calling actions to deligitimise the committee ‘pure Trump’ in reference to former US president Donald Trump, who famously brands any investigation of his actions a ‘witch hunt’.

Mr Hoare said: “Trying to delegitimise the committee and its members is wrong.

“It undermines democracy and the workings of the Commons. It’s pure Trump.

“You have to ask what they might do, having said all they’ve said, were the committee to exonerate Mr Johnson?”

The committee is set to release its findings in a report to the House of Commons in the coming weeks.

MPs will then have to vote on accepting the findings, and on any sanction of Mr Johnson, should he be found to have misled parliament.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being investigated by the Commons Privileges Committee over whether he misled the House in relation to the ‘partygate’ scandal

North Dorset MP Simon Hoare said attempts to delegimatise the Commons Privileges Committee was ‘pure Trump’

Councils under fire on Newell House

THE New Blackmore Vale (March 31) covered the ongoing problems with Newell House in Sherborne, which has been allowed to stand empty and deteriorating for far too long.

Its location – at the junction of the A30 and the Marston Road – could hardly be more prominent, especially at the moment when the endless works on Kit Hill mean drivers sit at the traffic lights just in front for minutes on end.

It is an appalling advertisement for the town and an indictment of official inactivity – a derelict Grade II historic building gradually disappearing behind ivy, and no-one seems to care, least of all the conservation department of Dorset Council and the holder of the planning portfolio, Cllr David Walsh.

In correspondence with Sherborne CPRE he talks of the council having what he euphemistically calls ‘a watching brief’, which is just another term for doing nothing.

This has been the case for a long period, as local residents who have tried to get action will testify.

The law says the basic responsibility for the upkeep of a listed historic building lies with the owner, and that an owner unable or unwilling to maintain it should place it on the open market. Failing that, it is for the local council to take enforcement action.

In this case the owner has done nothing for years and the council refuses to take any action, though there is no doubt that even in its current state Newell House would find a buyer if offered for sale.

It is a completely unsatisfactory situation and shames both Sherborne and Dorset councils.

Roger White Sherborne

Vale, March 31 – Sir Christopher Colville is right, it is not only Newell House that needs preservation, but the beautiful barn built by Sir Walter Raleigh.

There is no instant solution but if it has charity status it could be renovated and sold.

The money being put into trust for the children and grandchildren of ex-pupils.

Grants could be given out for educational purposes such as school trips, uniforms and transportation.

This was done very successfully with The Hall School in Wincanton.

The building may well be dangerous – will it take an injury to a member of the public to get action? This needs urgently addressing.

Many local children were educated there and would be happy to be involved in saving this much-loved building.

This clearly needs immediate action.

Sue Yateman Horwood

MY 14-year-old son joined his school friends on a skiing holiday on Friday (March 31).

Two school coaches arrived at Dover at 2am on Saturday.

He boarded a ferry at 11.30pm – 22.5 hours later!

Reasons given range from: Bad weather on Friday; first big school exodus since Covid; processing time for a coach load of at least two hours (due to Brexit); ferry companies booking too many coaches; delay of French border control staff getting on site.

I expect it is a combination of all.

The only acceptable reason is the bad weather, as nothing can be done about that, the rest should be manageable.

My son didn’t eat a meal for 17 hours, he didn’t get any real sleep for about 42 hours.

He has lost one full day of skiing out of his five days.

What does Suella Braverman

say? It is almost unbelievable, she said “HAVE A BIT OF PATIENCE”.

What do you say?

I say she has got to go and get someone in that office who cares for the British people.

Carol Phelps Via email

THE oil spill across Poole Harbour last month was truly shocking, and reports tell us much of the harbour is still out of action.

This blunder will, of course, pollute our waters and destroy local marine life. Following any oil spill, we know that it is impossible to 100% clean up and restore the impacted coastline.

The oil company responsible for this spill – Perenco – will need to outline to the public exactly how this toxic leak occurred and explain how a repeat will be avoided. This cannot become the new normal.

But the spill in Poole Harbour raises some broader questions as well. How do we stop sewage dumps and oil

spills from ruining our beaches and rivers? How do we protect our amazing coastline from becoming more and more polluted with plastic? And how can we effectively hold to account those responsible for shielding our local environment from harm?

Far too often, untreated sewage contaminates our oceans and rivers. Across Dorset, and beyond, we have seen some real horror stories with water companies treating our blue spaces like an open sewer. We cannot go on like this.

I worry that our local MPs, the water companies and big polluters alike are simply not up to the job of protecting Dorset’s coastline or taking responsible steps to clean up our beaches, ocean and rivers.

In Dorset, we are so fortunate to have one the most scenic stretches of coastline in the whole of the country right here on our doorstep. We can never take this for granted – now it’s up to us to protect it.

Lloyd Hatton Weymouth

KAREN Chapman sent in this photo of her young English pointer Chester enjoying the new chairs on Breach Common.

Sax player Tom has mixed with the best

DORSET-RAISED Tom Waters is playing a homecoming gig with his band Electric People at Dorchester Corn Exchange later this month.

Tom, 22, has spent most of his life in music, accompanying his Dad Ben, Mum Ruth and sister Molly from a very early age on tours with Charlie Watts, Jools Holland, Ronnie Wood and other well-known blues and jazz musicians.

The young Waters children would travel on the tour bus, go to the sound checks and soak up all the sights and sounds.

Tom got his first sax after travelling to Edinburgh at the age of five to see his dad play with Rocket 88 and hearing Willie Garnett and Don Weller, two of the UK’s finest sax players, play for the first time.

Charlie Watts was so impressed he let Tom do a few tunes with the band despite his tender age.

Charlie invited Tom to Hyde Park to see the Rolling Stones in 2013 – and organised a saxophone lesson with top sax players Bobby Keys and Tim Ries, who also presented Tom with a new sax to help him on his way.

Tom attended school at Broadmayne and Puddletown when the family lived in Owermoigne but left secondary school to tour with his father – his mum teaching him

where she could and the rest of his education being done by distance learning.

Tom did 900 shows worldwide between the ages of 13 and 16 and in that time also got to play with second-line bands from New Orleans – Southern Komfort Brass Band – chart-topping pop bands from Canada – Broken Social Scene – and the great Keito Saito in Japan.

He was offered a place at the prestigious Purcell Schools of Music in London aged 16 and there met his good friend Jack Thomas, who now plays drums in the Electric People. The pair have played in

Comedy thriller packs them in

by George Jeans

MERE Drama Society played to full houses when it presented A Tomb With a View by Norman Robbins at Mere Lecture Hall.

The play is described as a comedy thriller rather than a murder mystery, perhaps because it has rather more corpses than are usually found in the latter!

Four younger members took leading roles.

Penny Allen as Dora Tomb used her special wine to keep a supply of corpses to nourish her rose bed.

Tom Cassidy at only 15

gave a superb performance as Lucien Tomb.

Lucien hoped to become head of his household and ended up being an ‘experiment’ in how to make a corpse in his own laboratory.

Allan Guide as Marcus Tomb recited Shakespeare word perfect.

Marcus was ‘mad’ with the rest of the family and thought he was Julius Ceaser reincarnated.

The society welcomes new members for stage roles and behind the scenes, visit www. mereamdram.co.uk or phone Mary White on 01747 861257.

many different bands and went on to The Royal Academy of Music together.

Tom played virtually every night while living in London and became a regular at Ronnie Scott’s, The 606 and countless other clubs.

Ben, who lives in Sherborne, said: “Touring regularly from a young age led Tom to meet all sorts of musicians around the country and one was Marcus PraestgardStevens, at Coolham, a modern wonder of the world. How can any 18-year-old play the guitar that well? He is a virtuoso and Tom is delighted to have him in the band.

“It also led to him meeting the last piece of the jigsaw, the great Artie Zeitz, playing the Hammond like he has six hands. He plays right-hand solos and left-hand pads and then plays the bass –remember, there is no bass player in this band – with his feet.

“This is almost a lost art, and when Artie has two Leslie speakers on the stage and a Hammond organ, it is one of the biggest sounds around.”

Tom has an impressive CV having recorded with The Rolling Stones and Sir Ray Davies, played in the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, and performed hundreds of sell-out shows worldwide.

It is hoped the homecoming show will be a special night, celebrating the music he loves – blues, rock, jazz and electric.

Local legends The George Hall Trio will be special guests for the night and will open the show at Dorchester Corn Exchange on Friday, April 28, at 8pm. Tickets priced £22 are available from tomwaters.co.uk

QUINTESSENTIAL acoustic music is on offer when Hicks and Goulbourn perform at The Drax Arms, Bere Regis (BH20 7HH). Fingerstyle guitar virtuoso Steve Hicks and singer-songwriter Lynn Goulbourn have a mutual love of folk, jazz, roots and acoustic genres. Tickets for the concert on Tuesday, April 25, are only £5 – to reserve a seat email pipthebass@btinternet.com. Doors open at 7.30pm and the concert is at 8pm.

In the picture (from left) Penny Allen as Dora Tomb, Tom Cassidy as Lucien Tomb and Allan Guide as Marcus Tomb in Mere Drama Society’s production of A Tomb With a View

Tom Waters, of Electric People, is playing a homecoming gig in Dorchester

Music in the garden at Fonthill House

MUSIC alfresco is on offer when Fonthill House, near Tisbury, opens its gardens to visitors later this month.

The annual event is a magnet for gardeners far and wide because of the richness of the horticultural displays, from the famed azalea wood to the formal gardens.

Last year more than 1,200 visitors helped raise more than £20,000 for three charities.

This year Cherubim Music

Trust will benefit from the open garden on Sunday, April 23.

Ten Cherubim Young Musicians will perform a range of music from jazz violin to flute and harp in different areas of the gardens between 2-5pm. The event also includes cafe food, wine bar, produce and craft stalls, and children’s activities, including drumming.

Tickets are £10 in advance from www.tinyurl.com/fontkts (£12 on the day) and children

Painter Teresa on show

A NEW exhibition at Gallery

On The Square, Poundbury, offers a rare chance to catch up with the recent work of Dorset painter Teresa Lawton.

Teresa is an artist firmly rooted in Dorset and the South-West, but her work can be found in collections all over the world.

Her paintings have been

acquired by a number of well-known figures, including singers, songwriters and playwrights.

Teresa lived for some time in Cornwall during her developing years as a painter, and the mid 20th century St Ives artists have always been an influence throughout her career. The exhibition runs until May 3.

are free.

Cherubim Music Trust is a national charity based in Tisbury that loans professionalcalibre orchestral instruments for five-year periods to advanced music students, aged 15-25, who cannot afford one that matches their ability.

The charity is currently appealing for a flute for Lily Owens, a 16-year-old specialist musician at Wells Cathedral School.

Singers celebrate Earth

GILLINGHAM Singers are set to mark Earth Day, a day for action and thought about the planet and the environment.

The singers, music director Geoff Allan, along with accompanist David Grierson, oboist Allison Gosney and cellist Jane Needle will perform at East Stour Church

on Saturday, April 22, at 7.30pm.

Choral pieces by wellknown and lesser known composers such as Elgar, Parry, Sullivan, Holst and Rutter will celebrate the Earth, Sun, Moon, Air and Water and Spirit.

For more information visit www.gillinghamsingers.org

Musician Lily Owens

Jolly hockey sticks and all that jazz!

THEATRE lovers in Shaftesbury are set to be transported back to the 1930s with Daisy Pulls It Off, a witty spoof based on the popular school story books of the era.

Daisy Meredith is a scholarship girl destined to attend the prestigious Grangewood School for Girls.

But when she arrives, she is met with snobbish, moneyed schoolmates disdainful of her obvious talents.

Through the eyes of her friend Trixie Martin and head girl Clare, a story of friendship, loyalty and forgiveness is told. However, the snobbish Sybil

Burlington and her crony Monica Smithers make Daisy’s life difficult through mean and underhand ways.

The play’s spiffingly oldfashioned vocabulary will transport audiences back to a time when schoolgirls wore heavy gym slips and were obsessed with winning a hockey tournament.

And the headmistress is suitably horrified at the way some of the girls speak to boys from a neighbouring school without chaperones.

The show, from the Music and Drama Group at Shaftesbury Arts Centre, runs

Dance – but not for wallflowers

by Lorraine Gibson

FEELING energetic? Then get your fancy dancing feet down to Gillingham School Hall in School Lane for a sensory treat of movement, sound and spoken word in the shape of Oslo-based Make Me Dance, an interactive show by Panta Rei Dance Theatre.

This contemporary Norwegian company doesn’t mess about, hence its growing reputation for staging immersive, fast-paced, colourful pieces that have been mightily impressing audiences of all ages

around the world.

In a nutshell, three professional dancers and a live DJ interpret how the choices we make and our small, universal stories, shape us as human beings.

Wallflowers be warned – throughout the show, the audience, as in you, merge with the performance and become ‘encapsulated by the scenography.’

The performance is on Wednesday, April 19, at 7pm and tickets priced £10 – under 18s £6; family £28 – are available from www.artsreach. co.uk

from Wednesday, April 19, to Saturday, April 22.

Tuck box teas are available every evening from 6.15pm priced £10 and a captioned performance for the deaf and hard of hearing is on offer on Thursday, April 20.

Tickets priced £10 are available from www. shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk or the box office on 01747 854321. Free tickets can be won by spotting the captions in nine local shops in Shaftesbury’s High Street.

Powerful retelling of Easter Passion story

TEN years ago the world premiere of Martin Emslie’s oratorio Omega and Alpha was staged in Wells Cathedral.

To celebrate the anniversary of this event, a special star-studded performance will be held at the Westlands Entertainment Complex in Yeovil.

Omega and Alpha is a powerful retelling of the Easter Passion story, a fusion of sacred music and the highly descriptive style found in musical theatre, offering a fresh rendition of the Passion of Christ.

Since the premiere, it has been performed all over the

world delighting audiences captivated by the pace of the piece and moved by the emotions of the characters.

The 10th anniversary performance stars world class soloists Jonathan Ansell (G4 and Les Musicals), Marta Fontanals-Simmons (Faust and The Monstrous Child at The Royal Opera House, ROH Linbury) and John Savournin (Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Ainadamar, Ariadne auf Naxos).

The performance is on Sunday, April 16, and for tickets, priced from £18 to £35, visit www.westlandsyeovil. co.uk or phone 01935 422884.

Hunny Bunnies

Craft Kits Childs

Clothes Fabrics

Handmade Products

Gifts Haberdashery Redland

hunnybunnies11@outlook.com

07914 387246

The Music and Drama Group at Shaftesbury Arts Centre are performing the witty spoof Daisy Pulls It Off

Golf club marking 30 years

WHEATHILL Golf Club is set to celebrate 30 years since it opened next month.

The club has raised the best part of £500,000 for charity fundraising for charities including the British Heart Foundation, Air Ambulance and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Guide dog ‘Wheaty’, a black Labrador, was sponsored to train from a puppy and has found a lovely home.

Wheathill, as well as hosting countless golf competitions for members and visitors, facilitates rambler groups, car enthusiasts, local sporting clubs and friends, who enjoy food and refreshments in the popular clubhouse, which is open to everyone.

The main 18 holes is set in beautiful landscape in the Somerset countryside and is a haven for wildlife, including deer, hares, buzzards, owls, frogs and ducks.

The five-acre practice ground is a good place for

golfers to hone their skills, along with the eight-hole Academy Course.

The club has three PGA professionals, including Mark Singleton, this year’s Gloucester and Somerset PGA captain.

He is organising a special day for members at Wheathill on Monday, May 1, the day the

course opened in 1993.

The club welcome new golfers through from students at schools such as King’s Bruton Golf Academy to more senior players.

The club’s new secretary, Rebecca Thompson, said: “It really is a great place to play golf, meet friends and enjoy a truly healthy pastime.”

RESULTS

WINCANTON Golf Club

Anniversary Texas Scramble – April 1.

Winners: Jim Phillips/ Adam Smith/Rab Clyde – 41 points.

Seniors Monthly Stableford – April 4. 1 Kevin Francis 36; 2 Brian White 35; 3 Jon Reed 34. Stableford – April 8. 1 Joe Atkins 37; 2 Simon Lenton 34; 3 Adam Smith 32.

Masters swimmers in fine form

MEMBERS of the Masters section of Yeovil District Swimming Club had plenty of success when they competed at Millfield swimming pool in Street at the Royal Navy Masters 17th open competition.

Mark Ovens had a great swim in the 50m breaststroke clocking a personal best of 38.54 to achieve a great sixth place finish.

Ryan Blake had a stunning race in the 400m free clocking a personal best of 5.10.44 to win a well-earned gold medal.

Dan Card put in a gold medal winning performance in the 200m free winning in a time of 2.18.16.

Hugh Broadribb had a good race in the 100m breast

SWIMMING

and won a bronze medal clocking a personal best of 1.29.50.

Ryan Blake completed a hat-trick of medals with another gold in the 100IM with a personal best of 1.18.87 and a silver in the 50m back.

Mark Ovens went on to get his second medal of the weekend in the 200m free with a well swam time of 2.28.17.

The YDSC Masters also did well in the team events picking up a silver medal in the 200m free relay and a fine bronze in the 200m medley relay.

The Masters section is for anyone who wants to move their swimming onto the next

level

offer

area.

For more information, visit

www.ydsc.co.uk or contact the membership secretary for more information at membership.ydsc@gmail.com

with coached sessions on

each week at pools in the

Members of the Masters section of Yeovil District Swimming Club recorded several personal bests when they competed at Millfield

Wheathill Golf Club has a popular clubhouse that is open to everyone

North Dorset squeeze home as Mindaugas represents country

Portsmouth 1st XV 15

NDRFC 1st XV 17

NORTH Dorset Rugby Club started their cup campaign with the 1st XV travelling to Portsmouth and the 2nd XV awarded a walk over against Swindon.

On a wet and boggy pitch, the match was always going to be a battle of attrition with the team gaining the most possession likely to win.

Portsmouth struck first within minutes of the kick-off, controlling the ball and scoring out wide for an unconverted try.

The teams matched each other in a midfield slugfest until Adam Trevis broke the deadlock diving over off the

RUGBY

back of a good scrum to level the scores.

David Stickland was unlucky not to pick up North’s second try when he was held up over the line.

Just before half-time a penalty and a converted try saw the home side go to the break with a 10-point lead.

The second half saw North with the wind behind them and they used the slight advantage to pin Portsmouth in their own half.

Sean Perry scored two tries, the second of which was a fantastic solo effort.

Riley Lewis converted the last try of the match to give

North the lead for the first time with 15 minutes left to defend.

Portsmouth did not give up and kept pressuring North’s line.

Izaak Romanillos relieved the pressure through some great kicking at the back in the closing minutes to keep North in control until the end.

Will Willoughby and Charlie Coleman had big games in the second row, while the back three of Tom Hooper, Adam Trevis and Sean Perry were menacing all day.

Sam Trevis was the pick of the back line. Sean Perry was the Gritchie Brewing Company man of the match.

North Dorset second row Mindaugas Kazlauskas was

Rockies share the spoils

by Avril Lancaster

BROCKENHURST and Shaftesbury drew 3-3 in a see-saw match in the New Forest.

Shaftesbury went ahead up when Eder Batista got his first goal for the club and Liam Farrugia doubled the lead with a bullet header in the 29th

WOMEN’S

minute.

Ronan Moore pulled a goal back for the Badgersin the 35th minute.

Rockies keeper Harry Dillon went off injured after blocking an attack and Tyler Disson Roberts replaced him

between the posts. Brockenhurst took the lead with two quick goals from Alex Haynes and Elliot Simpson in the 52nd and 55th minutes.

But Ash Pope rescued a point for the Rockies, heading home a Luke Delaney corner with 63 minutes played.

unavailable for the cup fixture against Portsmouth having being called up to the Lithuanian national team who were playing Sweden in the European Championship.

Mindaugas has now won seven caps with the Lithuanian Vytis ‘The Knights’.

On Good Friday the North Dorset Vets took on Butleigh Old Boys in a high scoring affair which ended 58-34.

Barry Taylor was the man of the match for the ‘old timers’.

The 1st XV take on Cornish counterparts Penryn 1st XV on Saturday while the 2nd XV will play off against Puddletown in the second round of the Papa John’s Community Cup.

Ladies retain sponsorship

JEANS Electrical of Mere have extended their sponsorship of Wincanton Town FC’s ladies’ team for their second ever season.

The players will be running Weetabix Wildcats football events for girls aged five to 11 to try playing football in a fun environment.

The sessions get under way at Wincanton Sports Ground on Saturday, May 6.

Eder Batista scored for the Rockies after signing from Fareham Town

FOOTBALL

FOOTBALL

Arrow words

AMY SCHUMER

ANGELINA JOLIE

CHARLIZE THERON

DANIEL CRAIG

GEORGE CLOONEY

HUGH JACKMAN

JAKE GYLLENHAAL

KEVIN HART

Crossword

Movie Stars

3 4 6

6 2 1 8 4 7 3 1 3 7 6

LIAM NEESON

MARK WAHLBERG

MELISSA MCCARTHY

NATALIE PORTMAN

ROBERT DOWNEY JR SANDRA BULLOCK TOM HANKS

Brain chain

Place 1 to 9 once into every black-bordered 3x3 area as well as each of the 54 rows indicated by the coloured lines. Rows don’t cross the thick black lines.

Killer sudoku

Brain chain (hard version)

Cryptic crossword

Across

Across

1 Threatening look in lake behind flat-bottomed boat (5)

1 Threatening look in lake behind flat-bottomed boat (5)

4 Learned type beginning to hide amid discordant carols (7)

Down

2 Reason about treatment (5)

4 Learned type beginning to hide amid discordant carols (7)

3 Spring almost gets to arrive for reception

5 Strange inaction from seal (12)

9 New summary report round, say, at home (8)

10 Dupe kept back stolen goods (4)

9 New summary report round, say, at home (8)

10 Dupe kept back stolen goods (4)

6 Readily available – like some beer? (2,3)

11 Change concerning group of students (6)

7 Article by doyen misjudged as harmless

12 Hint merely with seconds to go (5)

11 Change concerning group of students (6)

12 Hint merely with seconds to go (5)

8 Information about element from a bin commuter ransacked (6,6)

13 Expert about mass provides perfect example (4)

15 Charm oddly in English river (3)

16 Tiny duke gets undesirable plant (4)

19 Servant new yet volatile (6)

21 Request parking by meadow (4)

22 Bad store sadly is very expansive (8)

13 Expert about mass provides perfect example (4)

14 One working at last? (7)

15 Charm oddly in English river (3)

16 Tiny duke gets undesirable plant (4)

16 Reportedly feeble US lawyer over year, period for work? (7)

17 Tree not quite revealed in marshy offshoot of lake (5)

18 Long for twelve months close to sun (5)

20 Some din as allowed regarding a hooter?

19 Servant new yet volatile (6)

17 Tree not quite revealed in marshy offshoot of lake (5)

21 Request parking by meadow (4)

22 Bad store sadly is very expansive (8)

23 Agricultural storehouse managed by Arab in borders of Germany (7)

24 Road transport in recurring series of changes (5)

23 Agricultural storehouse managed by Arab in borders of Germany (7)

24 Road transport in recurring series of changes (5)

Across

1 Threatening look in lake behind flat-bottomed boat (5)

4 Learned type beginning to hide amid discordant carols (7)

9 New summary report round, say, at home (8)

10 Dupe kept back stolen goods (4)

11 Change concerning group of students (6)

12 Hint merely with seconds to go (5)

13 Expert about mass provides perfect example (4)

Place 1 to 9 once each into every row, column and boldlined 3x3 box. No digit maybe repeated in any dashed-lined cage, and each dash-lined cage must result in the given value when the stated operation is applied between all of the digits in that cage. For subtraction and division operations, start with the highest number in the cage and then subtract or divide by the other numbers in that cage

15 Charm oddly in English river (3)

16 Tiny duke gets undesirable plant (4)

17 Tree not quite revealed in marshy offshoot of lake (5)

19 Servant new yet volatile (6)

21 Request parking by meadow (4)

22 Bad store sadly is very expansive (8)

23 Agricultural storehouse managed by Arab in borders of Germany (7)

24 Road transport in recurring series of changes (5)

Down

2 Reason about treatment (5)

3 Spring almost gets to arrive for reception (7)

5 Strange inaction from seal (12)

6 Readily available – like some beer? (2,3)

7 Article by doyen misjudged as harmless (7)

8 Information about element from a bin commuter ransacked (6,6)

14 One working at last? (7)

16 Reportedly feeble US lawyer over year, period for work? (7)

18 Long for twelve months close to sun (5)

20 Some din as allowed regarding a hooter? (5)

For the

solutions, turn to page 103

Bidders look to pocket watch Quality antique furniture for sale

A GOLD pocket watch with an unusual repeat movement features in Charterhouse’s two-day May auction of watches, silver and jewellery.

“This is a very smart pocket watch and would have been used by a very smart gentleman,” said Richard Bromell, from Charterhouse.

“While many people today rely upon a wristwatch or telephone to tell the time, this pocket watch is still running well today and repeats the quarters should you need to know the approximate time in the dark!”

The 18ct gold pocket watch, being a full hunter with an enclosed case, has languished in a safe deposit box for many years.

The back of the case is

engraved with a crest and with the motto below ‘Dextra Fideque’ which translates to: “By my right hand and my faith”.

This pocket watch, one of hundreds of lots of silver, jewellery and watches in Charterhouse’s auction on Thursday and Friday, May 4-5, is estimated to sell for £1,000-£2,000.

Charterhouse is now accepting further entries of silver, jewellery and watches for this specialist sale.

Richard Bromell and the team at Charterhouse Auctioneers can be contacted on 01935 812277, email rb@ charterhouse-auction.com or pop into The Long Street Salerooms in Sherborne for a valuation.

CLARKE’S Auctions will be selling more than 800 lots of antique furniture and collectables when it holds its April sale this weekend.

The furniture section includes a charming 19th century figured walnut Credenza with porcelain panels and bowed glass cupboard doors.

Other furniture lots include a very good quality William IV rosewood library table on quatrefoil base; a Louis XVIstyle kingwood and gilt metal side table; a matched set of eight Chippendale-style dining chairs; a 19th century mahogany chest-on-chest; a 1960s chinoiserie dining table and chairs by Umberto Mascagni for Harrods; and items such as partner’s desks, chests of drawers, sofas and chairs.

The militaria section includes

two five-shot revolvers, a 54-bore Deane Adams & Deane 1851 pattern percussion revolver and a Bentleys Patent self-cocking five-shot revolver, both with estimates of £200£400.

A selection of rugs and paintings, jewellery and silver, ceramics and glass, garden items, collectables, Chinese and Japanese ceramics and art and more will also be on offer.

A colour catalogue can be found at the-saleroom.com and easyliveauction.com

For entries into future sales or enquiries about probate or insurance valuations, part or full house clearances, phone Richard Clarke or Karen Marshall on 01747 855109 at the main offices on Kingsettle Business Park, Station Road, Semley, Shaftesbury.

Wednesday 14th Model Cars, Trains, Dolls & Toys

Thursday 15th Medals, Militaria, Coins & Stamps Friday 16th Asian Ceramics & Works of Art

21st

1955 Rolex watch sells for £1,500

ACREMAN St Auctioneers & Valuers, Sherborne, saw some very good results in its two-day sale at the end of March.

Two L S Lowry sketches achieved a total a hammer price of £1,950 and a large collection of 1970s Star Wars models and figures, some in their original boxes, also generated a lot of interest selling for £850.

In the jewellery, silver and watches auction the star lot was an impressive 18ct four-strand bead choker which made £3,200, with a 1970s silver canteen of cutlery selling for £1,700.

In the watches section, a 1955 Rolex Oyster Speedking automatic wristwatch made £1,500.

Acreman is holding a two-day auction on Thursday and Friday, April 27-28, with

viewing on Wednesday, April 26, from 10am-5pm.

The catalogue and bidding are available online through easyliveauction.com and Thesaleroom.com.

Acreman holds specialist sales of Coins & Banknotes, Stamps, Ephemera, Postcards & Photographs, Oriental, Militaria

& Textiles, Fashion & Apparel.

It can take in everything from single items to complete collections.

If you are downsizing or need to deal with a whole house, Acreman is happy to help with advice or valuations.

It can arrange a full house clearance at competitive rates and is happy to make house visits if required.

If you have anything you

would like to consign, contact Gill Norman on 07908 333577 or 01935 50874 or by email auction@acremanstreetantiques. co.uk

Acreman holds a Valuation Day every Wednesday from 10am-4pm, offering free valuations on items anyone is considering for auction, at Acreman Auction, 121 Acreman Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PH.

Next Sale

Jewellery & Watches, Coins, Objets de Vertu & Silver, and Antique Furniture & Objects

Saturday 15th April

For a full list of our specialist sales please see our website

These L S Lowry sketches made a combined price of £1,950

This 1955 Rolex Oyster Speedking automatic wristwatch made £1,500

Antiques &

WANTED

Coins and Coin Collections 07754 058850

WANTED Vinyl Record Collections 07754 058850

WANTED VINYL RECORDS, Classical Jazz Rock etc Call James 07970 769946

WANTED

WE BUY RECORDS, COLLECTIONS LARGE AND SMALL Call BILL 07967 816506 or 01747 811100

Email: bill@tunes.co.uk

Antique & Classic Clock Repairs & Restoration

Longcase Clocks a speciality Antique Clock sales Clocks Unlimited

Tel: (01935) 423233 Mobile: 07974 520545 bclocksunlimited@aol.com www.clocksunlimited.co.uk

SAS man’s medals could make £10k

DUKE’S is inviting consignments for its Medals and Militaria and Asian Art Auctions, both taking place in May.

The sales have seen spectacular results in the past with an exceptional CGC group of eight reaching £156,000 and a fine Chinese coral-ground bowl with superb provenance making £221,000 last December.

An important British Empire Medal group awarded to Staff Sergeant D North 22nd SAS, one of the founding members of the newly re-formed regiment in the post-war years, is already consigned.

He joined the British Army in the post-war years serving with the Royal Signals. In 1950 he joined the Special Air Service and over the next 20 years, served with 22 SAS, 264 (SAS Signals) Squadron and after leaving the regular forces, 23 SAS.

He served continuously,

except for a two-year break, on active service in Malaya, Oman, Borneo and South Arabia, until 1967.

This group will be coming to auction with a pre-sale estimate of £8,000-£10,000.

Valuations for auction are free of charge and an appointment with one of the Duke’s specialists can be arranged either online or at home at your convenience.

For more information email enquiries@dukes-auctions.com or call 01305 265080.

FLYING GEESE GALLERY

RE-OPENS Thursday 20th April

Quilts, antiques/vintage, collectibles Cafe with delicious cakes and refreshments

Open Thursday-Saturday 1030-4.30 Sunday 1pm-4.30pm

http://www.flyinggeesegallery.co.uk

West Pleck farm DT10 2EG

PASTIMES

of Sherborne (near the Abbey)

Thirty years of dealing in antique and Collectible Toys.

Top prices paid for all types of model railway, die cast cars, early Action Man and Star Wars, Scalextric, Meccano, unmade Airfix kits etc. Those magical makes; Hornby, Dinky, Triang, Spot-On, Corgi, Subbuteo, Britains, Timpo plus plus plus

Telephone: 01935 816072

Mobile: 07527 074343

Staff Sergeant D North 22nd SAS, one of the founding members of the newly re-formed regiment in the post-war years

Weeding’s pure therapy, not boring!

by Sally Gregson

TO non-gardeners the act of weeding seems the epitome of boredom. Kneeling in front of a border pulling out unwanted plants can seem a thankless task, but for those who know, it is pure therapy.

Forking out a long-rooted dandelion before it sets its flower-clocks brings a deep sense of satisfaction. It’s no wonder that these days gardening is considered to be an excellent therapy.

It’s therapy for the garden, too. Not just dandelions, but docks, hairy bittercress and chickweed left to set seed and multiply results in quantities of weed-lings that seem to invade everywhere and everything.

That precious peony that cost a lot of money can get smothered with hairy bittercress – its space invaded to the point of annihilation by big, pushy dandelions. An hour spent weeding in April before those interlopers have had a chance to set seed, saves countless hours on hands and knees in May and June.

In the vegetable garden an accurately wielded hoe on a hot dry day speeds up the whole business. It’s worth hoeing slowly so as to avoid beheading the cabbages, or scraping the necks of the carrots. The pulled weeds can be left to shrivel if they are not too well-grown and no rain is forecast.

Once an area is weed-free the soil benefits from a thick, impenetrable mulch of something relatively inert, such as ornamental bark. This will prevent any new seedlings getting a hold in the cleared area, while encouraging the healthy growth of garden plants.

Weed-free borders can, however, seem a little sterile, but provided that your garden compost is genuinely free from weed-seeds, spreading it all over the surface will produce clouds of annual seedlings to fill in the gaps.

Ensure that when pulling out spent ephemeral plants, such as annual Love-in-a-mist (Nigella) or Poached Egg Plant ( Limnanthes douglasii )

Dandelions, docks, hairy bittercress and chickweed left to set seed and multiply results in quantities of weed-lings that seem to invade everywhere and everything

their spent seed-heads are added to the compost heap, and a whole display of annuals

will arise between the perennials to bring a smile to every gardener’s face.

Dicentra is tougher than it looks

by Sally Gregson

FOR months the brittle buds of small dicentras have been tucked away beneath the surface of the soil, biding their time. And now, in April, they are beginning to push up their seemingly delicate shoots, like long, glass beads, for us all to admire.

Despite their apparently fragile stems, dicentra are tough little plants that thrive in light shade beneath the shrubs in the garden. Dicentra formosa produces quantities of pink or cream lockets that dangle over pretty fern-like leaves in various shades of grey and green. Their foliage contrasts well with broad-leaved hostas, ferns and scalloped tiarellas to create a tapestry in a cool shady spot.

Dicentra formosa

‘Bacchanal’ has deep pink

hearts above pearl-grey foliage throughout April, and D. formosa ‘Aurora’ has white lockets over silvery, divided leaves. They grow to about 30cm in flower and are perfectly hardy.

Their larger cousin, Dicentra spectabilis (Lamprocapnos spectabilis), has captured the imaginations of countless cottage gardeners over the years. It was doubtless a mischievous child that first discovered that if the two ‘tabs’ at the point of each heart are gently pulled apart, the central ‘lady’ will pop out of her ‘bath’.

It grows to about 60cm in light shade. Both the lowergrowing D. formosa and D. eximea, usefully fill quite awkward, fairly dry shade, and the larger D. spectabilis occupies a similar corner.

By the autumn, dicentras are no longer visible, so it is wise to ensure their protection from questing trowels looking for an empty space. Perhaps a close liaison with a few ferns, or the foliage of exquisite autumnflowering Tricyrtis will act as a

safeguard. Or simply inserting a plant label almost completely will stay the hand and deter any interference. Add an organic mulch in autumn and you will ensure a delightful display from an exquisitely pretty plant throughout the spring.

Dicentra ‘Bacchanal’ and the leaves of epimedium Wildside

LED-ZIP LIGHTING is an independently run LED lighting distributor and consultant company with unique bespoke manufacturing capabilities.

Based in Bournemouth, and operating across the UK, we offer advice and energy efficient LED alternatives to conventional lighting technologies in any given environment, at your home or business.

Wooden

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LED-ZIP now offer a business lighting energy assessment, free of charge, to show how much money your business could save by switching to LED lighting and how much you can reduce your carbon footprint, doing your bit the help save the planet.

Please get in touch for more details on the benefits of switching and how we go through the process with you.

Home & Garden

IN THE SPOT LIGHT with POOLE LIGHTING

Tel 01202 690945 www.poolelightingfactoryshop.com

PROFESSIONAL GARDENER available in Sherborne area. 07783 727032

GUTTERS CLEARED

• Windows,

• Fascias,

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• Gutters cleaned,

• Repairs,

• Free Estimates 07788-376752

Gillingham:

Monday - Friday: 9.00am - 5.30pm

Saturday: 9.00am - 1.00pm

LAWN MOWING AND HEDGE CUTTING SERVICES, ShaftesburyBlandford & local villages. Please call Trevor 07970 012130

TREES R US Get your garden ready for spring. Trees, hedges, patios, turf & fencing call Peter 07976 667130

FOR SALE SCREENED

TOP SOIL DELIVERED 1T - 5T LOADS TEL NO: 01258 861046

Deadline to place your advert is the Friday before publication.

EX-DISPLAY SHEDS, Stables/field shelters, summerhouses, offices, workshops, agricultural 01935 891195

MAN WITH MICRO-DIGGER & 1.5ton digger, stump grinder, Garden clearance, patios, fencing, decking, landscaping, driveways 30+ years’ experience Contact Ken 07882 441873 / 01963 32034

ASBESTOS REMOVAL

Garages, Sheds, Lean to’s, Roofing and Cladding Collection and Dismantling BY Registered Hazardous Waste Carrier Call 07973 444620 or 01722 414478

CNP HOME & GARDEN MAINTENANCE

Over 30 years in the building trade. Friendly reliable family firm. General building. Hard Landscaping. Patios. Gutter clearing. Brick work. Re Pointing. Fencing. Office 01747 706073. Mobile 07736 061016

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established in 1978

OUR LOCAL SHOWROOMS:

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Fabrics

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Wincanton:

Monday - Friday: 8.30am - 5.30pm

Saturday: 9.00am - 4.30pm

01747 359015

www.inspire-eden.co.uk |

Landscaping, Groundworks and Garden Maintenance, Specialists in Patios, Fencing, Driveways, Walling, Ponds, Turfing Free Quotation

Landscaping, Groundworks and Garden Maintenance, Specialists in Patios, Fencing, Driveways, Walling, Ponds, Turfing Free Quotation

Landscaping, Groundworks and Garden Maintenance, Specialists in Patios, Fencing, Driveways, Walling, Ponds, Turfing

Landscaping, Groundworks and Garden Maintenance, Specialists in Patios, Fencing, Driveways, Walling, Ponds, Turfing Free Quotation

Landscaping, Groundworks and Garden Maintenance, Specialists in Patios, Fencing, Driveways, Walling, Ponds, Turfing Free Quotation

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Mobile: 07921 637227

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Tel: 01747 850544 Mobile: 07921 637227

LANGTON NURSERIES

(C W Abbott & Son) Hazel pea sticks and bean rods, Seed potatoes, Onion Sets and Shallots, Wild Bird food, Perennials & Shrubs. Stockists of Kings, Franchi and Fothergill Budget Seeds, Potting Compost. Large selection of pots.

Open daily 10am– 3 pm.

Langton Long Blandford Forum Dorset DT11 9HR. Telephone 01258 452513

TREEWISE

WANTED -

Dave buys all types of tools Call 01935 428975

HASKELL FENCING

All types of fencing supplied and fitted. We also have a mini-digger for hedge removal if required Blandford 07751 001515

TREE SURGERY, HEDGECUTTING & STUMP REMOVAL

NPTC qualified & fully insured No job too small, Friendly, personal advice and free quotations. Make a wise choice and call David Merefield today on 01747 850906 / 07966 522361

For all your fencing and decking needs

Closeboard, panels & sheds supplied and fitted. Gates made to measure.

Sherborne Fencing Ltd

Tel: 01935 814272

Mobile: 07814246332

The New Blackmore Vale Magazine DEADLINES

Display ads must be booked by Wednesday the week prior to publication, with final copy submitted by the Friday.

Classified ads may be accepted after this, HOWEVER these will be subject to space.

Create container fit for a King

THE Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) will kick off National Gardening Week 2023 on Monday, May 1, for a week of gardening across the UK, in the lead up to the coronation of King Charles III.

This year the theme for National Gardening Week is ‘Create Your Coronation Container’ as the RHS calls on people to celebrate King Charles and his love of horticulture by creating colourful planting schemes in whatever available space they may have, whether that be a window box, a hanging basket or even an old pair of wellies.

The King is known as a champion of the environment and an ardent supporter of the nation’s passion for gardening, so the RHS is inviting people to produce jubilant planting schemes to mark the beginning of his reign.

Participants are encouraged to let their imaginations run riot

PENNY LLAMA/ALPACA RESCUE organic poop, £1.50 per bag, 01725 552061

SELF DRIVE DIGGER and Dumper Hire 01258 861647

in concocting colourful displays, whether they feature a nod to the King in the form of his favourite flower, the delphinium.

The RHS is calling on those who get involved to share images that capture the coronation spirit on their social media channels, using the hashtag #nationalgardening week.

National Gardening Week is the nation’s biggest celebration of gardening and raises awareness of the difference that gardens and gardening can make to the lives of everyone in the UK.

The RHS hopes that as many people as possible – whether that be community gardening groups, schools, organisations, families or individuals – will get involved.

For more information about National Gardening Week, visit the RHS website at www.rhs. org.uk/nationalgardeningweek

TOOLS WANTED. Cash waiting. 01747 850474

LAWN MOWING SERVICE TEL 01747 821726

GARDEN RESCUE - TEL: 01747 821 726

Tree Surgery. Reductions. Felling. Hedge Trimming. Stump Grinding. Woodchip supplies.

Tree Surgery. Reductions. Felling. Hedge Trimming. Stump Grinding. Woodchip supplies.

Family run business since 1946 Tel: 01963 250005

Family run business since 1946 Tel: 01963 250005

Mobile: 07976 934 252

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Purchase advice, Virus Removal, New PC Setup/ Installation, Internet Connection, Upgrades, Computer/Software TuitionCall Gregg on 01963 370713

Joseph Crocker Computers

Custom built gaming & office PCs

Desktop & laptop repair

Help with mobile devices

General computer and IT advice NO JOB TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL 01963 23669 07484 690824

josephcrockercomputers.co.uk

at a time that suits you. Or you can drop off your machine at my workshop for quick, efficient care and maintenance.

DEREK ETHERINGTON BSc(Hons). PC/Mac, Repairs, Networks, Websites, Tuition. Free local callout. 01963362403 07855287150

http://www.dcenet.co.uk

Call 01963 400186 to advertise in Local Services

DECORATION, FLOORING & CARPENTRY

GARETH TANNER

G.O.T. Decorating City and Guilds qualified Interior/exterior Decorating Free Quotes no VAT Tel 07736 644452 go.tanner93@gmail.com

Repairs & Installations - 7 days per week

LES BENHAM

727 961

Painting Services, Property Maintenance, Domestic/ Commercial Inside or Out, Fully Insured/Free Quotes 01258 458849/ 07788 907343

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MUSIC

GUITAR TEACHER

Friendly, patient, humorous tutor with plenty of guitars in garden studio in a pretty village. Please mail andypalmer.guitar@gmail.com or 01258817063

PIANO TUNING, repairs, sales of reconditioned pianos.Julian Phillips BA CGLI. 01258 471194

Ex-Professional plays as Soloist and Busker for Weddings and Special Events 01749 813625

PEST CONTROL

SHERBORNE GUITAR TUITION 01935 389655ahiahel@live.com SPECTRUM PEST CONTROL

Rodents, insects and all other pests humanely dealt with. All forms of bird and rodent proofing undertaken.

I AM LOOKING FOR A SEAMSTRESS who can repair articles of clothing including jeans: 07860 330311

Deadline to place your advert is the Friday before publication.

07495 922821

Comfortable, spacious and clean estate cars. For hospitals, airports, seaports and local work. Distance no object, day trips and special occasions. Lady driver available. For safe Covid-aware transport.

5 star Google rating. JUST ASK! www.jasminecarsdorset.co.uk jasmine.cars@btinternet.com

Maiden Newton Clearance Ltd

We clear houses, garages, gardens across Dorset. Our experienced team will bag, box and clear everything. We will purchase some items or advise on those that should go to auction. Free quote on viewing.

Where our waste goes – we try to recycle as much as we can however some of the items cleared are not reusable. Our waste is split into categories of household waste, wood, rubble, metals, and hazardous waste such as old refrigeration units, paint and mattresses.

Our waste goes to Canford Recycling centre, near Wimborne or Dorset Waste Partnership.

Contact Chris: 07580 193 352 Kim: 07467 070 960

Email: mnclearance@live.co.uk www.maidennewtonclearance.co.uk

Fully

Busy bees help make the world work

by Barbara Cossins

IT’S a busy time of year for our bees right now, so that means the pollen is coming out too.

From the beginning of spring everything is green and waking up from winter. What a joy to see the bees starting to work their magic on the work of pollinating all our plants for food.

Did you know that one out of every three mouthfuls of our food depends on pollinators such as bees? Did you know that 75% of leading global crops depend on animal pollination? What an amazing world we live in.

Here on our family farm, Steve Toop, our honey producer – who also looks after a herd of milking cows for us – is passionate about what he does with his bees, which began as a hobby after some health problems.

What started as a small

sideline has expanded into a very productive and successful business for Steve and he has won many awards for his honey. Incredible work and wonderful to see and celebrate with him.

He says: “Bees are precious and it’s not as simple as putting a hive out and leaving it alone to fend for itself – it’s hard work. You need to have real dedication, to check the health status of your bees so they’re not passing on any diseases to other hives.”

Steve also says his bees have no more than four miles to travel to collect the pollen and nectar.

Honey is good for gut health – it has many benefits, including being a good source of antioxidants, having anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties; it also heals wounds and it has been said it is good for heart health and helps lower blood sugars.

In Ancient Greece it was described as the food of the gods; in China honey is used as a medicine. Honey in its raw form contains amino acids, anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals. Nothing has been proven that it helps allergens

but many people swear by their local honey in helping their immune systems and staying healthy. Honey is made from local flora and the taste is delicious.

During the pollen season, go and find your local beekeepers

Time to treat yourself, at the Clockspire!

Enjoy

A three-course-menu with a choice of three dishes for each course (including healthy options) available for both lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Friday, and Saturday lunch: 2 Courses - £ 26, 3 Courses - £ 32 (offer not available on festive days)

Our Main Menu: Available for lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday, and Sunday lunch.

Set Sunday Roast: 2 Courses - £ 35, 3 Courses - £ 40

Enjoy captivating live Jazz with the Simply Jazz Trio on the last Thursday evening of each month, from 7pm to 9pm.

Listen as you delight in seasonal dishes, exciting cocktails and fine wines. Or simply come to enjoy a drink in our lovely mezzanine bar, Wednesday to Saturday 12-3pm & 6-11pm, Sunday 12-4pm.

Dairyman Steve Toop with his hives on the farm

and buy honey from them. Beekeepers work hard to nurture their bees and in return they help keep our plants healthy, so enjoy these little living pots of gold.

Steve recommends that anyone who wants to take up the hobby should look up a local beekeeper and ask to shadow them for a day, just to see what is involved in keeping bees. What a great job it could be for youngsters wanting to contribute to our future environment.

I know that on our own family farm, with Steve’s help, we have become very beefriendly. We make sure we are not using pesticides that are harmful to our bees, plant wildflower mixes and maintain natural conservation areas which insects and bees love.

n Barbara Cossins is founder of Love Local Trust Local; www.thelangtonarms.co.uk; www.rawstonfarmbutchery. co.uk; www.lovelocaltrustlocal awards.co.uk

Vale puts some fizz into wine

by John Thorne WSET Dip

SPARKLING wine made here in the Blackmore Vale is a hit around the world and well worth the price tag.

When the Domesday Book was finished in 1086, it showed William the Conquerer what land he owned and the taxes he was due.

It also recorded 139 vineyards in England, mostly owned by royalty or the Church. One of those was at Tollard Royal.

Even though Henry VIII put paid to most of these during the dissolution of the monasteries, our winemakers have continued to thrive and there are now more than 400 vineyards spread over 3,500 acres across England and Wales.

English winemakers were making sparkling wines a good 40 years before Dom Perignon.

Dr Merret, a physician from Gloucester, published a

pamphlet outlining the method of producing sparkling wine in 1662. A

t that time, English winemakers shipped barrels of white wine from Champagne, to which they added spices and sugar to kick-start the secondary ferment and create those beautiful bubbles!

The key to their success was the quality and durability of English glass, which could withstand the pressure of the sparkling wine within.

By the 1700s, French winemakers had deciphered the English method of making sparkling wine, but they had to wear iron masks when in their cellars to protect them from shrapnel from exploding bottles made from inferior French glass!

Our local wine producers benefit from the same soil profile found in Champagne. Flavours range from notes of

gooseberry, summer blossom, orange peel, baked apple, elderflower, peaches and pink grapefruit.

Here in the Vale, our local vineyards are producing unparalleled fizz that will add style to any celebration. Fabulous examples to try include Breezy Ridge Classic Cuvee 2016, £28 a bottle; Melbury Vale Decadence Rose, £25 bottle; English Oak Englemann, £35 a bottle; and Langham Blanc de Blancs 2018, £39.95 a bottle.

n Breezy Ridge Vineyard, West Melbury, www. breezyridgevineyard.com

n Melbury Vale Winery, Cann, Shaftesbury www.mvwinery. co.uk

n English Oak, Lytchett Matravers, www. englishoakvineyard.co.uk

n Langham Wine, Crawthorne, Dorchester, www.langhamwine. co.uk

Enford Farm Shop

Food & Drink

Dogs welcome at coffee and cake spot

DOGGIES and drinks are at the centre of a new venue in Gillingham.

Coffee & Canines, in Newbury Court, opened this month, designed especially with dogs and their owners in mind.

The venue is the idea of dog trainer and former veterinary nurse Jennifer McDouall, who will also be on hand at the cafe to discuss all things doggy.

“I’ve been planning to open Coffee & Canines for some time,” she said. “I was a veterinary nurse before deciding to gain my professional dog training qualifications and I started my successful Positive Canine Training business for the public and charitable organisations five years ago.

“Over the past few years I’ve met dozens, if not hundreds, of dog owners in Shaftesbury, Gillingham, Mere, Blandford, Sturminster Newton and surrounding villages.

“After all those one-to-one

experiences, the time has now come to take my knowledge to a wider audience, while at the same time creating a place where dog owners and those who just love all things canine can sit and enjoy great coffee.”

Coffee & Canines offers a dog-friendly environment, as well as coffee and cakes, treats for four-legged friends and a range of useful accessories.

It is open from 8.30am until 4.30pm, Monday to Saturday, including Bank Holidays.

“I want dog owners to feel free to enjoy a coffee and seek advice if they need it, or just to chill and use our super-fast WiFi,” Jennifer said.

“But a lot of people who love dogs can’t own them due to health or age issues, or living in the wrong type of accommodation, and they are very welcome too. Coffee & Canines is designed to be the area’s premier go-to dogfriendly venue.”

As well as being dogfriendly, Jennifer said the venue has all things local at heart too.

“Our delicious coffee comes from local multi-award-winning eco coffee roasters, 918 Coffee Co, based in Semley,” she said.

“918 Coffee Co strives to have a positive impact on the environment – while going about its daily business delivering outstanding product

and performance – and that fully aligns with my personal ethos.

“Our cakes and doggy treats are all ethically and locally sourced from small independent B-Corp certified producers, and the accessories we sell in the shop – from toys and harnesses, to food, treats and gifts – are also sourced locally and many of them are hand-made.”

The Coppleridge Inn

We are a traditional country inn with rooms, set in beautiful

Motcombe SP7 9HW

We are a traditional country inn with rooms, set in beautiful

Friday 12:00-15:00, 17:00-22:00

Saturday 12:00-23:00

Friday 12.00-15.00, 17.00-22.00

Saturday 12.00-23.00

Thursday 12:00-15:00, 18:00-22:00

Saturday 12:00-23:00

Sunday 12:00-16:00

Sunday 12.00-16.00

Friday 12:00-15:00, 17:00-22:00

Lunch orders 12:00pm to 2.30pm, dinner orders 6.00pm to 8.30pm

Sunday 12:00-16:00

Lunch orders 12.00pm to 2.30pm, dinner orders 6.00pm to 8.30pm

Saturday 12:00-23:00

Lunch orders 12:00pm to 2.30pm, dinner orders 6.00pm to 8.30pm

Drinks all day Saturday - Bar last orders 9:45pm, 10:45 Friday & Saturday

Sunday 12:00-16:00

Lunch orders 12:00pm to 2.30pm, dinner orders 6.00pm to 8.30pm

Drinks all day Saturday - Bar last orders 9:45pm, 10:45 Friday & Saturday

Drinks all day Saturday Bar last orders 9.45pm, 10.45pm Friday & Saturday 01747 851 980 coppleridge.com info@coppleridge.com

01747 851 980 coppleridge.com info@coppleridge.com

01747 851 980 coppleridge.com info@coppleridge.com

Drinks all day Saturday - Bar last orders 9:45pm, 10:45 Friday & Saturday 01747 851 980 coppleridge.com

info@coppleridge.com

Jennifer McDouall has opened Coffee & Canines in Gillingham

Meditations in nature: The wonderful world of wood ants

by Susie Curtin

EARLY April, the warmth of the sun is on my shoulders as I follow the paths over the heathland. I am glad to be out and about following a rather sad week, in which I have had to say goodbye to my beloved cat, Henry, who has been my funny, loving companion for 11 years after unexpectedly turning up at my door. I am sure many of you will appreciate how difficult it is to lose a pet and how the tears can fall like April showers as waves of loss and grief come and go.

But today, out here on this warm, sunny afternoon, my heart is lifting for the first time in days. There are meadow pipits, stonechats and the odd, grumpy Dartford warbler. The warmth has also stirred a pair of lizards who are lounging in the sunshine – together they show me that kinder, warmer times lie ahead. Springtime is a period of hope and anticipation.

As I enter a wooded area, I stop to listen to the loud, repetitive drumming of a woodpecker who is either creating a new nest site or staking his claim to the territory. As his tapping ceases and the

sound of the wind abates, I become aware of a feint, gently rustling noise coming from near my feet. I look down and there, to the side of the path, is a scruffy, fizzing mound of woodland debris and thousands of shifting creatures. The wood ants have emerged from their winter slumber and are gathering heat from the sun’s rays.

Now, ants are probably not the most attractive of beings. In fact, there is something quite repellent about them. But over the years, and since working with entomologists, I have come to appreciate the world of insects, for their lives are extraordinary.

The southern wood ant is our largest ant. This species is a reddish brown in colour with a black head and abdomen. Wood ants live in large complex social groups comprised of queens, female workers and males. They build very large, thatched mounds made from conifer needles, twigs, heather and grass in a unique construction that makes their home waterproof and insulated to allow an optimal temperature. There is as much underground

as you can see above ground. Inside, there is the queen’s chamber for her and her brood, store cupboards and a graveyard, and tunnels that connect to other colonies. Their favourite food is honeydew from aphids which they collect from the pine trees. In return, the wood ants tend to the aphids, stroking them and protecting them from predators, thus ensuring future supplies.

Ant societies are extremely well organised. Everyone has a role which they perform tirelessly in a spirit of unselfish unity. They are strong, hardworking and determined, never giving up when the going gets hard. But, as I watch this seething mass of endeavour, I remember the old Aesop’s fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper, and how sorry I felt for the grasshopper when the ants refused him food. For ants are

smart, they plan and store sufficient resources for the winter. They therefore laughed at the grasshopper when he explained that he had been singing all summer and had not had time to store up food, and now he was hungry and dying, but the ants just told him to dance for his supper and die. The adage being that there is time for work and time for play, and he had wasted his time.

With that thought, I left the ants to their work while I contemplated the extent to which nature is kind or unkind. How much love I would have missed had I not been kind to the poor, hungry cat at my door looking for food and shelter.

n Dr Susie Curtin is a nature writer and qualitative researcher; wildlife travel blog at rewildingjourneys.com/; email curtin.susanna@gmail. com

Eye issues could cost drivers dear

NOT getting your eyes tested could end in a £1,000 fine – or even a driving ban.

New data from the Association of Optometrists (AOP) reveals two-thirds of drivers in the UK who use glasses are ‘putting off’ updating their prescription.

As a result, their vision isn’t suitable for driving – increasing the risk of accidents, the AOP

says.Should vision play a factor in any collision, then it could result in a fine of £1,000 and three points on a driving licence.

The research revealed that up to 20% of drivers who require glasses have not have their eyes tested in at least three years.

The police have the power to carry out vision screen tests on the side of the road, with drivers

needing to be able to read a number plate 20 metres away.

Almost half of Britain’s optometrists reported to the AOP that they have dealt with patients that were driving on the roads, despite their vision being legally too dangerous.

And police data has shown that about 3,000 people are killed or injured by drivers with bad eyesight – or where

eyesight has played a part in the cause of the collision – each year.

Further research from the Department for Transport (DfT) has shown that 42% of incidents involving drivers over the age of 70 were due to sight issues.

The AOP criticised the Government for not addressing this issue over the last few years.

Wood ants live in large complex social groups made up of queens, female workers and males, and build very large thatched mounds

Health & Wellbeing

Nature serves up a bountiful amount

by Fiona Chapman

SPRING is here despite the weather indicating to the contrary. The birds are singing in the morning, my garden is awash with daffodils and hyacinths, the roses are coming into leaf, and there is a feeling of optimism and warmth just around the corner!

Herbs too are growing, and this is when we should be harvesting nettles and cleavers to use fresh to give our bodies a good vitamin and mineral boost, and help drain the body of old winter toxins.

Cleavers should be picked and washed and put in fresh, filtered water and left overnight

to infuse. They are diuretic and in particular work on lymphatic drainage and helping the body get rid of toxins, which will also help with chronic skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis, acne and rosacea.

Nettles, which I know I bang on about lots, are full of minerals and vitamins and if you make a good strong nettle tea, they should not only help with skin conditions such as urticaria but are brilliant for hay-fever as they block the histamine receptors in the body.

Anyone who suffers from allergies should be taking nettle tea now with a good raw organic local honey to prepare

Top tips to help your fretting teenager

by Alice Johnsen

EVERY spring across the country thoughts turn with mixed emotions towards exams. GCSEs, A-level and other exams are looming. If your household is one of many being struck with the curse of revision, read on.

The run up to exams can be harder than the exam weeks themselves. The fear of the unknown combined with hours of solo study can create a whole range of emotions like boredom or real fear. A revising teenager needs careful handling if they are to feel supported without feeling over-pressurised. Here are a few ways to help.

n Talking to your son or

daughter about their revision and exams at the beginning means you are more likely to notice if things go off course. As with all such conversations, a walk or a car journey are both excellent ways of discussing without visual confrontation.

n It can help your child to ask them where they can get help from at school. If they’re not sure, offer to find out with them so they know they’re not in this on their own.

n Consider putting together a revision timetable with them and talk about breaking revision periods into small sections. Twenty-minute bursts with a five-minute break away from their desk are more effective

than 90 minutes sitting somewhere near your books, grinding your teeth and clock watching.

n If you have the space, set aside a room or part of a room for revision and make sure everyone knows they need to keep away and keep distractions to a minimum.

n Set a finish time and once that’s been reached, encourage taking a break outside. A run, a walk, meeting a friend, a bike ride – anything like that will make a huge difference to how your child sleeps, feels about his or her day and how what they have revised will sink in.

n Encourage good sleep. Teenage brains are changing

alongside the more visible physical changes. That can bring about real difficulties with sleep but a regular evening routine can help. Coming off smart screens an hour before bed not only helps you sleep. It improves retention of the work you have done that day as the processing part of your brain is able to function more efficiently while you sleep if you have had a break from screens for an hour before you go to bed.

A longer version of this article will be on my website soon: www.alicejohnsen.co.uk

n Alice Johnsen is a life coach based near Sherborne. Phone: 07961 080513; visit www. alicejohnsen.co.uk

A good strong nettle tea should not only help with skin conditions such as urticaria but are brilliant for hay-fever as they block the histamine receptors in the body

PHOTO: Mareefe/Pixabay

the body for the pollen season and acclimatise it so that it does not have an overreaction when the time comes.

Nettles are also diuretic and help to remove toxins in the body, particularly the joints, so those who suffer arthritis, rheumatism and even rheumatoid arthritis would benefit.

Pick a large handful of new leaves – obviously wear gloves – wash and pour boiling water on them. Leave them to sit for at least 10 minutes to infuse and then drink. If you have any left over, use it as a final rinse for your hair. It makes it shiny, thick and healthy.

Also, to my joy, the wild

of spring treats at revision time

garlic is up and that is just delicious as a pesto or in a soup, or just cut up into a salad. I often make a nettle and wild garlic soup which is packed with goodness and just makes you feel healthy eating it. Wild garlic is extremely good for the heart, it is anti-inflammatory and helps to lower cholesterol levels and so blood pressure.

It is quite amazing how nature has all the right plants for us to eat as we come out of the dark days of winter. We just need to take note, to appreciate and to thank her.

n Fiona Chapman is a Naturopathic Herbalist (Pellyfiona@gmail.com)

Phoenix Hair

A revising teenager needs careful handling if they are to feel supported without feeling over-pressurised

PHOTO: Welcome to All!/Pixabay

Motoring Wincombe MOT & REPAIR CENTRE

Established for more than 10 years, Wincombe MOT in services from oil changes to complex engine works, for all the major manufacturers. Car & Van MOTs

Brakes

Servicing on all makes

Clutches, suspension and timing belts All

Tyre Fitting Service

2014 (14) BMW X1 2.0TD X Line Automatic 4x4 SUV 5dr. 181bhp, diesel, 8 speed automatic gearbox, 4 wheel drive, heated leather, park sensors, hill start & descent control, DAB, Bluetooth, 52mpg, 66,900 miles……......................£11650

2019 (19) Citroen C3 1.2 Feel 5dr. 68bhp, petrol, 5 speed manual gearbox, hill start assist, Bluetooth, USB, touch screen, air con, alloys, cruise control, lane keeping aid, upto 57mpg economy, 43,500 miles……………...…………£9650

2018 (18) Ford Fiesta 1.0T EcoBoost Titanium Nav 5dr. 100bhp, petrol, 6 speed manual gearbox, sat nav, parking sensors, cruise control, auto lights & wipers, hill start assist, sign recognition, Bluetooth, DAB audio, lane keeping aid, average 50mpg, outstanding performance, award winning engine, 87,950 miles …..............…£9250

2017 (17) Ford Kuga 2.0TDCi Titanium SUV 5dr. 150bhp, diesel, 6 speed manual gearbox, high seating, big boot, sat nav, sign recognition, parking sensors, auto lights & wipers, cruise control, partial leather, hill start assist, Bluetooth, upto 60mpg economy, 58,700 miles………….................................................£13650

2015 (15) Honda CRV 2.0i-VTEC SE Automatic 4x4 Station Wagon 5dr. 155bhp, petrol, 5 speed automatic gearbox, 4 wheel drive, high seating position, large boot, parking sensors, reverse camera, auto lights & wipers, cruise control, Bluetooth, hill start assist, only 30,300 miles…..........................................£14250

2018 (18) Hyundai i10 1.2 SE Automatic 5dr. 87bhp, petrol, 4 speed automatic gearbox, only 9,900 miles, Bluetooth, air con, great value small automatic, full history & only 9,900 miles from new…........................…...£11450

2018 (18) MG MG3 1.5VTi 3 Style+ 5dr. 106bhp, petrol, 5 speed manual gearbox, only 5,800 miles, auto lights & wipers, cruise control, leather seats, DAB, Bluetooth, air con, alloys, only 5,800 miles from new…………..............….£8250

2012 (62) Mini Countryman 1.6 Cooper S ALL4 4x4 5dr. 190bhp, petrol, 6 speed manual gearbox, 4 wheel drive, Bluetooth, auto lights & wipers, parking sensors, hill start assist, good load space, 59,200 miles…………….....….£8950

2014 (14) Renault Scenic 1.5DCi Dynamique Tom Tom 5 Seat MPV 5dr. 110bhp, diesel, 6 speed manual gearbox, high seats, 1/2 leather, sat nav, auto light & wipe, cruise, cambelt replaced, £20 road tax, 58,900 miles...............£6450

2015 (65) Smart ForFour 1.0 Passion 5dr. 70bhp, petrol, 5 speed manual gearbox, Free road tax & upto 67mpg, cruise control, hill start assist, air con, alloys, Bluetooth, great city car, only 18,500 miles…....................................£7450

2019 (19) Suzuki Vitara 1.0 BoosterJet SZ-T SUV 5dr. 111bhp, petrol, 5 speed manual gearbox, high seats, large boot, sat nav, Bluetooth, reverse camera, cruise control, hill start assist, upto 53mpg, only 10,900 miles…...............£13450

COMMERCIALS

2018 (18) Ford Transit Connect 1.5TDCi 200 L1 Limited Van. 120bhp, diesel, 6 speed manual gearbox, 3 seats, side door, bulkhead, lined, sat nav, reverse camera, park sensors, auto lights & wipers, cruise control, heated seat, heated front screen, Bluetooth, AC, Alloys, hill start assist, 119,600 miles, NO VAT to pay ......................................................................................................£11850

2017 (17) Ford Transit Connect 1.5TDCi Trend 200 L1 Van. 100bhp, diesel, 5 speed manual gearbox, 3 seats, side door, bulkhead, lined, hill start, AC, heated front screen, BT, DAB, 120,100 miles, NO VAT to pay……..........................£9800

CLEARANCE VEHICLES

1996 (N) Ford Probe 2.0 16V Coupe 3dr. 113bhp, petrol, 5 speed manual gearbox, leather, Spares or Repairs, NO MOT, needs some minor work & a bit of welding, starts & drives, 148,500 miles, Spares or Repairs…….............…£1250

RENAULT MODUS 06

Low mileage MOT due November 2023

£900 Tel: 01963 370734

INDEPENDENT LAND ROVER SPECIALISTS

Established 1978 Parts repairs, servicing www.nicholaspaxton.co.uk 01749 880817

Deadline to place your advert is the Friday before publication.

VW CAMPERVAN (1972) for sale.

Cream. Excellent condition. Power Steering, New 2L Engine 3000 miles . MOT. 07867 802070

STORAGE FOR CARAVANS, boats and cars at Enford Farm near Blandford. 01258 450050 / 07704 813025

CARAVANS WANTED

Best prices paid 01747 851497

AWS Approved workshop facilities

info@bmvcaravans.co.uk www.bmvleisure.co.uk

WHERE AWARD-WINNING SERVICE IS STANDARD

TOYOTA YARIS HYBRID 2016 I/CVT

22,000, FSH

Bi-tone red/black £11,250 07807 291253

UNWANTED VEHICLES bought for cash ●Mot failures ●Nonrunners

●Unfinished projects

●end of life scrap vehicles

●minimum of £200 paid for complete vehicles. Call Ryan on 07474 737577

Motoring

VEHICLE STORAGE

Dorchester area Call for details 07393 941500

MOTORBIKES WANTED Non runners and Unwanted Phone Keith on 07966 213344

OLD, INTERESTING & CLASSIC CARS wanted pre 1990s Any condition including unfinished projects Cash/Transfer Please Phone Paul 07890 096907

FOR SALE

Horse box Renault Master 3.5t 2014

83,000 miles £14,000 ono

Recent conversion 2021 , good condition , new MOT Contact Peter Forbes 07836 209730

ppsforbes@gmail.com

01258 454366

07537 124307

2015 (65) MERCEDES BENZ C CLASS

SALON C200 BLUE TEC AMG LINE, 1.6 automatic diesel, 41,000 miles, silver blue metallic, black leather, all usual refinements sat nav etc, fantastic performance and economy, a real eyeful, only £30 road tax..................................................... £15,995

2015 (65) MERCEDES BENZ E350 Amg

Line Blue Tec Diesel Auto Convertible, black with black hood, black leather, only 59,000 miles with service history, every conceivable extra, what an eyeful......................... £15,995

2013 (62) BMW 118D, convertible Exclusive Edition Finished in White, with Black fully electric soft top 6 speed manual (Euro 5) 1 former owner, service history 103,000 miles great performance and economy. Excellent value at .............................................. £5,995

1997 BMW 520iSE 4-door 2.5 petrol automatic, black with black leather, massive service record, 140,000 miles, MOT 03/07/23, will be sold as spares or repairs only... £1,595

2012 (12) Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Manual

Exclusive Estate Petrol, finished in Pearl Grey Metallic 2 formers keepers 66,000 miles, in excellent condition throughout £4,495

2003 (53) Range Rover Discovery TD5 ES Auto Excellent mechanically, good condition all round. Spares or repairs .............. £1,850

PX to clear: 2004 (04) HYUNDAI SANTA FE100,000 miles with service history, Diesel automatic. Useful vehicle...................... £995

RARE OPPORTUNITY 2002 MGTF (SPORT) Registration M3GTF only 70,000 miles, drives lovely, MOT 10/08/23 (no advisories) will be sold as spares or repairs only ................................................... £1,650

2012 (12) BMV 320D Sport 4 Door 6 speed manual Finished in Black with Full Black Sport Design Interior, all usual refinements. Only £30 road tax, Full documented history up to and including 120,000 miles. Comprehensive service record, 155,000 miles ............................... £4,995

2001 Mercedes Vito 2.2 TDI Diesel Manual Camper Van 96,000 miles, good service record, elevating roof, split charge plus leisure battery, Pull out double bed, electric night heater (on board running), gas hob & grill, awning, Cool box, ready for the summer................................. £7,950

6 Month warranty (extension available)

Full workshop inspection

Full service to manufacturer recommendations

50 Years Experience

For further pictures please visit the website. maclarkcarsales.co.uk

MOT CENTRE

MOTS, SERVICING AND REPAIRS ON ALL VEHICLES UP TO 3.5 TONNES INCLUDING HORSEBOXES AND MOTORHOMES

SUNRISE SERVICE & MOT CENTRE

Bodyshop open for all repairs and restorations, from small scratches to complete resprays, insurance work welcome.

SUNRISE SERVICE & MOT CENTRE

MOTS, SERVICING AND REPAIRS ON ALL VEHICLES UP TO 3.5 TONNES INCLUDING HORSEBOXES AND MOTORHOMES

MOTS – class 4,5 and 7

Diagnostics

MOTS, SERVICING AND REPAIRS ON ALL VEHICLES UP TO 3.5 TONNES INCLUDING HORSEBOXES AND MOTORHOMES

Bodyshop open for all repairs and restorations, from small scratches to complete resprays, insurance work welcome.

Air conditioning Valets

Bodyshop open for all repairs and restorations, from small scratches to complete resprays, insurance work welcome.

MOTS – class 4,5 and 7

MOTs – class 4, 5 and 7

Courtesy Cars

Diagnostics

Diagnostics Air Conditioning

MOTS – class 4,5 and 7

Collections within a 5 mile radius

Courtesy Cars

Diagnostics

Air conditioning Valets

Concessions for Pensioners, Armed Forces and Emergency Services

Concessions for Armed Forces and Emergency Services

Courtesy Cars

Air conditioning Valets

Collections within a 5 mile radius

Courtesy Cars

Collections within a 5 mile radius

Concessions for Pensioners, Armed Forces and Emergency Services

Concessions for Pensioners, Armed Forces and Emergency Services

15B Sunrise Business Park, Higher Shaftesbury Road

Blandford DT11 8ST

15B Sunrise Business Park, Higher Shaftesbury Road Blandford DT11 8ST

15B Sunrise Business Park, Higher Shaftesbury Road Blandford DT11 8ST Tel: 01258 459798

Tel: 01258 459798

Tel: 01258 459798

Email sunriseservicecentre@hotmail.com

Email sunriseservicecentre@hotmail.com www.sunriseserviceandmotcentre.com

Email sunriseservicecentre@hotmail.com www.sunriseserviceandmotcentre.com

www.sunriseserviceandmotcentre.com

Peacemarsh Garage

est. 1997

Peacemarsh, Gillingham, Dorset, SP8 4HB www.peacemarshgarage.co.uk

We don’t buy any car… but we might buy yours

80TH BIRTHDAY

80th Birthday Wishes on April 15th to two of Bayford neighbours Roy Trott who was born in Bayford and Maggie Giles who came to the village in 1977.

PUBLIC NOTICES

ANN LAMMAS Deceased

Pursuant to the Trustee Act 1925 anyone having a claim against or an interest in the Estate of the deceased, late of 10 Knotts Close, Child Okeford, Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 8ES, who died on 19/06/2022, must send written particulars to the address below by 15/06/2023, after which date the Estate will be distributed having regard only to claims and interests notified Farnfields LLP,

4 Church Lane, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 8JT Ref: JCC84619-0001

TOWN AND COUNTY PLANNING (DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE) (ENGLAND)

Order 2015 NOTICE UNDER ARTICLE 13 OF APPLICATION FOR PLANNING PERMISSION

Proposed development at: The Old Farmhouse, Darknoll Lane, Okeford Fitzpaine, Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 0RP Take notice that application is being made by: Western Design Architects on behalf of Mr C and Mrs K Sweeney For Planning Permission to: Demolish existing outbuilding, erect new carport & garaging with associated landscaping, retain existing annex with replacement slate roof incorporating PV panels on south west elevation. Local Planning Authority to whom the application is being submitted: Dorset Council Local Planning Authority Address: County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XJ Any owner of the land or tenant who wishes to make representations about this application, should write to the council within 21 days of the date of this notice.

MEETING PLACE

232184

THANK YOU

BERYL FOWLER

Bill and family wish to thank all those who attended Ber’s funeral Tuesday 24 January 2023, thank you for those who sent cards, kind messages and donations for Cystic Fibrosis which raised £354.62 - please accept this as our personal message of thanks .

DEATHS

NORVAL FARO

Peacefully on the 24th March 2023 at Somerleigh Court Nursing Home, Dorchester. Norval aged 90 years of Marnhull. Wife of the late Alan. Dearly loved and missed by all her family and friends. Private cremation, a Service of Thanksgiving to be held at St Gregory’s Church, Marnhull on Monday, 17th April at 3pm. Family flowers only please, donations if desired for the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Trust.

C/o Peter Jackson Funeral Services, Mons, High Street, Henstridge, BA8 0RB. Tel: 01963 362570

YOUNG MURIEL SARAH JEAN ‘Jean’

Passed peacefully away at Yeovil District Hospital on March 23rd 2023 aged 82 years. Dearly loved wife of Cyril and much loved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend to many, who will be greatly missed.

Funeral service to celebrate Jean’s life will be held at Yeovil Crematorium on Tuesday, April 18th at 10.00am. Family flowers only. Donation cheques to be made payable to ‘Unwins Funeral Directors’ these may be left at the crematorium or forwarded to Unwins Independent Funeral Directors, The Firs, Underwood, Wookey Hole Road, Wells, BA5 1AF.

GENTLEMAN LOOKING FOR LADY PARTNER

DEATHS

LESLIE GORDON LOADER

Passed away peacefully in Yeovil Hospital after a short illness on 23rd March aged 88 years. Beloved husband of Christine, father and grandfather. The funeral will take place at St Mary’s Church, Stalbridge on Thursday 20th April at 2.00pm.

Family request bright colours to be worn. No flowers please, but donations to the armed forces charities SSAFA and RAFA c/o Bracher Brothers, Newell, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4EZ Tel: 01935 813479.

MATHEWS Barry John of Yetminster

Peacefully at Yeovil District Hospital on 24th March aged 82 years. Loved and sadly missed by all his family and friends.

‘A celebration of Barry’s life’ will be held at Stockbridge Farm Barn, Sherborne DT9 6EP on Tuesday 2nd May at 12noon where the family look forward to seeing all his many friends.

All enquiries to A.J. Wakely & Sons, 33 Sparrow Road, Yeovil, BA21 4BT. Tel: 01935 479913.

TORDOFF

Roger David

Aged 79 years of Castle Cary. On 17th March 2023, peacefully at the Rosay Nursing Home, Bridgewater. Roger will be sadly missed. Funeral Service has taken place. All enquiries to Harold F. Miles, Funeral Director, South Cadbury, BA22 7ES. Telephone (01963) 440367

KENNETH GUY “KEN “ JARRETT

Passed away peacefully on 2nd April 2023, at home in Gillingham, aged 98 years.

Much loved husband of Lesley and father to Liz & Linda. Please contact Bracher Brothers, for funeral details. Telephone 01747 822 494.

RAWLINGS Jacqueline

Passed away on 26th March 2023 aged 91 years. Beloved wife to Bill, Mother to William, Philip and Alan. Funeral service will take place on Tuesday, 25th April 2023 at 12.40 pm, Yeovil Crematorium. Family flowers only, but donations in memory of Jacqueline for Arthritis UK may be sent c/o: A J Wakely & Sons, The Old Police Station, Carrington Way Wincanton BA9 9JS. Tel: 01963 31310. (Please make cheques payable to the Charity)

RICHARD RUSSELL HALL

On 22nd March 2023 peacefully at Dorset County Hospital. Aged 86 years. Beloved Husband of Joan, a much loved Dad and Grandad, who will be sadly missed. Funeral service takes place at Poole Crematorium on Tuesday 18th April at 10.30am.

Family flowers only but donations, if desired for Parkinson’s UK, may be made online by visiting www.close-funeral. co.uk or cheques payable to the charity c/o Colin J Close Funeral Service, Peel Close, Salisbury Road, Blandford DT11 7JU. Tel: 01258 453133

ROBERT WOODDARD WILLIAMSON

On 22nd March 2023, peacefully in Hays House Nursing Home aged 96 years, formerly of Ludwell. A much loved Dad, Grandad and Great Grandad. Private family service. Donations if desired to Weldmar Hospicecare Trust may be made online at www.mhfd.co.uk or sent to Merefield & Henstridge F/D, Ridgemount, Pitts Lane, West Melbury, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 0BU.Tel: 01747 853532.

DAVID RAE

Peacefully, on 5 April 2023 at Yeovil District Hospital, David (formerly of Glasgow), beloved husband of Christine and a dear son and brother. Funeral private.

NICK GADENNE

Passed away suddenly on the 16th of February 2023 in the Western Cape South Africa. Much loved and hugely missed husband of 50 years of Julia. Dad to his precious boys, Tim and Nathan. Big brother to Philip and Sue. And “Gramps” to Evie, Ethan, Eva and Tia. A Thanksgiving service for Nick’s life and 70 years in Swanage will be held on Friday 21st of April at 2pm at the Swanage United Reformed Church. All welcome that knew and loved him. No flowers please….but scatter a few wild flower seeds somewhere lovely.

FUNERAL DIRECTORS

Book online: blackmorevale.net

Personalise services in our own on-site ceremony room.

DOREEN SHORT

Unexpectedly on the 24th March 2023. Doreen aged 76 years of Stalbridge. Wife of the late Des Short. Much loved Mum, Grandma & Sister. Funeral service at St. Mary’s Church, Stalbridge on Tuesday, 18th April at 11am. Family flowers only please, donations if desired for the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Trust. C/o Peter Jackson Funeral Services, Mons, High Street, Henstridge, BA8 0RB. Tel: 01963 362570

FUNERAL DIRECTORS

Crematorium in the heart of Dorset

Recruitment

CLEANER REQUIRED for holiday cottages near Buckland Newton.

Contact Nicola on 07900 966748 or info@bookhamcourt.co.uk

FAITHWORKS IS RECRUITING

2 x Part time Debt Advisors (full training given) to work alongside the Foodbanks in Wimborne & Blandford. For further information go to https://faith-works.org.uk/ get-involved/job-vacancies/ or call Nick Bold on 07743 386908

ROOFER REQUIRED FOR SLATING & TILING & lead work to join the team in Stalbridge Area

Alternatively a person who is willing to learn the trade may be considered

Please contact us on 01963 362325

WESSEX DRAIN SERVICES LTD

DORSET WOOD

All aspects of traditional building work undertaken Internal and external lime work re-pointing – plastering – re-rendering

HGV Class 2 driver required for waste tanker operative with small family firm. full training given, wages & hours negatable, contact Mark on 07973 850730

Landscapers and labourers needed.

We are looking for skilled landscapers and general labourers to join our team. A good knowledge of hard and soft landscaping along with a can do attitude required, drivers preferred but not essential. Long term positions within an establish local company. Previous applicants need not reapply.

07792892999

info@greenhavenlandscapes.co.uk

SILBURY CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Bookkeeping and Payrolls

We are recruiting a person to run the bookkeeping and payroll part of our business for clients. You will be able to work as part of a small team and communicate effectively with clients and staff. You will have a track record of being able to prioritise jobs and work to deadlines.

The role is office based, but we can offer flexibility for some remote working after a suitable period of becoming acquainted with our working practices and systems. The role is for 3 or 4 days per week, with some flexibility required for busy periods. Pay is commensurate with experience.

Apply to: The Staff Partner, Silbury Chartered Accountants, North Street, Milborne Port, Sherborne DT9 5EW

office@silburysbg.com

Looking for multi-skilled tradespeople for up and coming contracts. Rendering, repointing, stone & brick work.

Cob work – new or repairs

Contact Dave Welsh

Oak timber framing

Experienced/qualified Bench Joiner required for our high qualit y bespoke joinery workshop. Interesting & varied work. Must be able to work on own initiative. Immediate start. Competitive salary. For further details and an application form please contact:

Full restoration services for older and listed properties from planning to completion

Tel: 07838654468 dorsetlime@gmail.com

Bespoke timber building and extensionsfull service offered

0 01963 23219 or david@fcuffandsons.co.u k

Disabled and granny annexe conversions for older properties Consultation service offered

Contact Dave Welsh : 07492181788 or 07838654468

Email: dorsetlime@gmail.com

Website: www.dorsetlime.uk

Sandroyd

Co-ed Boarding and Day Prep and Pre-Prep School

Cleaner/Domestic Assistant Required Now

We seek a cheerful, energetic and hardworking individual to be part of the School’s cleaning team. Term time only

Meals provided during working hours.

For further details, please contact:

Rupert Burnell-Nugent , Sandroyd, Rushmore, Tollard Royal, Nr Salisbury, SP5 5QD

Tel: 01725 516329

bursar@sandroyd.com

www.sandroyd org

Sandroyd is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children This post involves contact with children and is classed as “regulated activity” by the UK government. As such, a number of mandated pre-employment checks (including an enhanced DBS check) will be undertaken to ensure that the successful candidate is suita ble for work with children Additionally, suitability for work with children will be assessed by taking up appropriate references and at interview Finally, candidates should be aware that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020

Fancy a career in care? Then pop into

PEOPLE looking to start a career in care are invited to go along to two ground-breaking recruitment events where they can be interviewed and may receive a job offer, all on the same day.

The events are being run by social care providers in Weymouth and Blandford, with NHS Dorset.

People can register for the

events – Thursday, April 13, at the Rembrandt Hotel in Weymouth and on Friday, April 28, at the Corn Exchange in Blandford.

Visitors can talk to care providers to find roles and locations to suit them. They may be offered interviews on the spot, with the possibility of a same-day conditional job offer.

Debbie Simmons, chief nursing officer at NHS Dorset, said: “We were blown away by the success of our first care recruitment event in January at the Bournemouth International Centre. There, we helped 97 people receive a conditional job offer to work in care, and we’d like to see similar offers rolled out in other areas of the county.

“This new approach to

recruitment helps remove some of the traditional application barriers people might face to make the process easier and less stressful. Care support workers play a vital role in our health and care system. We want to continue working with our social care partners to encourage more local people to join this important and rewarding area of work, and to help them find their

Pay volatility may be bad for health

WORKERS who report more instability in their income are more likely to suffer insomnia, headaches and stomach issues, according to new research.

The findings, from a study by the Emlyon Business School, show a lack of financial security for an employee can have a negative impact on their physical health.

Gordon Sayre, professor of

Emlyon, investigated the impact pay volatility has on the health of gig workers’ and those who rely on tips.

Prof Sayre conducted three separate studies, surveying 375 gig workers across three weeks, 85 tipped workers each day for two weeks, and 252 higher-paid workers in sales, finance and marketing across two months.

The findings revealed that

GREENMAN SOLUTIONS LTD

Gardener/Grounds Maintenance Person Required to help maintain commercial & private sites. Based near Wincanton Some experience is preferred but training can be given. Driving licence essential Contact Mike on 07738824952 or email greenmanservices@gmail.com .

organisational behaviour at

workers who had more volatile

The New Blackmore Vale DEADLINES

Display ads must be booked by Wednesday the week before the publication, with final copy submitted by the Friday.

Classified ads may be accepted after this, however these will be subject to space.

Advertising: adverts@blackmorevale.net

Classified ads: classified@blackmorevale.net or online at blackmorevale.net

pay reported experiencing more health symptoms such as headaches, backaches and stomach problems.

“Dealing with an unstable income means never knowing how much money you’ll make in a given week or month and that insecurity makes it difficult to cope with ordinary expenses,” Prof Sayre said.

The research also revealed that workers who rely on tips, such as restaurant servers, hairdressers and bar staff, didn’t feel physically better on days on which they earned more money.

One thing that gig and tipped workers have in common is that they often have a lower than average income, raising the question of whether the harmful effects were simply due to low pay, instead of unstable income

per se

However, the results of a third study on workers in sales, finance and marketing, where commissions and bonuses are common, revealed while the effects are not as strong, they still experienced health issues.

Prof Sayre said the research should encourage companies to consider whether the perceived benefits of performance-based pay policies that generate instability outweigh the costs to workers’ health.

Instead, he said companies should look to strike a balance by reducing workers’ reliance on volatile forms of pay, instead offering more substantial base pay.

The paper was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

The Emlyon Business School surveyed gig workers, tipped workers and higher paid workers in sales, finance and marketing

recruitment events

ideal role in care.”

Julie Joyce, lead recruiter at provider Care Dorset, said: “A job in care brings the satisfaction of making a very real difference to the lives of the people you support.

“These events are a great chance for people to meet us and other local care providers to find out all about the fantastic local options on offer.

“You don’t need any previous experience or formal qualifications to apply, and our roles include training and flexible shifts.”

The events run between 9am and 7pm. For more details and to register for the event visit www.joinourdorset.nhs.uk/care where you can also find out how to get in touch if you are unable to attend the event. HELPING

Steve and Anna Chubb

Trading as John Cooper Livestock Services

DUE TO RETIREMENT

Applications are invited for a FALLEN STOCK COLLECTOR DRIVER

The job involves the dispatching and collection of farm animals; completing collection paperwork and driver records.

Candidates should hold a full driving licence – HGV 7.5 tonne or above, have completed Driver CPC and either hold a Firearm Certificate or be able to apply for one.

Previous experience of working in an agricultural or fallen stock background would be advantageous. Full training will be given.

For further details or to apply please contact Steve on 07831 383 392.

FRONT OF HOUSE STAFF

REQUIRED to join our team at the Kitchen at Kimbers’ between Wincanton and Bruton.

A cheery, efficient, presentable, flexible disposition required. Ideally barista experience albeit training can be provided. Tuesdays to Fridays 8.30am to 3.30pm. One Saturday per month, occasional evening pop up events.

Email details to info@ thekitchenatkimbers.co.uk

TRACTOR DRIVER/ RELIEF MILKER wanted in Templecombe

Competitive rates paid

Ring Mike 07720 871629

CLEAN ROOM PRODUCTION OPERATIVES REQUIRED

Local Medical Company based between Gillingham and Shaftesbury

Various Shifts Available £11.01-£11.56 per hour

Email julie@ meditechsystems.co.uk

CLEANER/ HOUSEKEEPER.

5/4 hours per week to help look after a lovely house in Donhead St Mary. Flexible hours and competitive salary. If interested please email rabyshopping@gmail.com or call 07792 000448 DAIRY PERSON REQUIRED

Milking 300 organic cows. Accommodation available

Contact 07847 887298

How to recognise a skin allergy

by Lynn Broom Longmead Veterinary Practice

OUR pets, like people, can develop allergies to environmental factors. It can be difficult to identify these and even more difficult to avoid them. If they cannot be removed then controlling the body’s response to them is the next best thing.

Typically, allergies develop between one to two years of age or become more severe in a new house or new area of the country where a certain allergen is present in higher numbers than previously. A common cause of an increase in itching is a new flea infestation – even if those fleas are present in low numbers.

Allergens can be environmental or food-related. We can test for many environmental allergens but food allergy testing remains inaccurate and food trials are required to identify food allergies.

Certain breeds of dog are much more prone to developing allergies than others.

Historically West Highland Terriers were commonly affected, although careful breeding has reduced this. French Bulldogs and many poodle crosses such as Cockerpoos are more prone to allergies.

Allergies are often under recognised by dog owners. Common signs are foot licking. Most dogs do not lick or groom themselves much, unlike cats. They may lick after a walk when they get wet or muddy but signs of continued or repeated foot licking or chewing is often a sign of an allergy. In lightcoated dogs the hair is stained brown by saliva from the excessive licking. Other common symptoms are recurrent ear infections or conjunctivitis.

Many dogs are allergic to more than one factor and, whereas it may be impossible to remove all of these from their

STUNNING KC REGISTERED PEDIGREE VERY SPECIAL CHARCOAL AND SILVER LABRADOR PUPPIES HealthTested parents DNA Clear Hip/Elbow scored. Home raised no kennels 5* Licensed highest welfare standards home breeder. Both beautiful parents can be met, Viewings by appointment. Excellent pet, working, agility, companion Ready mid May Extensive puppy pack, 1st vaccination, microchip, 5 weeks insurance Pedigree Etc £1,500 Tel 07980 424995

environment, the more you remove, the less itchy your dog will be. For instance, fleas are a common allergen and even a very small number of fleas will make an allergic dog itchy. Storage mites build up in dried food and can be reduced by freezing the food or changing to a different type of food. Ensuring anal glands are not full will further reduce generalised itching.

Many dogs get an overgrowth of yeast and bacteria on their skin due to a combination of low grade chronic – long term –inflammation and increased moisture due to saliva which gives them a characteristic smell. Removing the cause of the allergy without dealing with the overgrowth of yeast or bacterial overgrowth may not resolve symptoms.

Identifying the allergens involved can be useful for control and bloods tests and skin testing exist for this purpose. However, allergens

BORDER TERRIER PUPS

well-bred Champion Fur SLEM clear Ready early May 01258 818028

such as grass pollens or house dust mites cannot be avoided and controlling the allergic response is an option with various medications or treatments.

It is worth noting that foods which describe themselves as hypoallergenic may still contain an allergen that your dog is allergic to and that all dried foods have the potential to ‘harbour’ storage mites – a commonly identified allergen in dogs. The only true way to exclude a food allergy is to feed a novel protein plus/minus a novel carbohydrate or a hyprolysed protein diet for six to eight weeks – because residual allergens take this long to be fully eliminated. Controlling an allergy long term is better for your dog – and cheaper for you – than treating a recurring secondary bacterial or yeast infection, if you cannot avoid the allergy. Your vet will be able to give you advice on the options available which suit your circumstances.

OMLET EGLU CLASSIC CHICKEN COOP. Green. House only £65. 07812 150053

To place your classified adverts call Lizzie Wilmot 01963 400186

CLASSIFIEDS

PEDIGREE LABRADOR PUPPIES ready end May 4 boys 4 girls . £950 Shaftesbury call 07753 983936

BEAUTIFUL SPROCKER PUPPIES. 3 boys left, 1 black/ white, 1 brown/white, 1 black. Mum therapy dog so bred for temperament, will make lovely family pets. Vaccinated, chipped and wormed. Ready May 1st. £600 01985 844553 (near Stourhead)

www.philshappydogs.co.uk

Pets in association with Phil’s Happy Dogs

Tel: 07721 094 494

Tip #37: What effect does breed have on behaviour?

by Helen Taylor

BREED or – more importantly – what the dog was bred to do originally, can have an effect on behaviour.

Breed characteristics tend to be tendencies more than hard and fast behavioural traits. But it is not the most important factor.

The temperament and

behaviour of both parents, the puppy’s early experiences and the individual dog’s final personality are all generally considered to be more important in determining the dog’s final temperament and behaviour.

But breed purpose and traits should always be taken into account when considering what

MID DORSET BRANCH CATS PROTECTION Cats looking for new homes

type of dog to get, or when looking at your own dog’s behaviour.

For example, ALL breeds of true terriers were bred to kill animals. As such, they have to be ready to use aggressive force intently to subdue the other animal to avoid injury to themselves – even a rat can cause a significant injury if not

LOST CATS

killed very quickly. A terrier that hesitates rather than attacks would not only be of no use to its ancestral handler but would also not live very long!

Next time, we look at some other breed/type tendencies.

n Helen Taylor certificated Clinical Animal Behaviourist

(CCAB); phone: 07951 985193.

FOUND CATS

n Sammy, 14 years. Sammy is a very gentle, gorgeous chunky monkey

n We also have a number of oldies looking for a loving home in their twilight years and are looking for a special end of life carer to look after an old girl who needs a lap to cuddle on

n Dusty, 10 years. Dusty is a troubled cat, very shy and unsure of everything, looking for a patient home

n Ben, two years. Looking for a more ‘outdoorsy’ home with somewhere to keep warm

n Outdoors cats looking for homes – farms, stables etc

n For details, please call our helpline on 01258 858644 or visit our website, www.cats.org.uk/blandford

We are still offering neutering and micro-chipping for £5 in postcode areas DT10 and DT11, SP7 and SP8, and BH21. Phone: 01258 268695.

MID DORSET CATS PROTECTION

Loving homes needed for cats and kittens in our care.

For more details, please call our helpline 01258 858644 or visit our website: cats.org.uk/blandford

(Formerly Blandford & Sturminster)

Sponsored by Longmead Veterinary Practice Ltd

If you have lost a cat, please contact us via our website, phone or Facebook. Please make sure we have a contact phone number so we can get in touch with you quickly if needed.

If you regularly see a cat that you don’t think has an owner, please give us a call – it might be a lost cat that could be reunited with its owner.

n Fluffy black and white, Blandford, reported March 20.

I

I

dog. Single

30% discount for rescue dogs.

CLASSIFIED ADS

SUBBUTEO 1970 WORLD CUP EDITION

England, Brazil, Italy

Complete. Played twice £150 - 01935 851444

WAREHOUSE CLOSING DOWN

Metal shelving and office furniture (eg: bookcases and desks) for sale

Shelving - 40.5 inches width, 18 inches depth, 84 inches height

10 bays & 4 shelves per bay

Fully adjustable, easy to assemble James 07802 468235

MAHOGANY DINING TABLE and 6 chairs £75 Tel. No. 03330 112174 (Internet)

TWO ERCOL RENAISSANCE low back armchairs, reupholstered, vgc. £400 Tel 07717 717803

GALVANISED 3 FOOT CATTLE TROUGHS, old fountains, bird baths, terracotta items and ‘stone’ planters etc+ interesting house items.Tel eves 01747 820541.

FREE CLASSIFIED ADS

NORITAKE CHINA TEA SET, Embrace pattern. 8 cups and saucers, teapot, milk jug and sugar basin. £15, 07767 863177

TOILET FRAME to give support when getting on and off. Like new £15 07751 049234

KAMPA PORTAPOTTI, never used, as new, £25. 07874 266213. Blandford.

FREE CLASSIFIED ADS

PARAGLIDER RUCK SACK (LARGE). As new, great for camping gear etc. Cost over £100 accept £50.00

KIngton Magna 01747 838882

TWO SEATER SOFA, cream leather, manual recliner. Fair, clean condition. £50. Tel: 01747 841101

GENTS TALL AIGLE BLACK RIDING BOOTS size 43 xl unworn £15. TEL.01823 480848

BLACK SMOKE GLASS TV CORNER UNIT 2 shelves . Height 51 Width 71. Depth 42 £15 - 01980 862832

GLASS COFFEE TABLE

4ft x 2ft. 18 inches high £45 - 07766 223843

CHILDREN’S SOFA BED. Easy flip out sofa bed. Sofa length 125cm, width 63cm. £10 Telephone 01935 813097

COMPOST BIN £5. Ring 01935 813967

SET OF 4 BRYANT’S DRAKELITE No.6 bowls complete with Henselite Double Decker Bowls bag. £50. Tel. 07359 590245. Zeals

6 DINING ROOM CHAIRS. Neutral upholstered seats. Excellent condition. £48. Tel: 01747 811150

2 RIFLE STEEL GUN CUPBOARD, as new. £50.ono. Tel 01725 552297

HIGH TRICYCLE Needs a lot of work £40 ono 01258 830233

BIRD CAGE - £10. Pawhut pet stroller, foldable for travel - £20. Tel: 01747-861044

22 INCH WALL-MOUNTED TV £45 - 01747 838214

ZANUSSI OVEN, 56cm d x 54.5 cm w x 57cm H. Good clean clean condition £25 01963 204479

To place your classified adverts

CLASSIFIEDS

The New Blackmore Vale Magazine call Lizzie 01963 400186

Equestrian

GOLF SHOES CARRYING BAG. M&S Black. Zip/ Velcro inside pocket. VGC - £8 01935 851076

OFFICE SWIVEL CHAIR with black/grey fabric feet and back £10 - 01963 363978

HANDSOME PINE CHEST OF DRAWERS width-30 inches height-32.5 inches depth-20 inches £50 Call 01258 821086 Marnhull

HOZELOCK GROWBAG WATERER. Good Condition £10 - 01963 33160

High Quality 5 string meadow hay bales available £35 available Bales of paper shredding, ideal for

WANTED ALL TYPES OF CAR TRAILERS, cash paid 07736 871092

STAMPS & COINS wanted by collector/ investor. I am very keen to purchase large or small collections at this time.Tel Rod 01308 863790 or 07802 261339

OLD BOOKS BOUGHT. Will call by appointment entirely without obligation. Bristow & Garland 07392 602014

FREE AD up to £50

1 ad per contact number please limit to 15 words or less classified@ blackmorevale.net

SURPLUS TOP QUALITY 2022 ORGANIC MEADOW HAY £3/BALE. STALBRIDGE. 07833 931596

Hedge-laying done, lambs on the way

by Tria Stebbing

IT’S a wrap. The hedge-laying season has finished.

The dormant hedgerow is about to spring back to life, offering a vital habitat to wildlife.

Him outdoors put in a marathon weekend to get to the finish point, just leaving the scrub to clean up now, it is currently too muddy to get to it, so it can wait.

Last year’s laying is paying us dividends already with plants and shoots appearing in the gaps and new life shooting from the liggers.

We have a little robin that has had his eye on it over the last week, fingers crossed he finds somewhere sheltered.

We have taken the rams back to the field to enjoy some fresh grass and to rest the paddocks.

I am sure that local people are really excited to see the return of the sheep, but if they are waiting for the little lambs to appear, sadly they are in for a

long wait this year!

We have been offered a lovely barn and paddock closer to our home village and with fuel costs escalating it makes sense to take the closer to home option.

The sheep need checking every few hours during lambing, and as we did not fit the raddle on Humphrey this year, we have a long window in which we could be lambing.

Already ‘63’ is plodding around like a sheep version of a coffee table, limping when needed to remind us that she needs extra food to feed her unborn twins.

Rightly so, as last year you may remember we almost lost her to twin lamb disease.

Mud continues to dampen our spirits, making the simplest of tasks an uphill battle, and still causing foot problems in the flock. We can only hope that in the next fortnight, the sun makes an appearance for all those expected lambs.

How to give hedgehogs a helping hand

PEOPLE are being urged to keep their eyes peeled to help the humble hedgehog.

The mammals are, unbeknownst to many, currently on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, vulnerable to extinction.

Usually hibernating from around November until March, many might begin to see the spikey critters emerging.

Among those offering help and advice is the Blandford Hedgehog Group, part of Dorset Mammal Group’s (DMG) initiative for Hedgehog Friendly Towns and Villages.

The group is working to raise the awareness on the predicament of hedgehogs and what we can do to help slow down their decline.

And it is offering tips on how households can help should they find hedgehogs in their garden

or surrounds.

“Hedgehogs drink a lot of water and need it all year round, so you can help by leaving out several shallow saucers of fresh water scattered around your garden,” a spokesperson said.

And they said often, seeing a hedgehog out and about in daylight, prompts people to think they are in trouble, when it might not be the case.

“In this instance – if a hedgehog is in trouble – the hedgehog should be taken to a vet or rescue as a matter of urgency,” they said.

“Do not under any circumstances try to treat the animal yourself as you could be doing more harm than good and may be fatal. Contact a Rescue for help and advice.

“Be aware that not all adult hedgehogs seen out during the day, usually from May to September, are not always in

trouble. It may be a female with small hoglets somewhere which has come out for water and food.

“Always observe in the first instance and if the hog is going about its normal business, showing no abnormal signs of distress, then leave well alone.

“Hoglets will surely die if a nursing mum is taken away. If in doubt, seek advice.”

Meanwhile, the group is continually raising funds to

support hedgehog rescues.

On May 13, a coffee morning will run from 10am to noon at the Blandford Parish Centre.

“We also have a market stall, usually on the first Saturday of each month, in the town centre, weather permitting,” the spokesperson said.

“We have lots of information available and also sell items to raise extra funds.”

The next market is set for Saturday, April 25.

GUNS WANTED FOR CASH

ALSO GUNS FOR SALE

SOS to all air rifles and pistols, any make or model, any condition. We collect in any area. Top prices paid in cash.

The rams have been taken back to the field to enjoy some fresh grass and to rest the paddocks

A difficult birth, but all ends well

YES, again another milk price cut, the third month in a row. Do we want to produce our own food in the UK or not?

No doubt the supermarkets will pocket a greater share.

It’s always about the weather on a farm! At last we are hopeful for some spring weather. But we are still very wet underfoot and the rain when it comes is heavy and cold.

The first swallow arrived on March 28, such a welcome sight.

The fields are a beautiful rich green, hedges bursting into life

We provide a friendly, local service at competitive prices. Based at Redlynch near Bruton, we supply Car, Commercial, Agricultural, Plant & 4x4 tyres and offer a 24hr breakdown service. We won’t be beaten on price.

Call us on 01749 813957 or 07971 012628 or find us at www.southwesttyreservices.co.uk

and the verges and banks full of flowers – how lucky are we to live in a land where the seasons are so different and as each season arrives it brings with it a set of its own delights.

Darren has all but finished lambing and the last of the cows in the spring block have calved. But a shorthorn cow had difficulties with the calf presenting backwards, with only a tail and large bottom trying to be born, both legs firmly tucked forward.

Tom and Alan can deal with most complications, but this was eluding them, so the vet was called.

The calf was so comfortable in the wrong position that a caesarean was the only option, a last resort as more often than not the calf doesn’t make it and the cow has a major op to get over.

The vet prepared the site by shaving off the hair and cleaning the area ready to make the incision, when Mabel, our grand-daughter, who was watching proceedings, noticed the calf making its way through the normal channel!

The calf was born, a bonny

shorthorn heifer, and mum was spared the operation and us the bill!

C-sections are not uncommon in cattle, but luckily we have only had a handful over the years.

Stavordale Firefox Amber, now being lovingly nurtured, will join the dairy herd when she is fully grown at about two years old.

It’s now mid-April and the dairy cows are still in winter quarters, with all that means, cleaning and bedding, and everyone, people and animals, is winter weary.

Thank goodness we have the

zero grazing to help eke out the remaining silages.

We have, of course, had winters like this before, but we farmers are an optimistic bunch and always hope for an early spring and turn-out.

Easter at the shop and Kitchen were really busy, with sales of lamb up on last year, the turkeys were also popular as were all the meats – family and friends’ gatherings are alive and well if the size of the joints is anything to go by!

The kitchen is waiting for the gale season to pass, so the sale cover can be put back outside over the seated area.

We have started the ‘pop up’ evenings once more – having had a Steak Night last month, a Lebanese food themed night is planned for April 28, bookings now being taken.

n Kimbers Farm Shop, The Kitchen at Kimbers, Somerset Trading Barn. Linley Farm Charlton Musgrove BA9 8HD Tel. 01963 33177. www. kimbersfarmshop.co.uk info@ kimbersfarmshop.co.uk.

Opening times Tuesday-Friday 8.30am-5pm Saturday 9.304pm.

Independent

Independent veterinary

Independent

veterinary services for livestock in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire

veterinary services for livestock in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire

services for livestock in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire

Collection points for livestock medicines and supplies at Sherborne, Sturminster Newton, Blandford and Shaftesbury

Collection points for livestock medicines and supplies at Sherborne, Sturminster Newton, Blandford and Shaftesbury

Collection points for livestock medicines and supplies at Sherborne, Sturminster Newton, Blandford and Shaftesbury

Please call the office on 01258 472314

Please call the office on 01258 472314

Please call the office on 01258 472314

www.friarsmoorvets.co.uk

www.friarsmoorvets.co.uk

www.friarsmoorvets.co.uk

The first swallow, on March 28, was a welcome sight

BARN TO RENT 45 ft x 25ft 01258 450050 07704 813025

BRAMSHAW HILL ABERDEEN ANGUS BULLS for sale

Performance recorded and TB tested. Telephone Howard Smith on 07850 813060

DAVIS FENCING 07707 069096

Agriculture Fencing Land clearance

WANTED

HOME FOR SMALL WELL-ESTABLISHED SUCKLER HERD on either share-farming or headage agreement.

Preferably Somerset, Dorset or Wilts. Please phone 01963 458199.

Deadline to place your advert is the Friday before publication.

Mobile service available WANTED

Supplying supermarkets comes with challenges and opportunities

Having a supermarket presence can be a great way to promote your brand, but it doesn’t come without challenges says Tim Fussell of Fussels Fine Foods. The Cornish Mutual Future Farming Programme finds out more. Third generation farmer Tim, and his brother Andrew, set up Fussels Fine Foods when the price for their rapeseed fell below £100/tonne.

“We started processing the crop to add value, but this also added complexity,” said Tim. “Rather than simply selling seed to a merchant, we now had to market our product and find someone to buy it.” Starting with local shows and markets to grow brand awareness, the brothers then set their sights on supplying supermarkets. In 2012 they became a regional supplier to Waitrose and have remained in 15 stores across the South West ever since. “As a company, Waitrose stresses its support for British farmers and buying local produce, so we fit well with their ethos.”

But the seemingly big break came when Sainsburys wanted Fussels rapeseed oil in 500 stores and Morrisons in 300. However, supplying at this scale came with substantial challenges: “You have to prove your worth every week, so you must be able to run promotions. If you don’t hit your sale targets, you could be out – and we were. The review process of what’s being stocked in any supermarket is both complex and ‘robust’!”

Working with supermarkets is all about relationships and promotions, concluded Tim. “Your relationship with the buyer is central to your success and with staff regularly moving around you can’t rest on your laurels; building relationships is a constant part of the process.”

JDG Structural Steel Ltd

Tel: 01747 811711

Mob: 07860 570258

Email: johnguttridge@aol.com

Email: Info@jdgstructuralsteel.co.uk. www.jdgstructuralsteel.co.uk

To hear more from Tim and read more Cornish Mutual Future Farming content visit https://www.cornishmutual.co.uk/cmfuturefarming/.

QUALITY HAYLAGE FOR SALE Well packed Square 80x90cm,6ft Bales

4 strings with 8 wraps, June made. Mix of Meadow & Ryegrass. Call Mark Needham 01300 345293/ 07860 759996

RELIEF MILKER

AVAILABLE weekdays and some weekends

Good references, good clean milking. Ring Andy on 07773 254174

PADDOCK MAINTENANCE

Topping, chain harrowing, rolling etc 01258 450050 07704 813025

FURZELEASE ORGANIC ABERDEEN ANGUS

Pedigree bulls and heifers for sale.

SAC Premium Cattle Health Scheme 01747 870509 07899 744764

CLAMP SILAGE FOR SALE

East Knoyle 07536 078875

MAN WITH TRACTORS FOR HIRE + agricultural fencing 01258 880892 07980 036250

GOOD ROUND BALE

NATURAL MEADOW HAY 01963 23278

DAVID BROWN 900, 1959, Restored 20 years ago. Original top link and draw bar. Used for ploughing matches. DAVID BROWN 885 Selectomatic, 1972 with cab. New clutch & steering joints. £3,500 each Tel. 07870 305822

07921

blackmorevale.net

Symonds &Sampson

6th - 10th February

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge!

find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

Affpuddle

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

Dorset

To find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

100% success rate at our December Auction

Berhill, Ashcott 25.74 acres (10.42 ha)

A block of productive arable land held in two enclosures with far reaching views and road access.

For sale by Informal Tender on Tuesday 18th April 2023 at 12 noon.

21% above guide

Guide £350,000

Affpuddle Sold 21% above guide

Lucy Carnell 01935 382901

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

Dorset

We’re inviting Wimborne. Entries

Clayton Hill, Brighton 9.89 acres (4 ha)

A secluded and unspoilt broadleaf woodland split into two parcels with vehicle access. For sale by Informal Tender on Friday 5th May at 12 noon.

Guide £100,000

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

Morgan Clement 01202 843193

acres

Hampshire

To find out how

Woodlands, Wimborne 5.3 acres (2.16 ha)

A well-equipped parcel of permanent pasture benefitting from a mains water supply and vehicular access.

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

For Sale by Private Treaty.

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

Guide £100,000

Symonds &Sampson SEE MORE SCAN HERE SYMONDSANDSAMPSON.CO.UK

Will Dorset

Affpuddle Sold 21% above

Morgan Clement 01202 843193

RESIDENTIAL | RURAL | COMMERCIAL SALES SSTC SOLD SOLD

Auction 20 April 2023

Stur. Marshall Guide £395,000

A 4 bedroom property providing potential for updating/extension (STPP), adjoining countryside at the rear. Freehold. EPC E. CTB E Wimborne 01202 843190

Shillingstone Guide £295,000

A delightful Grade II Listed 3 bedroom cottage in need of modernisation with large gardens of about 0.41 acres. Freehold. EPC Exempt. CTB F

The Digby Hall, Sherborne and via Livestream

Castle Cary Guide £395,000

A derelict house set in about 0.60 acres with lapsed planning permission for three additional dwellings

Freehold. EPC TBC. CTB F

Sturminster 01258 473766

Bovington Guide £375,000

A 2 bedroom chalet bungalow and 2.14 acres of land with a number of basic storage buildings. Freehold. EPC G. CTB E Dorchester 01305 261008

Piddletrenthide Guide £325,000

A detached 4 bedroom house and former village shop situated towards the centre of this popular village. Freehold. EPC D. CTB D

Dorchester 01305 261008

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge!

Sturminster 01258 473766

Sandford Orcas Guide £295,000

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge!

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge!

A semi-detached 4 bedroom character property situated in a small peaceful village close to Sherborne. Freehold. EPC F. CTB E

Sherborne 01935 814488

Zeals Guide £250,000-£275,000

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge!

A substantial Woolaway bungalow in about 0.21 acres. potential for replacement (STPP/consents).

Freehold. EPC TBC. CTB TBC Sturminster 01258 473766

Piddletrenthide Guide £250,000

A charming Grade ll Listed 2 bedroom cottage in need of modernisation, located centrally in the village. Freehold. EPC Exempt. CTB F Dorchester 01305 261008

To find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

To find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

Winkton Guide £235,000

A large 2 bedroom first floor flat over 2 floors enjoying spacious communal grounds with river frontage. Share of Freehold. EPC E. CTB D Wimborne 01202 843190

To find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

To find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

Bournemouth Guide £175,000

Stalbridge £175,000-£195,000

Lyme Regis Guide £175,000

100% success rate at our December Auction

100% success rate at our December Auction

A 2 bedroom GF flat for updating. Private rear access and garden. Freehold of FF flat sold off on a long lease. Freehold. EPC C. CTB B

SOLD SOLD SOLD

Symonds &Sampson SOLD SOLD SOLD

Symonds &Sampson SOLD SOLD SOLD

100% success rate at our December Auction

A former office premises with permitted development rights for two residential dwellings. Freehold. EPC E. RV £15,000

100% success rate at our December Auction

A rare opportunity to acquire a seafront kiosk primarily trading a range of ice creams. Freehold.

RV TBC

Wimborne 01202 843190

Catsgore, Somerton Guide £1,125,000 (whole)

135.32 acres (54.74 ha) of arable land, woodland and cricket bat willows in an accessible location, divided into four lots.

Sturminster Netwon 01258 472244

Winterborne Whitechurch Guide £98,000

A development plot with planning permission for a detached 2 bedroom dwelling with a garage and parking. Freehold

Blandford 01258 452670

Glastonbury Guide £55,000

Affpuddle Sold 21% above guide

Dorchester 01305 261008

SOLD SOLD SOLD

Axminster 01297 33122

Our next Property Auction

25 May 2023 at Digby Hall, Sherborne

Entries include renovation projects, development opportunities, agricultural land and commercial premises across Dorset, Somerset and Hampshire.

Yeovil 01935 423526

Affpuddle Sold 21% above guide

Affpuddle Sold 21% above guide

Affpuddle Sold 21% above guide

About 4.58 acres of level pasture land with timber field shelters and an area of woodland. Freehold

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

We are now taking entries for our summer 2023 auctions. Please contact Mark Lewis 01258 473766 or Meredith Holmes 01202 843190

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

Symonds &Sampson

Symonds &Sampson

Waddon, Weymouth Rent £3,500pcm

A detached farmhouse with separate detached Bothy and large gardens situated in the hamlet of Waddon and enjoying beautiful countryside views just a short distance from the Jurassic Coast. Rent: - £3500 pcm / £807 p/w; Holding Deposit - £807; Security Deposit - £4038; CT Band F; EPC C Dorchester 01305 571277

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge! out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you,

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge!

We’re inviting entries for our first auction of the year, to be held on 2 March in Wimborne. Entries so far include a number of properties for renovation, agricultural and building land, and even a barge!

We’re inviting Wimborne. Entries

To find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Silton Rent £1,500pcm

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

To find out how

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

Symonds &Sampson SOLD SOLD SOLD

Holwell £550 pcm

Graham Barton | 01297 33122 Affpuddle 21% above guide

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

100% success rate at our December Auction

100% success rate at our December Auction

SOLD SOLD

INVITATION

27th April 2023 from 5pm | The Shire Hall, High West Street, Dorchester DT1 1UY Join Rachael James, Head of our Residential Lettings Department, at an informative evening discussing the private rental sector and drawing on her 30 years of experience as a letting agent.

Affpuddle Sold 21% above guide

Affpuddle 21% above guide

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

|

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

West Morden 45% above guide

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

RESIDENTIAL | RURAL

|

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

Winterbourne Houghton 233% above guide

100% DORSET | DEVON | SOMERSET | HAMPSHIRE | WILTSHIRE | CORNWALL | LONDON SALES | LETTINGS | AUCTIONS | PLANNING | NEW HOMES

Symonds &Sampson SOLD SEE MORE SCAN HERE SYMONDSANDSAMPSON.CO.UK

COMMERCIAL

£585,000

£685,000

Wincanton

A substantial 4 bedroom detached family home situated in an elevated position with far reaching panoramic views. Light and airy sitting room with large bay window, large dining/family room, which opens to the kitchen, master bedroom with en-suite wet room and large garden with a delightful terrace ideal for al fresco dining and entertaining. EPC C. Freehold.

Thinking of moving?

£285,000

Attractive 4 bedroom end town house just a short walk from beautiful river and countryside walks. Spread over 3 floors with a spacious master bedroom on the top floor with an en-suite shower room, L shaped sitting/dining room, cloakroom, garage, garden. EPC Rating C. Freehold.

BRUTON £225,000

Due to a busy time over the Easter period we urgently require more properties to meet the demand from buyers looking for a home in the local towns and villages. If you are considering bringing your property to the market we would be delighted to provide you with a free market assessment and valuation. Please call 01963 34000 to arrange an appointment or email wincanton@hambledon.net

and en-suite. Spacious lounge/diner, fitted kitchen, private garden, garage and no forward chain. EPC Rating: C.

NEW INSTRUCTION

£365,000

WINCANTON £145,000

An attractive two bedroom mid terrace house situated in a small close on a mature development. Spacious sitting room, kitchen/diner, bathroom, easy to maintain garden, allocated parking, ideal investment or first time buy. EPC Rating: C.

NEW INSTRUCTION

WINCANTON £226,500

An exceptionally well presented three bedroom semi-detached house with stunning far reaching views over Wincanton and countryside beyond. Sitting room, stylish fitted kitchen, master bedroom with en-suite shower room, cloakroom, driveway and garage alongside property, landscaped garden. EPC Rating: C.

£260,000

Wincanton

WINCANTON £179,950

An exceptionally well presented 2 bedroom semi-detached house with solar PV panels with a battery storage system providing lower energy costs. Spacious kitchen/diner, cosy sitting room with feature fireplace, 2 double bedrooms, attractive sunny aspect rear garden, views over adjoining field and off road parking. EPC C. Freehold.

WINCANTON 01963 34000 Shaftesbury 01747 851151

A spacious two bedroom semi-detached house situated on a popular residential development. The property is presented in excellent order and enjoys the benefit of a car port, long driveway, enclosed garden, sitting room, fitted kitchen, conservatory and potential to extend (STPP). EPC Rating: D.

HAMLET LETTINGS 01963 34006

A 4 bedroom link detached house situated on a small select development of individually designed properties. Large light and airy sitting room, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom and a double garage. There are solar panels fitted to this home providing free electricity. No forward chain. EPC D. Freehold.

Templecombe

Exceptional 3 bedroom detached house enjoying spacious living accommodation including a light and airy sitting room, kitchen/ diner with a sliding door to a covered seating area ideal for al fresco dining, generous off road parking, landscaped garden. EPC: D Freehold.

Gillingham

South Cheriton

CLOSWORTH, SOMERSET

A particularly handsome former Rectory with Coach House, swimming pool and paddock, set in delightful established gardens and with wonderful far reaching views towards the Mendip and Polden hills. 4 Reception Rooms, 6 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, detached Garage and flexible outbuildings.

Sherborne 01935 810141

Guide Price £1,475,000

SHERBORNE, DORSET

GUIDE PRICE £330,000

SHERBORNE, DORSET

EPC: Band C

CHETNOLE, DORSET

EPC: Band F

LEIGH, DORSET

A perfectly positioned 3 Bedroom town house set in the exclusive Cloisters Courtyard development conveniently situated for the centre of this historic Abbey town.

GUIDE PRICE £1,550,000

Sherborne 01935 810141

Guide Price £495,000

NORTH BREWHAM, SOMERSET

A most appealing and substantial portion of this fine period house. 4 Reception Rooms, 6 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, double garage and delightful southwest facing garden.

GUIDE PRICE (TENDER) £350,000

PIMPERNE, DORSET

SHERBORNE 01935 810141 SHAFTESBURY 01747 850858

Sherborne 01935 810141

Guide Price £1,100,000

BLANDFORD 01258 423002

GUIDE PRICE £560,000 jackson-stops.co.uk

EPC: Band E

SHERBORNE,

BLANDFORD ST MARY, DORSET

An immaculate individual detached house on an award winning development within walking distance of town centre.

Blandford 01258 423002

Guide Price £465,000

CHARLTON MARSHALL, DORSET

A spacious chalet bungalow for refurbishment well located down a private cul-de-sac in a quiet corner of the village.

Blandford 01258 423002

Guide Price £575,000

SHERBORNE, DORSET GUIDE PRICE £330,000

WINTERBORNE HOUGHTON

E

HOLTON HEATH, DORSET

A restored and well presented former Victorian reading room in a popular village location.

LEIGH, DORSET

GUIDE PRICE £1,550,000

Blandford 01258 423002

Guide Price £575,000

NORTH BREWHAM, SOMERSET GUIDE PRICE (TENDER) £350,000

A charming listed country cottage in a glorious setting on the edge of Wareham Forest.

Blandford 01258 423002

Guide Price £795,000

PIMPERNE, DORSET

GUIDE PRICE £560,000

EPC: Band C

EPC: Band D

EPC: Band

EPC: Band D

PROPERTY & LAND AUCTION

TUESDAY 25TH APRIL 2023 AT 2PM AT THE SHRUBBERY HOTEL, STATION ROAD, ILMINSTER, TA19 9AR

Scan code for further details

WOOLVERTON, DOWLISH WAKE, ILMINSTER

A wonderful 3 bedroom cottage in need of updating and modernising, with west facing gardens, off-road parking, spacious accommodation and occupying a great position.

Auction Guide: £250,000

Ilminster Office: 01460 57222 residential.ilminster@gth.net

LITTLE

An incredibly rare opportunity to acquire a detached 4/5 bedroom house with grounds of over 3.5 acres, sensational views, outbuildings and nestled in an AONB. In need of complete renovation.

Auction Guide: £850,000

Ilminster Office: 01460 57222 residential.ilminster@gth.net

GREYSTONES,

A generous, three bedroom, detached chalet-bungalow occupying a large plot in semi-rural surroundings, just outside of Langport.

Auction Guide: £335,000

Langport Office: 01458 250589 residential.langport@gth.net

A Grade II listed attached cottage requiring modernisation, with range of traditional stone outbuildings with potential for conversion together with adjoining land in total extending to 11.92 acres (4.82ha) or thereabouts.

Auction Guide: £600,000

Yeovil Office: 01934 423474 farms.yeovil@gth.net

63

A Spacious end of terrace two/three bedroom house, with great rental/investment potential and the added incentive to purchase extra land to the side of property.

Auction Guide: £220,000

Mineahead Office: 01643 706666 residential.minehead@gth.net

An outstanding block of fertile pastureland, conveniently situated and benefitting from good road access and natural stream watering. In total extending to 5.66 acres or thereabouts.

Auction Guide: £50,000

Taunton Office: 01823 277121 residential.taunton@gth.net

An outstanding block of fertile pastureland, conveniently situated and benefitting from good road access and natural stream watering. In total extending to 7.91 acres or thereabouts.

Auction Guide: £70,000

Taunton Office: 01823 277121 residential.taunton@gth.net

LAND AT

A level block of permanent pasture divided into two enclosures with rhyne boundaries. The land has considerable agricultural, amenity and conservation appeal and in total extends to 9.65 acres.

Auction Guide: £30,000

Taunton Office: 01823 277121 residential.taunton@gth.net

29.71 ACRES AT WESTONZOYLAND ROAD, BRIDGWATER

Three productive parcels of level agricultural land extending to 29.71 acres (12.02 ha) or thereabouts, with one parcel currently laid to pasture and two in arable production.

Auction Guide: £340,000

Redhill Office: 0117 2035577 farms.redhill@gth.net

WOODLAND & LAKE AT SANDHILL PARK, GREENWAY, BISHOPS LYDEARD, TAUNTON

An attractive block of mature woodland and lake rich in wildlife, flora and fauna with excellent road access and frontage, in all about 16.77 acres.

Auction Guide: £85,000

Taunton Office: 01823 277121 residential.taunton@gth.net

LAND AT FROG LANE, LANGPORT

Lot 1 - 14.61 Acres (5.91ha) of level pasture land. Lot 2 – 13.08 acres (5.29 ha) of level pastureland.

Lot 1 Auction Guide: £85,000

Lot 2 Auction Guide: £50,000 Langport Office: 01458 250589 mark.walters@gth.net

FURTHER ENTRIES INVITED

STOCKMOOR POND RHYNE BRIDGE, BRIDGWATER

A pair of picturesque fishing ponds occupying a convenient position on the edge of Bridgwater. In all about 2.12 Acres

Auction Guide: £100,000

Taunton Office: 01823 277121 residential.taunton@gth.net

For a free market appraisal or further information about selling by auction please contact: Justin.lowe@gth.net 01935 423474 at our Yeovil office

LOT 1 LAND AT KNAPP, NORTH CURRY, TAUNTON

CURRY MOOR, TAUNTON

LOT 2 LAND AT KNAPP, NORTH CURRY, TAUNTON

WAGG DROVE, LANGPORT

FOREST, DOMMETT, BUCKLAND ST. MARY, CHARD

CHURCH FARM, WEST MILTON, BRIDPORT

BAMPTON STREET, MINEHEAD

Puzzle solutions (from pages 48-49)

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

Marquee bar | Picnics | Formal Dining

Jules

Massenet LE ROI DE LAHORE

Sung in French with English surtitles

Conductor: Jeremy Carnall | Director: Ella Marchment 26, 27 July at 19.00 | Matinée: 29 July at 14.00

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Conductor: José Miguel Esandi | Director: Paul Carr 25, 28, 29 July at 19.00 | Matinée: 27 July at 14.00

Coade eatre, Bryanston, Blandford Forum

07570 366 186

Original design by Augusto Ferri for the rst Italian production of Le roi de Lahore in 1878 | Archivio Storico Ricordi