Purbeck Gazette 20/02/23

What’s inside this issue...

About the Purbeck Gazette

The legal stuff... Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained in this magazine, but the editor is unable to accept responsibility for any omissions or errors that may occur. The inclusion of any article or advertisement does not constitute any form of accreditation or approval by the editor.

Above;

- P18 Right; Get ready for

run - P10

Zelensky drops in to Dorset with PM Rishi Sunak during UK visit

President Zelensky in Dorset with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

UKRAINIAN President

Volodymyr Zelensky was in Dorset last week.

Following an address to MPs at the Houses of Parliament and meeting with King Charles III on Wednesday, February 8, the war leader visited Lulworth camp, where Ukranian soldiers are being trained in use of the Challenger 2 tanks.

Flanked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Mr Zelensky presented medals to some of the troops who will soon be sent to the frontline, with tanks

provided by the UK.

The pair held a press conference at the camp, where Mr Sunak said ‘nothing was off the table’ when asked about Ukraine’s request for the provision of fighter jets to help their fight against the invading Russian army.

Warplanes were ‘part of the conversation’, the Prime Minister told reporters.

Lulworth Camp, near Wareham, is home to the Armoured Vehicle Gunnery School.

Solar & Tidal Predictions - Jan '23

Solar & Tidal Predictions – Feb/March 2023

Solar & Tidal Predictions - Mar '23

Compiled by National Coastwatch Institution, Swanage

Peveril Ledge, Swanage

Pictures: Office of the Ukrainian President

The leaders travelled to Dorset from London by helicopter

‘The need for families to help refugees is still there...’ - Page 6

Dr Beeching, the Pines Express and a model railway show...

By Lorraine Gibson

IN the midst of continuing rails strikes, a timely piece of railway history will be resurrected when Wimborne Railway Society marks the 60th anniversary of the Beeching Report.

The report, which tolled the death knell for hundreds of railway lines across Great Britain, was issued in March 1963 to address the failure of a modernisation plan to stem British Rail’s losses.

Dr Richard Beeching, its Conservative government appointed author, proposed wholesale route closures to concentrate resources on core

routes.

These closures included the Somerset and Dorset, a picturesque route running over the Mendip Hills from Bath to Bournemouth and passing close to Wimborne before terminating at Bournemouth West, the site of which now lies under the Wessex Way, and which is still commemorated by the name of the road which saw so many holidaymakers – Station Road.

A train which brought thousands of visitors to Dorset was aptly named The Pines Express.

To mark the anniversary of the Beeching Report, Wimborne Railway Society is offering families and individuals of all ages the chance to see, admire and remember how this famous terminus looked when steam was king.

The story will be brought to

They’re putting on the pedal power in the Purbecks...

By Sara Niven

PARENTS and pupils are being urged to get on their bikes as a way of improving their physical and mental health.

Active travel charity Sustrans is running a project across the county called Bike It, with Wool Primary the latest school to get involved with a six-month trial.

Funded by Dorset Council, the scheme offers a host of free activities, from teaching pupils how to ditch their stabilisers to basic bike repairs and maintenance.

Parents are also being catered for with organised bike rides during the school day as Sustrans officer for Wool Primary School Anna Philps explains: “Evidence has shown that getting outside in the fresh air boosts

mental as well as physical health, and a bike ride is a great way to do this.

“Each of our organised rides will be on quiet, tarmacked roads to local cafes to enjoy a coffee and even a slice of cake!”

The rides for parents start from Wool Primary School at 9am and take place on Friday, February 24, when cyclists will head for the Walled Garden Tearooms, and on Wednesday, March 1, when the destination is The Orchard Café at Holme Nurseries.

Places are limited – email anna.philps@ sustrans.org.uk to reserve a space. Bikes must be roadworthy and helmets worn, and safety checks will be made on arrival. For more information about Sustrans visit www. sustrans.org.uk

life by the award-winning Bournemouth West – voted one of the top ten layouts in the country – when it appears at the Wimborne Railway Society ‘Railex’ Model Railway Exhibition at the Allendale Centre, Hanham Road, Wimborne on Saturday and Sunday, 15 and 16 April.

It may be 60 years since the last Pines Express delivered its happy cargo of holidaymakers to Bournemouth, but many Dorset residents still remember it with great affection.

If you have a related memory or photo you

The Bournemouth West, one of the top ten layouts in the country, will be at Wimborne Railway Society’s ‘Railex’ Model Railway Exhibition

Sustrans officer for Wool Primary School Anna Philps

Plans for prescription vending machine

PEOPLE in Wareham could soon be able to collect their prescriptions out of hours - at a special vending machine.

A planning application has been submitted to Dorset Council for the installation of a machine at the Day Lewis Pharmacy, in South Street.

The plan describes it as a ‘servi-locker prescription collection machine’.

“The machine has a similar footprint and concept to that of an ATM machine,” it said.

“With already ample parking facilities, installing the machine should ease the flow of vehicles during business hours with this out-of-hours collection service being installed.

“It will have a vinyl wrap to the machine with operating instructions and company logo.

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‘The need for families is still there’

While many of the headlines may have moved on, Ukranian refugees fleeing their war-torn country still need our help. Here, local volunteer SASFI HOPEROSS explains how you can help - and the impact on people in need...

AS Russians bombs continue to bombard Ukrainian towns and cities, entire towns and villages are razed to the ground, and more and more Ukrainians are being displaced from their homes.

Every day we read and hear of further atrocities, children being killed in their schools, old people dying in their villages, too scared to leave to find a safe place.

It is important not to become numb and switch off from this reality, to move onto the next news item and forget.

Estimates now put the number at 15 million people displaced from their homes. Seven million have fled the country.

For many, staying in their homes could mean death, and they face the constant terror of air raid sirens wailing as nearby buildings are hit by missiles.

Many of the people fleeing are single women, mothers and children. It is terrifying to think of these mothers and young children homeless and stateless.

There is a desperate need for families to find homes and safety, now more than ever.

Imagine one morning you had to leave your home or risk death. Pack up a few vital things and your children and head out, not to school or work but to the unknown, to try and find safety somewhere.

I spoke with Andre and Sue, who invited Elena into their home last year. An initial zoom meeting was set up for them to get to know each other. Once they were both happy, they started on the paperwork together, with assistance from another local Ukrainian.

Andre said: “An important thing I feel, is that you are not alone. There is a good support network locally with other hosts who have been through the process and this has been very important in helping us organise everything. There is a whole community involved. For the Ukrainian families here, a good support system has

developed locally that has helped everyone connect too. A good network of hosts and guests makes everything so much easier for everyone.”

There are basics that need to be done once your guests arrive; opening a bank account, a Biometric Residence Permit, National Insurance number, assisting them to find work.

Some of the Ukrainians coming to Dorset have family or friends here, so it is wonderful to be able to help them settle near people they know.

If are interested in hosting or volunteering, contact purbeckconnectukraine@gmail.com and we can talk through the process and answer questions. There is an extensive list of potential families we can connect you with, and we can assist you to find a good match that works for both parties.

As Andre said, you are not alone, there is a community here that can assist, guide and help.

Ukranian refugees during a visit to Lulworth Castle

Yachtswoman Pip calls for runners to help hospice in Bay Run

WORLD-RENOWNED solo yachtswoman Pip Hare is urging runners and joggers to support Lewis-Manning Hospice Care in the Bournemouth Bay Run in April.

Pip, whose craft Medallia is based in Poole Quay Boat Haven, will be sailing singlehanded, non-stop, around the world as a competitor in the 2024 Vendée Globe race.

In the 2020/21 race, Pip finished as the first British skipper, and in 19th place overall, despite having one of the oldest boats in the fleet.

She said: “I encourage people to get involved and help your local community hospice charity, Lewis-Manning, and come on board with the Bournemouth Bay Run.

“There is a selection of events to involved in, including walking, jogging and running either a 1k, 5k, 10k or halfmarathon – there’s an event to suit every ability.

“Help Lewis-Manning Hospice Care to raise vital funds which will allow it to continue its support to the patients and loved ones that benefit from its services.

“This is a brilliant opportunity to take on a personal challenge in 2023. By joining the Lewis-Manning community, you will be directly impacting the lives of hundreds of local patients and their loved ones. You’ll also get a LewisManning running vest. I encourage everyone to sign up

be a local super-hero and do your local charity hospice proud.”

Tom Goodinge, LewisManning Hospice care director of fundraising, added: “We are delighted to have Pip’s support – she is an incredible role model and truly inspirational athlete.

“I’ve heard lots of staff saying they’ve signed themselves up to run – it’s such a great way to kick-start the year and there’s no better way than doing it for our incredible charity.”

Anyone wishing to enter the Bournemouth Bay Run on Sunday 2 April and support Lewis-Manning Hospice Care should visit www. bournemouthbayrun.co.uk/

Lewis-Manning Hospice Care is one of three officially supported charities this year in what is the 40th annual Bournemouth Bay Run.

Pip Hare will be sailing singlehanded, non-stop, around the world in the Vendée Globe race.

PHOTO: Martin_Clavey/ Wikimedia Commons

Students eat up language classes

By Sara Niven

IT’S commonplace to ask for a cappuccino or latte but do you know what macchiato means and why it is spelt with an ‘h?’

Or that pepperoni is not actually salami but a vegetable?

Those that can now claim to are the students attending Amanda Stewart’s ten-week long Italian language class in Swanage which comes to an end early next month after starting in the new year.

Her Beginners’ Italian for Foodies is a language course with a twist – all the classes are culinary themed. It has gone down a treat with enthusiastic linguists of all ages who meet each week at Marine Villas on Swanage Pier.

“There’s definitely no shortage of culturally motivated people in Swanage – they bring a lot of work and travel related experience to the classes which I try to make as creative and fun as possible,” says Amanda, an experienced language teacher who grew up in a bilingual

Quintet in court over alleged drugs factory

FIVE people have appeared in court in connection with the discovery of a suspected cannabis factory in Wareham.

Officers from Dorset Police executed a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act at an address in Westminster Road on the morning of Wednesday, February 1.

It was reported that searches uncovered a large-scale

operation cultivating what was believed to be cannabis plants.

Five men – aged 24, 25, 32, 33 and 51 – were arrested and subsequently charged with conspiring to produce a class B drug.

They appeared at Poole Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, February 4, and are next due to appear at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday, March 9.

Italian and English household.

“Last lesson we covered the fact that Italians have seven different ways of simply saying ‘the’ but we did it through studying a typical menu.

“We then covered the fact that ‘pepperoni’ is not salami but is actually peppers, and to

highlight that, I brought in roasted ones drizzled with a typical ‘Bagna cauda’ sauce originating in Piedmont, northern Italy.”

For details of future Italian classes in Swanage, email contactamandastewart@gmail. com

M&Co stores to close

CLOTHES shop M&Co is closing all of its storesincluding in Shaftesbury, Blandford, Christchurch and Warminster.

The chain has announced all 170 outlets will shut this spring, with around 2,000 jobs to go.

M&Co went into administration at the end of last year and has been bought by AK Retail Holdings - owner of plus-size firm Yours Clothing - in a deal which didn’t include the premises.

Posts by various stores on Facebook announced the closures.

They said: “Unfortunately we haven’t received the news we would have hoped for during our administration period, and would like to share this news with you.

“As we haven’t received any funded, deliverable offers that would result in the transfer of the company’s stores or staff to a potential buyer, this means that all of our stores will close.”

Firm in small business awards running

DORCHESTER-BASED business Fluid Dynamics International has been shortlisted for two awards in the biggest awards contest for small businesses in the SouthWest.

The firm is in the running in the Larger Business and Exporter categories in the Celebrating West Small Business Awards organised by the Federation of Small Businesses.

The awards have seen a near

record-breaking number of entries across 12 categories for individual business owners and SMEs and will culminate at a final in Weston-super-Mare early in March.

Other Dorset businesses which have been short-listed are Right at Home from Poole – in the Service Excellence category; House of Chunk from Ringwood – shortlisted as Best Start-up; Poole’s Octima Marketing – nominated for Service Excellence; and

Electrogear Fareham which is in the Start-up Business shortlist.

The county’s nominees will hope to follow in the footsteps of Bournemouth’s Beyond Retail which won the FSB South-West Wellbeing award in 2022.

FSB South-West regional chairman Lee Nathan said the standard of entries was ‘exceptional’.

“Every year we are amazed and delighted to see the quality

and quantity of South-West businesses which enter our awards,” he added.

“It is further proof – if any was needed – that this region is an exceptional one for innovative, creative and progressive small businesses.”

Mr Nathan thanked all the sponsors which have made the event possible including Reach plc, NatWest, Tyl by NatWest, Aldermore, FSB Insurance, Weston College, Renishaw, Lexus Bristol and Gravity.

Amanda Stewart (above) is teaching a Beginners’ Italian for Foodies class (right) in Swanage

Hospice dances off with £25k boost

CHARITABLE dancers put their best feet forward to raise £25,000 for a good cause.

A Strictly Extravaganza Gala Dinner was held at the Hilton in Bournemouth recently in aid of the Forest Holme Hospice in Poole.

The event, which was organised by Lewis Scott Academy of Arts in memory of Lisa Hopton, who was cared for at the hospice, followed a similar format to BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, with amateurs performing alongside a professional dancer.

The evening saw 10 contestants, each of whom had either little or no previous dancing experience, perform in front of four judges and a sold-out crowd featuring friends, family and charity supporters.

Each contestant had a connection with the hospice itself, either through the care a loved-one had received there or, in the case of Lynn Makeham and Karen Johnson, work at Forest Holme as a nurse and trustee respectively.

The show opened with the group Charleston dance performed by the palliative care team based at Forest Holme and culminated with Jason Edwards scooping the glitterball trophy for his

beautifully moving Waltz to the theme from Schindler’s List alongside his professional partner, Madison Ingoldsby.

Jason, who performed in memory of a friend who was cared for at Forest Holme, said: “This is something I will cherish forever but it was about so much more than a competition.

“I have made firm friends for life each and every one of them was a winner along.

“Together we raised over £17,000 in sponsorship alone, for the most amazing charity, Forest Holme Hospice. The night was all about paying tribute to Lisa Hopton and Lisa this one is for you.”

Kirsty Perks, from the Forest Holmes fundraising team, said: “This has been such a fantastic event to work on and we just want to thank everyone involved in making it such a success.

“We want to say a special thanks to Oliver Beardmore and Caitlin Heasman, who gave up many hours over several months to choreograph and train all of the dancers, as well as co-organiser Kieran Beardmore.

“NHS funding is limited, which is why we need to raise £1 million each year, so £25,000 will make a significant impact to help deliver the highest level of care, when and where it counts.”

The contestants with their professional dance

With the right legal support, home buying or selling can be simple, straightforward and pleasurable… Read about the changes

leasehold ground rent …that’s refreshing

Dance, jog, run – charity event bound to be fun!

By Lorraine Gibson

IT’S time to dig out the dayglo tutus and lime-green ankle warmers as Diverse Abilities has announced the return of the Poole Park Dorset Neon Run.

The disability charity’s fundraiser is a 5km evening fun run in which participants can run, walk, dance or jog around during the colourful fundraiser.

Hot Radio will be providing the entertainment and laughs aplenty will be on offer at the Clubbercise warm-up.

Entry is from £10 and fundraisers get a Dorset Neon Run T-shirt once on reaching their fundraising goal – or participants can make a larger, one-off donation in lieu of fundraising.

Lucy Rowley, events fundraising officer at Diverse Abilities, said: “Dorset Neon Run is a fun event and as it isn’t time-chipped it allows participants to run, jog, walk or dance at their own pace.

“It’s a great excuse to dress up in neon gear and face paint, while having a laugh with your mates. If you’d like help to prepare, join our Facebook group where we will guide you through Couch to 5K.”

Hot Radio managing director Kevin Scott added: “We are passionate about supporting our local community, including our chosen local charities like Diverse Abilities, which support

our own.

“We love using our resources to support its fundraising events such as the Dorset Neon Run.”

The event is on Saturday, April 22, and is open to anyone aged over 12 – under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Registration opens on the night from 7.30pm and the race starts

at 8.30pm.

As well as the 5km route, the Family 2K, an adapted route suitable for all the family, starting from 5pm, is also on offer.

Visit www.dorsetneonrun. com or search for Dorset Neon

OT H ER‘S

Menu

Starters

Tomato, Courgette & Basil Soup (V)

Smoked Mackerel Pâté with Pickled Fennel and Oat Crackers

Panéed Featherblade of Beef with a Woodland Mushroom Fricassée and Beef Jus

Grilled Goat’s Cheese Salad wit)h a Red Onion Marmalade and Garlic Croutons (V)

ConÞt Duck Leg Terrine with Homemade Piccalilli and Lamb’s Leaf

Mains

*Roast Rib of Beef, Red Wine Jus and Yorkshire Pudding

*Slow Roasted Local Pork Shoulder with an Apple Cider Gravy (GF)

*Roast Leg of Lamb with a Redcurrant & Mint Jus (GF)

Grilled Fillet of Sea Bass with a Roasted Pepper & Tomato Sauce (GF)

Warm Chargrilled Vegetable & Couscous Salad with Grilled Halloumi and Raita (V)

*Served with Seasonal Vegetables and Roast Potatoes

Desserts

Upside Down Pineapple Cake with Vanilla Custard (V)

Strawberry Cheesecake with Chantilly Cream and Fresh Berries (V)

White Chocolate & Raspberry Blondie with Prosecco, Raspberry & White Chocolate Ice Cream (V)

Glazed Citrus Tart with Chantilly Cream (V)

Tripple Chocolate Triße Pot (V

The Dorset Neon Run will raise money for Diverse Abilities

MARCH

Swanage Blues Festival, 2nd - 5th March

Swanage Railway - Spring Steam Gala, 24th - 26th March

APRIL

Carnival Classic Motor Show, Sunday 23rd April

MAY

Swanage Railway - Diesel Gala, 12th - 14th May

Pirate Festival, 27th - 28th May

Purbeck Art Weeks, 27th May - 11th June

JUNE

Fairy Festival, 1st - 3rd June

Sea Rowing Regatta, Saturday 10th June

Fish Festival, 17th - 19th June

Swanage Railway - ‘Roads to Rail’, 23rd - 25th June

JULY

Coastal Rowing Regatta, Saturday 1st July

Swanage Jazz Festival, 7th - 9th July

SISATA Outdoor Theatre - The Tempest, 22nd - 24th July

SWANAGE CARNIVAL WEEK! 29th July - 5th August

AUGUST

Rotary Summer Craft Fair & Fete, Thursday 10th August

Swanage Lifeboat Week, 11th - 20th August

SEPTEMBER

Music by the Sea, Saturday 2nd September

Swanage Folk Festival, 8th – 10th September

Swanage Railway - Classic Steam & Vehicles, 8th - 10th September

Planet Purbeck Festival, 15th – 24th September

Swanage Supervets Rowing Regatta, Saturday 30th September

OCTOBER

Swanage Blues & Roots Festival, 5th – 8th October

Candles on the Beach - Lewis Manning, Saturday 21st October

Purbeck Film Festival, 13th - 29th October

CHRISTMAS

IN SWANAGE

Artisans on the Beach, 25th November - 1st January

Swanage Christmas Lights Switch on, Saturday 25th November

Swanage Railway - Christmas Events, 2nd - 24th December

Swanage Rotary Christmas Market, Saturday 2nd December

The Boxing Day Dip! Tuesday 26th December

For more information contact the Swanage Information Centre on 01929 766018 or welcome@swanage.gov.uk. For more events throughout the year see our website ‘Visit Dorset’ and search for Swanage Events.

Swanage Market, every Friday throughout the year. Includes the monthly ‘Artisans at the Market’ event on the April to October

Supper group coins in cash for charities

MARTINSTOWN Circle

Suppers, a community-based supper group in Martinstown, is celebrating raising more than £23,000 for local charities since its inception in 2016.

Members raise money by taking turns to host and pay for enjoying meals in each other’s homes.

The first charity the group supported was Kennedy’s Disease UK, co-founded by local resident Kate Hopps to raise awareness and funds for research into the rare progressive neuromuscular disease with which her husband Frank had been diagnosed.

Since then, the group has supported five charities, all with a local connection.

It also arranges at least two fundraising events a year, such

as auctions, race nights, treasure hunts and themed parties.

Local businesses and organisations have been generous in their support, providing financial donations and prizes.

Last year, the chosen charity was Living with CAH, which offers advice and support to families with a member living with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

The group raised £7,900 for the charity with the support of Ben and Leanne, owners of the village pub, The Brewers Arms, who have two sons with the condition.

Trudy Braithwaite, who has been on the Martinstown Circle Supper Committee since its foundation, said: “We are delighted to have raised £7,900

for Living with CAH.

“The community and local businesses showed overwhelming generosity and support, making the fundraising a huge success.

“We had a busy year of suppers involving 42 villagers and the owners of the village manor opened their beautiful garden for us to hold a successful garden fete, which drew hundreds of guests.”

The group’s charity for 2023 is the Dorset Family Counselling Trust and 24 suppers are planned, along with

a clothes swap, an auction and an ABBA evening to raise funds.

Cathie Seigal, Martinstown Circle Suppers founder and committee member, said: “We are thrilled to have been able to support so many deserving local charities over the years.

“We are looking forward to another successful year and are grateful for the support of our community.”

To donate an auction prize for this year’s fundraising event, contact Trudy Braithwaite at trudyb4@gmail.com

Volunteers make a difference

WITH unprecedented pressure on our nation’s health and social care services, our community volunteers are performing a vital role helping patients to be discharged from hospital when they are medically fit to go home.

Often when a patient is admitted to hospital, no matter the reason, the foremost thing on their mind is going home. Because no-one really wants to be in hospital – even if it is the best place for them.

And we all know that this is no reflection on the great work of our frontline NHS workers – it is just that ‘home is where the heart is’.

The Volunteer Centre Dorset receives referrals from Dorset County Hospital and Dorset’s community hospitals ward staff

asking for help with anything a patient needs to go home safely.

This could include preparing the home, moving furniture or packing boxes for a hospital bed to be delivered, turning on the heating and popping some shopping in the fridge.

Volunteers

Kate W, from Bridport, said: “The typical task I am asked to do would be something you might ask a friend or neighbour to help with.

“These are often one-off jobs, so this makes it easy for me to step-in and help. I know I’m making a difference because I see the relief on

people’s faces.”

Community volunteers can also be asked to help once someone is back home.

This is for everyday tasks including shopping, collecting prescriptions, walking a dog, heating and serving a meal, or just popping in to check someone is okay or to have a cuppa and a chat.

This is a vital service for Dorset – and a win-win. It is increasing capacity within the NHS, freeing up a hospital bed for the next person and patients are always relieved to be where they want to be – back home.

If you would like be a community volunteer, please contact Volunteer Centre Dorset on 01305 269214 or volunteer@volunteeringdorset. org.uk

Every year over half of UK adults volunteer – we support, enable and celebrate volunteering in all its diversity

help with everyday tasks including shopping and collecting prescriptions

Brewers Arms, Martinstown, owners Leanne and Ben Carter with one of their sons and Roelie Newman, from Martinstown Circle Suppers, holding the cheque for £7,000 raised for Living with CAH.

Appeal to restore historic locomotive

RAILWAY enthusiasts are hoping to bring a Victorian locomotive back into use for the first time in around 75 years.

Swanage Railway has launched an ambitious £85,000 appeal to restore the iconic T3 - the last survivor of its class which dates back to 1893.

The T3 was bound for a scrapyard after being one of the finest express passenger train locomotives of the Victorian era, but was saved from being cut up so it could be used to help celebrate the centenary of London’s Waterloo station, in 1948.

Full name London and South Western Railway T3 No 563, the locomotive had travelled more than 1.5 million miles when it was withdrawn from service by the Southern Railway Company in 1945.

Now, it is hoped to have the 81-tonne locomotive back in steam in the spring.

To achieve it, the Swanage Railway Trust’s 563 Locomotive Group has launched an appeal to raise £85,000 so the restoration can be completed and the T3 can steam for the first time since 1948.

The project, costing a total of £600,000, was started in November 2017, with work being carried out by specialist contractors at the Flour Mill workshops in the Forest of

Dean, Gloucestershire, and at the Swanage Railway’s Herston engineering works on the outskirts of Swanage.

Chairman of 563 Locomotive Group, Nathan Au, said: “It’s very exciting to see the finishing line for the challenging and meticulous restoration of a unique Victorian steam locomotive come into sight – we are on the final sprint and almost there.

“The T3’s working life was over before many of the other steam locomotives that we operate on the Swanage Railway had been built.

“The unique and iconic No. 563 will offer something new and exciting to everyone on the Swanage Railway –enabling our visitors, members, volunteers and locomotive crews to enjoy an evocative taste of Victorian train travel.”

How to protect your home from care costs

Nobody likes to think about getting old, but it is certainly worth thinking about if you value your home. That is because your house could very well be sold by the local council to pay for your care fees. As an example, let’s say you own a home jointly with your partner and you live there until one of you dies. The surviving partner continues to live in the house until they must go into a care home run by the local authority. At that point, the local authority will assess the surviving partner for care fees. If their capital and savings are worth more than £23,250, they will have to fund their own care.

Councils place a charge on the property, which is paid when the house is sold. Alternatively, you may be required to sell the house immediately to raise the cash. Money raised from the sale of the house will fund your care until your savings get down to £23,250. That won’t leave much of an inheritance for your family and loved ones.

There are two solutions to the problem available to you. One is a will trust which protects 50% of the value of your home from care costs. The second is a living trust which shields 100% of the property. Both are relatively inexpensive to put into place. Every trust is administered by trustees, the trustees can be the partners or surviving partner and children.

The situation won’t get better over time. The UK’s fastest-growing age group comprises those aged over 85. Councils will face even more pressure on budgets, leaving them with little choice but to continue to sell people’s homes.

To protect your home, contact Oakwood Wills on 07832 331594

The main thing to remember with trusts is that because you do not own the assets held in the trust in your own name, it is more difficult for those assets to be taken away from you or from the beneficiaries of the trust.

Chris Tennant, Oakwood Wills

The T3 is being painted in the locomotive livery of the London and South Western Railway – Drummond Green with brown borders and a lining of black and white – which it carried between 1893 and the formation of Southern Railway in 1923.

563 Locomotive Group treasurer, Steve Doughty, added: “I would like to thank everyone who has so generously supported the restoration of the T3 which is thought to have hauled a Dunkirk evacuation train in the summer of 1940.

“We understand times are challenging financially for people but we hope the last push to raise £85,000 to complete the restoration will see No 563 back in steam for the first time since 1948.

“Seeing the T3 hauling trains through the beautiful Isle of Purbeck and past the dramatic ruins of Corfe Castle will be an amazing sight not seen in the area for almost a century. No 563 is a direct link to the Swanage Railway’s past – back to the early days of the London and South Western Railway when holidaymakers first visited Purbeck by train.”

To make a donation - or start a standing order – to complete the T3’s restoration, visit 563locomotivegroup.co.uk.

Neve puts her best foot forward for children

By Lorraine Gibson

CARING Hayeswood School, Wimborne, pupil Neve Farrell decided she wanted to help children after hearing about Emily Collins, a young aid worker who despite being ill cared for impoverished children in Africa.

Neve, seven, learned about Emily when she visited Jill Mumford, head of Hampreston First School, Wimborne Minster, who was fundraising for Emily’s Ugandan orphans charity.

Emily, also a Hampreston pupil, was diagnosed with bone cancer aged 16 but went to Africa to support abandoned street children.

She also raised funds to help build a school for the orphaned children that bears her name

today.

Neve decided to raise money for Oxfam and the Emily Collins School on the outskirts of Kisoro in south-west Uganda by walking two miles a day for two weeks along Pamphill, By The Way, Sandbanks, the New Forest, Baiter and Poole Quay.

Mum Ellie said: “Her favourite walks were the beach ones, with plenty of stone skimming and shell collecting. One walk was two miles of dribbling her 12-yearold brother George’s football!”

Neve, a keen ballet dancer and animal lover, raised more than £150 and said: “I feel really happy and so excited. I felt proud to finish – and wet. I hope this makes it easier to get water in a village and equipment for the school.”

Ellie said: “She’s so happy to have smashed her target and hopes to make a little difference. It’s a little amount

but a lot of love.”

Neve says her next fundraiser might be a cake sale for the RSPCA.

Neve in rain and 50 mph winds at Sandbanks and out dog walking

The benefits of being an all-through school

COMMUNITY, continuity, and a coherent curriculum are just some of the huge benefits that being a through school gives to every one of its students at Talbot Heath.

Staff get to know every pupil as they progress from Kindergarten through to Sixth Form, forging long-term relationships; our broad and innovative curriculum provides cogent consistency and progression across key stages, and our dedicated staff build strong, supportive, nurturing relationships, having guided girls through all aspects of their development.

The younger members of our school benefit greatly from the support and role modelling that the older girls provide, and equally, the older pupils can develop empathy, mentoring and leadership skills while working alongside younger pupils.

Parents have regularly acknowledged how their daughters have developed a strong sense of security throughout their education as a result of being surrounded by familiar people and places.

Indeed, it is this sense of security that enables our pupils to look outwards and take on their future with confidence and conviction.

Pupils attending our Junior School will automatically be offered a place in our Senior School in Year 7 if they have a positive attitude to learning across the curriculum, alongside standardised and teacher-based evidence of progress being made in English, Maths and Science.

For full details, please check our admissions policy online.

Talbot Heath is a happy, top performing through school for girls from 3-18.

The Purbeck Gazette

BOVINGTON

Community Stores

BLANDFORD

Tourist Information Centre

BEACON HILL

Royal Heights coffee Shop

BERE REGIS

Bartletts Stores

Maces Stores

BRIANTSPUDDLE

Briantspuddle Shop

CANFORD MAGNA

Garden Centre

CORFE CASTLE

Corfe View Visitor Centre

Railway Station

Village Stores

CROSSWAYS

Co-op

Post Office

HAMWORTHY

Allways Fryday

Co-op

Hamworthy Central Convenience

Kings Fish & Chips Shop

Library

Mayze Hairdressers

Morrisons

Post Office

Premier Blandford Stores

HARMANS CROSS

Foleys Garage

St Michaels Garage/BP

HOLTON HEATH

Clay Pipe Inn

KINGSTON

Scott Arms

LANGTON MATRAVERS

Langton Village Stores

LYTCHETT MATRAVERS

South Lytchett Manor

Caravan Park

The Bakers Arms

LULWORTH

Lulworth Visitor Centre

NORDEN

Farm Shop

Train Station

PUDDLETOWN

Community Library

Spar

SANDFORD

Co-op Food & Petrol Station

Sandford Premier

STUDLAND

Studland Stores

SWANAGE

Ballard Stores

Budgens Supermarket

Coastal Park

Conservative Club

Co-op

Costcutters

Durlston Castle

Jenkins Newsagent

MacCalls Newsagent

Nationwide Building Society

Post Office

Rudges

Spar

Swanage News

Tourist Information Centre

Traditional Barber

Train Station

Triangle Garage/Texaco

WH Smiths

TINCLETON

Tincleton Church

TOLPUDDLE

Tolpuddle Creech Farm Shop

ULWELL Village Shop/Inn

UPTON

Aldi

Co-op

Lytchett & Upton Council

Spar

Upton Library

Upton News & Wine

WAREHAM

Chipperies Fish & Chips

Conservative Club

Co-op

Horseys Newsagent

long John’s Fish & Chips

One Stop Farwells

Premier Stores

Purbeck Library

Purbeck Mobility Centre

Purbeck Sports Centre

Sainsburys

Train Station

Wareham Laundrette

WEST HOLME

West Holme Nurseries

WINFRITH NEWBURGH Post Office

WINTERBORNE

WHITECHURCH

Lady Bailey Caravan Park - 73

WINTERBORNE

KINGSTONE

Village Hall Phone Box

WOOL

Gillets Spar Shop

The Hidden Deli

Disability charity’s volunteer appeal

By Lorraine Gibson

GOT some spare time? Want to meet people? Fancy helping others?

Then a Dorset charity’s programme of fundraisers for 2023 could be right up your street.

Dorset disability charity Diverse Abilities needs volunteers to help with projects, its own events and community events throughout the year.

Its own initiatives include the Dorset Neon Run, the Country Challenge, its rugby lunch and a gala ball, a Christmas carol service and the annual Christmas tree collection service.

Like live music? Some of the community events individuals can get involved in are Grooves on the Green, the Wimborne Folk Festival and Camp Bestival.

Laura Stanley, fundraising officer at Diverse Abilities, said: “We have an exciting calendar of events where we need the help of our local community to take on a variety of tasks, including bucket collections, running

stalls and handing out flyers, as well as raising awareness of Diverse Abilities.

“You’ll have a great time, as well as helping to raise money to support children and adults with disabilities in the local area.”

Diverse Abilities also needs volunteers on a more regular basis for roles such as transport assistant at the Beehive Centre in Poole to supporting students getting to and from the centre, and gardening and decorating roles.

Volunteers are crucial to the charity’s work and giving time free of charge is every bit as valuable as giving money.

It’s a win-win situation as helpers get a chance to do all sorts – learn skills, meet new people, enhance CVs, gain experience, find new interests and improve their mental wellbeing.

For more information or to get involved visit www. diverseabilities.org.ik/ volunteer or contact Laura on volunteer@diverseabilities. org.uk

£10,467 thank you to air ambulance

RED-NOSED reindeer did their bit to pull in more than £10,000 for charity.

The 2022 Nutley Farm Christmas Lights and Reindeer Experience, organised by Anne Roots and her son Julian Hubbuck for the third time, raised money for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

And recently, the pair handed over a cheque for £10,467 to the charity, taking their fundraising total over the years to more than £26,000.

In 2015, Anne was rescued from her home by Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance after her horse and carriage overturned, having been spooked by farm machinery.

“I had harnessed one of our ponies to go for a carriage drive with a friend,” she said. “We had a good drive and on returning to the farm we were aware that the pony could be frightened by a digger, so we decided to stop.

“As I prepared to dismount, the pony bolted and overturned the carriage, throwing my friend clear and trapping me underneath in a heap of muck. As the pony panicked, I found myself being dragged underneath the carriage, before both the pony and carriage galloped over the top of me.

“It was terrifying and my life flashed before my eyes. One moment I was having a nice time and the next I was being

airlifted to hospital with major injuries to my head and across my middle from the carriage.”

She said Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance saved her and prompted the farm’s efforts to help the charity.

“We continue to support them as a way of saying thank you and try to raise as much as possible,” Anne added.

“We thank all our customers for attending our Christmas Lights and Reindeer Experience and helping us raise a significant amount once again.

“I feel proud of the team at Nutley Farm, who are all helping to make a difference for patients, like me, who one day might need such an important service.”

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance

chief executive Charles Hackett said: “Anne and Julian’s Christmas gift to the people of Dorset and Somerset is such an amazing thing to do.

“While giving pleasure to the many families that enjoy the Nutley Farm Christmas Lights and Reindeer Experience, they have raised money that far exceeds the cost of Anne’s individual care by Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and so will help us to provide that life-saving care to many others.

“With no direct funding from the Government or the National Lottery, we rely on the generosity of the public for support. It is the commitment of people like Anne and Julian that helps to ensure we are there when patients need us the most.”

Bikes - and a helmet - stolen in raid

FIVE bikes and a cycle helmet were stolen in a raid at a store in Christchurch.

Thieves targeted Guardhouse Sports, in Barrack Road, some time between 3.20am and 3.45am on Monday, January 30.

The stolen bikes were two Mondraker F-podium carbon suspension bikes, a black Yeti SB130 CLR suspension bike, a black and blue GT Pantera Current E-bike and a unique Yeti SB5.5 Muc Off show bike with a custom black and pink paint job.

The stolen helmet is a white and honey-coloured Troy Lee Designs Stage full face helmet.

PC Zach Dredge, of Bournemouth police, said: “We are conducting enquiries into this commercial burglary, and I would urge anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the vicinity to please contact us.

“I am also issuing images of the stolen bikes and helmet and would urge anyone who comes across matching items being offered for sale locally or online in unusual circumstances to please get in touch.”

Anyone with information should contact Dorset Police via www.dorset.police.uk/contact or on 101, quoting incident number 55230015095.

They can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The Nutley Farm cheque presentation (from left): Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance chief executive Charles Hackett, Julian Hubbuck, ‘Parsnip’ the reindeer, Anne Roots and charity supporter engagement officer Becky Heath

The items were stolen from Guardhouse Sports

Nursery awarded ‘Good’ rating

STAFF and children at Tops

Poole are celebrating a ‘Good’ rating from education watchdog Ofsted following a recent inspection.

Poole Day Nursery & Preschool is in a busy community in Denmark Lane and has strong links in the surrounding area.

It is also close to beaches and countryside, allowing it to provide a wide variety of activities and experiences for the children.

The Ofsted report said: “Children are happy and confident in this warm and friendly setting.

“ They settle quickly when they arrive and are keen to explore the motivating and stimulating activities staff provide for them.

“Children form good relationships with staff.

“They approach staff for comfort and reassurance or to engage staff in their play.

“This helps children feel safe and secure.”

The inspector also noted that the setting was well resourced, indoors and outdoors, children having independent access to resources that enhanced their physical development.

The report added: “Children are confident communicators.

“Staff skilfully use stories, nursery rhymes and songs to support children’s language and to extend their vocabulary.

“Staff expertly engage in back-and-forth interactions with children and give children time and opportunities to think and talk.

“Staff carefully select books to add to the various activities.

“The curriculum is coherently planned and builds on what children know and what they can do.

“The manager has a clear vision and high expectations of what she wants children to learn.

“Staff embed daily routines, and children’s behaviour is excellent throughout the nursery”.

Natasha Holgate, senior nursery manager at Tops Poole, said: “We are so proud of our amazing ‘Good’ Ofsted outcome.

“My staff and I have worked so hard to ensure we achieved a ‘Good’ through training and continuous professional development, so children have great outcomes on their learning.

“The very positive report is a

testament to the hard work and dedication of the staff and the engagement of the children and their families and carers”.

Tops Poole is part of Tops Day Nurseries, which has more than 30 nurseries across the South and South-West of England.

Tops Poole offers flexible early education and care for children aged three months to school age.

Appeal after fire at college building

PEOPLE are being urged to check their doorbell cameras and dashcams in connection with a ‘suspicious’ fire over the weekend.

Dorset Police received a report from firefighters at 3.50pm on Sunday (February 5) as they battled a blaze at a derelict former college building in Jellicoe Close, off Constitution Hill Road, Poole.

Officers attended to assist and have been liaising with the fire service to establish the cause of the fire.

Now, police say the fire is being treated as suspicious and officers have received reports a group of teenagers were seen in the vicinity around the time it started.

PC Rory Jewell, of Poole police, urged people to come forward.

“We are conducting a number of enquiries into this fire, and I would urge anyone with information regarding how it started and who was involved to please contact us,” he said.

“I would also urge any residents with

Anyone with information should contact

Education watchdog Ofsted gave Poole Day Nursery & Preschool in Denmark Lane a ‘Good’ rating following an inspection

home CCTV systems or doorbell cameras, or any motorists with dashcam who were in the area, to please review their footage for the afternoon of Sunday to see if they have captured anything that might assist our enquiries.”

Dorset Police via www.dorset.police.uk/ contact or by calling 101, quoting incident number 55230019049.

Crimestoppers-uk.org

The blaze was in a dereluct former college building in Poole

The ferry’s right at the bottom of my garden...

FOR many months – nay, many years – I have been badgering the County Highways department to do something about the huge and dangerous puddle on the A351 on the Swanage side of the railway bridge.

To the point where I was just waiting for someone to be killed there on a dark and rainy night.

Well, there were several accidents over the years, fortunately none fatal.

And now it seems it has reached the top of the pile and several workmen spent several days with their natty little ‘bobcat’ digging out the ditch and installing what appeared to be either two small drains or one much bigger drain at the bottom.

Whether it is effective remains to be seen but I really hope it is and that no longer will it be necessary to avoid the puddle by swerving into the path of the oncoming traffic! Let’s be positive and say a great big thank you to County Highways for listening!

And it doesn’t stop there! They have been scraping the years of accumulated mud and weeds off the pavements and they not only look much cleaner and neater but also appear to be wide enough to accommodate two people walking together!

So, what’s next? How about re-doing the worn-out signage painted on the road where ‘STOP’ or ‘SLOW’ has been reduced to a single ‘O’?

How about cutting back the foliage which obscures so many road signs? Indeed.

How about replacing the road signs themselves, or at least cleaning them to the point

By David Hollister

where they are legible to the forthcoming season of tourists?

Yes, I know it costs money but so do road accidents!

If the signage was deemed necessary originally, then it’s necessary now. And really –filthy signage really doesn’t give a good first impression to our visitors. And how about a regular litter-pick?

Frank can’t do it all!

It was wonderful to look out of the studio window last Tuesday and see what appeared to be a car ferry trundling across the bay on its way to Poole!

We all watched through binoculars and one or two small cheers were raised.

So welcome back to the ‘Bramble Bush Bay’ which has been returned to us after a short service and a major repair.

It’s come back in a with delightful shade of red where the blue used to be!

And to the wag who phoned into the radio show last week and asked if it was going to be sent back to Devon to be repainted in the proper colours – I do hope not!

Dorset Police recently held an ‘outreach’ session at Swanage Town Hall where residents were offered two whole hours to meet the neighbourhood policing team to discuss their worries, problems and report any crimes.

It was so good to meet our local Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) members but I was sad that my arrival only doubled their audience.

Where were you all? All the people who complain about ‘not enough police’ and then don’t

turn up to make their views known?

The Police and Crime Commissioner is sat in his ivory tower at Winfrith, which after all isn’t very far from Swanage but clearly too far for the esteemed Mr Sidwick to come and see us for himself.

Does he get to Wareham? Or even Wool?

Some years ago, a meeting was arranged at Swanage School for the then incumbent PCC to meet the people.

And again, poorly attended because there’s always a reason to stay in, isn’t there.

In the daytime it’s work commitments. Then the school run. Then the evening meal. Then the need to find a babysitter. The dog to be walked and oops! That’s another day gone!

The message that got through to me from the PCSOs was that if you discover a crime – any crime – you need to report it.

Not with the vain hope that the police will do anything other than issue a crime number for insurance purposes. But to make the numbers up.

If you don’t report it, then it hasn’t happened. And then the PCC’s office will assume that crime is reducing or is nonexistent and that won’t help them in their attempts to secure more central government funding.

The difficulty about reporting

a crime is that you have to do it on 111 and hope that the staff member who eventually answers knows where you are, or can mobilise an officer to move that broken-down car in a dangerous position before someone is hurt or stop that crime that is in progress if you have dialled 999.

Do it online? No thanks.

I received a lengthy list of all the things the police can’t do or won’t do. But even longer is the list of all the things the council can’t or won’t do, referring you to a ‘self-service portal’ where you can be damned sure your complaint will be stuck in the ‘pending’ tray until the problem has gone away by itself.

My answer to the county council is simply this – don’t expect me to do a job for which you are being paid from my Council Tax. I am a CUSTOMER not an office clerk. You stay on your side of the counter and I’ll stay on mine.

And finally. Total respect for all those people on the streets of Purbeck, collecting for the poor souls who have lost everything in the earthquake disaster.

Thank you, each and every one, and let’s hope that all those of us who pass don’t just walk by with our hands in our pockets.

How to get - and keep - your dog’s focus and attention when training

THE Dog’s Trust on the first steps when training your dog...

Getting focus and attention from your dog is the first step to training. Without working on their attention to you first, your dog will likely be distracted and more interested in other things, which won’t set them on the path to success.

Most dogs are quite food motivated, and this works in your favour for training purposes. Your dog will love being rewarded with tasty treats for focusing on you.

Use high value rewards, like boiled chicken, sausage or cheese cut up into tiny pieces. This food is quite unusual and a special treat for the dog, so they will be very eager to learn and give you their attention.

Even if your dog already knows their name, it’s important to start simple and progress from the beginning.

Two steps to getting your dog’s attention

1) Teach your dog to look at you when you say their name

Our dogs hear us say their names countless times each day. Sometimes we want something from them, other times it can mean nothing. That’s why your dog needs to know that when you say their

name, they should look at you and give you attention. Say their name and reward them with a tasty treat the moment they look at you. Repeat this several times, at least twice a day for about a week until they can reliably look at you when you say their name. Avoid using their name unnecessarily over the next couple of weeks until you know that they fully understand that they should look at you when you say their name.

2) Response to marker word

Once they are responding well to their name, you can then introduce a marker

word. This is whatever comes naturally to you when praising your dog, like ‘yes’, ‘good boy’ or ‘good girl’.

We introduce this word so that when we are training our dog and they do a nice behaviour that we like, we want them to look at us so we can give them a reward. With enough practice, you should notice that if they do something good and you say their marker word, they should look at you, expecting a treat or other reward.

Ready for training

After a couple of weeks of dedicated focus work training, you should find that your dog is focused on you and ready to learn.

As you progress, your dog will know that when you say their name, it means “Hey, look at me!”. As you continue with training, use your dog’s name followed by your command, and then followed by your marker word and reward.

For example:

“Rover, sit”

[once the dog has sat] “Yes”

*Give the dog their treat*

With consistent training, it won’t be long before you’ll have a dog who can’t take their eyes off you.

Introducing Phils Happy Dogs

Hi, my name is Phil. Along with Amy and my two dogs, Buddy and Wendy, we are Phils Happy Dogs. I have always been interested in how dogs think and behave, ever since I was a child, in fact. I love everything about nature and wildlife. It never ceases to amaze me.

I get called in after dog trainers have been. I have never put a dog in a crate. I work in silence.

I will control any situation with your dog. Single visit specialist.

Any dog, any age, any issue. 30% discount for rescue dogs.

I arrive at every customer’s house with an open mind because all dogs are unique and all situations are unique. Only once I have assessed their dog will I formulate our plan going forward. I can control any dog, yet I do not pride myself on that fact. I take pride in the fact that my customers can control their dogs, because with what I teach my customers, that will be the case.

I wholeheartedly believe that all dogs can change for the better once you have the right knowledge, determination and confidence. These are the attributes that I give to my customers. We are so passionate about dogs that we have rehabilitated rescue dogs from an animal rescue and both of our dogs are from an animal sanctuary, that is why we offer a 30% discount for rescue dogs.

Our aftercare is second to none

Cat ‘chips’ law on way

LEGISLATION that would make it law to have a pet cat microchipped is set to be introduced ‘in the coming weeks’, according to a government minister.

Transport minister Richard Holden (Con, North West Durham) told a Parliamentary debate the proposals would be brought before MPs after a consultation process was held into the move last year.

He told the debate: “In the last few years, we have pushed microchipping. It is the best way of reuniting owners with pets that have been tragically killed, stolen or had a variety of other issues.

“Since the introduction of compulsory microchipping for dogs in 2016, over 90% of the dog population has been microchipped. That has been particularly successful in increasing reunification rates for

stray dogs.”

He added that the consultation over compulsory microchipping had received 99% favourable responses.

“We are committed to introducing it, and we will lay the legislation for England before Parliament in the coming weeks,” he said.

Mr Holden said the move

would help reunite cats injured or killed on UK roads with their owners.

However, he stopped short of backing calls for a law to be introduced making it an offence for drivers not to report collisions involving animals such as cats.

“In 2021, there were 348 reported road collisions in

which both an animal and a person were involved directly,” he told the debate.

“That is just an animal and a person. If we were talking about hundreds of thousands of cases, there would be a huge extra impact and administrative burden, especially given the free-roaming nature of cats.

“It is for that reason that the Government do not plan at present to make it a legal requirement for drivers to stop and report collisions with cats.”

Tonia Antoniazzi (Lab, Gower), the shadow minister for Northern Ireland, said: “I am 51 years of age, and we have always had a pet in the family – I know how much it hurts to lose a pet.

“I thank the minister for what he said about the legislation on compulsory microchipping that will be introduced in the coming weeks.”

Transport Minister Richard Holden says microchipping is the best way of reuniting owners with pets that have been killed or stolen

Arrow words

Crossword

6

Wordsearch

Brain chain

7 Seated on a horse (7)

13 Drought-stricken (3)

14 Example (8)

15 Inexpensively (7)

Cryptic crossword

Across

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

8 Weather conditions in Lima etc proving volatile (7)

9 First person given backing of number in charge of Greek order (5)

Across

8 Weather conditions in Lima etc proving volatile (7)

Down

1 Salesperson’s first to manage range (5)

9 First person given backing of number in charge of Greek order (5)

2 Cover with decoration and paper wife detained by a prig possibly (4-4)

10 Untidy place found by volunteers once for bread (5)

10 Untidy place found by volunteers once for bread (5)

11 Vatican City is kept in terribly poor condition (7)

3 A fellow wearing Indian dress in exotic trek

4 Head away from inferior mound (4)

11 Vatican City is kept in terribly poor condition (7)

5 Note instant appeal in sensitive plant (6)

12 Distinct utterance confused nautical tiro (12)

6 One against workman titivating houses (4)

16 Party with militia interfered with fairness (12)

7 A titled figure, it’s said, in story (7)

12 Distinct utterance confused nautical tiro (12)

20 Son gets to fall and slip (7)

16 Party with militia interfered with fairness (12)

20 Son gets to fall and slip (7)

23 Beam in gaggle amusedly (5)

24 Cease holiday entitlement (5)

Across

8 Weather conditions in Lima etc proving volatile (7)

25 One with expertise in canines? (7)

9 First person given backing of number in charge of Greek order (5)

10 Untidy place found by volunteers once for bread (5)

11 Vatican City is kept in terribly poor condition (7)

12 Distinct utterance confused nautical tiro (12)

16 Party with militia interfered with fairness (12)

20 Son gets to fall and slip (7)

23 Beam in gaggle amusedly (5)

24 Cease holiday entitlement (5)

25 One with expertise in canines? (7)

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

13 Academic institution as one (not half!) (3)

23 Beam in gaggle amusedly (5)

24 Cease holiday entitlement (5)

14 Article in Iran I suspect is vaguely prevalent (2,3,3)

25 One with expertise in canines? (7)

15 Leading liberal over year principally (7)

17 Spell of card-playing with tough substance

18 Special person’s motto (6)

1 Salesperson’s first to manage range (5)

2 Cover with decoration and paper wife detained by a prig possibly (4-4)

19 Worker in metals put mass amid this rubbish (5)

3 A fellow wearing Indian dress in exotic trek (6)

21 Run away from country river (4)

4 Head away from inferior mound (4)

22 Fool losing head in whirlpool (4)

5 Note instant appeal in sensitive plant (6)

6 One against workman titivating houses (4)

7 A titled figure, it’s said, in story (7)

13 Academic institution as one (not half!) (3)

14 Article in Iran I suspect is vaguely prevalent (2,3,3)

15 Leading liberal over year principally (7)

17 Spell of card-playing with tough substance (6)

18 Special person’s motto (6)

19 Worker in metals put mass amid this rubbish (5)

21 Run away from country river (4)

22 Fool losing head in whirlpool (4)

For the solutions, turn to page

Voters will need photo ID in elections

OVER the last month or so I have been out and about in the constituency on Fridays and at weekends. While there have been days where it’s been pretty cold chatting to residents on their doorsteps, thankfully it has mostly not been too wet! I have also been hearing back from hundreds of Wareham residents who have returned my survey about the level crossing. If you have received one, please do let me know your views.

As well as helping residents with casework, it’s always great to hear from local entrepreneurs and businesses. I recently met two inventors from Poole who are developing a non-spill jerrycan. For anyone who ever has to fill up a jerrycan this is a brilliant solution to that spill-asyou-fill-up, and could save thousands of gallons of fuel a year!

I’m delighted a local pub has been nominated for a regional award – with the possibility of

getting to the national finals. The Chequers Inn in Lytchett Matravers is a South-West regional finalist in the Countryside Alliance Rural Awards, which celebrate British food and farming. The Chequers is well known for not just its great food and warm welcome, but its work for the local community, including its Meal Club which offers free meals for those in need. To win, and get through to the national final, it needs your vote! Please visit www.research. net/r/caawardsswbusiness and give it your support.

If you live in the BCP Council area, elections for the local council are coming up in May. The rules have changed about voting, and you will now need a form of photo ID with you when you go to vote. You can use different types of photo

ID and if you do not have one you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate. You apply for this online here: www.gov. uk/apply-for-photo-id-voterauthority-certificate , and you must do so by April 25. If you have a photo ID that has expired – like an old passport – you can still use it as long as you are recognisable from the photo. More details and a full list of what ID you can use are available on my website.

Last month I had a fantastic evening of entertainment courtesy of Broadstone Pantomime Productions, which put on a great show with ‘Freezing’. This season it is helping Teddy20, supporting children with cancer. If you are running a charitable event or show, please get in touch and let me know.

This column can only ever give a small taster of what I have been doing – every month I send out an email newsletter with more details of what I have been up to in the constituency and Parliament. You can sign up on my website or you can email me.

I continue to hold regular surgeries in the constituency, so please get in touch if there is something you need help with or if you’d like me to visit your organisation or business. Email me on michael.tomlinson.mp@ parliament.uk or contact my office on 01202 624216. You can also follow what I’ve been doing on Twitter @ Michael4mdnp or Facebook www.facebook.com/ michael4MDNP or on my website www.michaeltomlinson. org.uk

MICHAEL TOMLINSON Member of Parliament for Mid Dorset and North Poole

Michael Tomlinson

Hard times for schools and teachers

ON Wednesday 1 February, more than 300 striking teachers, lecturers, civil servants and their supporters marched through Weymouth.

They gathered at the clock tower. Motorists showed their support by tooting their car horns. The Dorset Red Choir sang songs urging solidarity, as did Dorset singer-songwriter Billy Bragg. There were banners, laughter, speeches –and a warm welcome was given to members of the public who joined the march.

Among those demonstrating were many teachers. Mark Chutter, Dorset president of the National Education Union, explained why he and his colleagues were on strike that day. Teachers from other Dorset schools echoed his words.

Mark spoke of the challenges faced daily by teachers in under-funded schools, of long hours spent in lesson preparation, pastoral care, marking and data collection

– and of teachers’ wages falling in real terms.

In Swanage and Purbeck, our schools are at the heart of their communities. They go the extra mile – with breakfast clubs, after-school activities, pastoral support – all-round care given to all, freely and wholeheartedly.

Yet the School Cuts Website, validated by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), shows that 121 of 148 Dorset schools face cuts in 2023, with £5.8million needed to restore per pupil funding in real terms to its 2022-23 level.

The House of Commons Constituency Dashboard ranks South Dorset as 468th out of 533 English constituencies for funding per pupil, with funding falling in real terms since 2014-15.

Spending on education as a proportion of GDP has fallen

every year from 2011-12 to 2018-19. An analysis by the OECD ranked the United Kingdom in 2018 as 19th out of its 37 members for this measure.

As a former headteacher of a secondary school in Bournemouth, my heart goes out to those teaching now. I can remember vividly the challenges of shrinking budgets, the need to repair buildings, to support pupils whose mums and dads were struggling to make ends meet, the relentless demands of Ofsted – every hour was one in which my staff more than showed their quality.

Teaching – as for all health specialists – is a vocation. It requires training, continued professional development and a degree of altruism which seems sadly missing from those pursuing careers in finance.

The Nuffield Foundation and

the UCL Institute for Education in 2019 found that 25 per cent of teachers worked more than 60 hours a week. On average teachers worked eight hours more a week than those in comparable OECD countries.

The IFS calculates that with inflation running now at 10 per cent, most teachers will see a 5 per cent real terms fall in their salary this year. Combined with past real terms cuts dating back to 2010, more experienced teachers will have seen a 13 per cent real-terms drop in salaries between 2010-2022.

No wonder Professor Alice Roberts tweeted: “No-one makes the decision to go on strike lightly. Teachers are striking today because they, and our schools, are under-funded and under-valued. Failing to invest in education is futurediscounting. It’s letting our children down.”

It’s sensible to invest in mental health

MOST people agree the NHS is in crisis. Lines of ambulances outside A&E and delays in accessing GP appointments have been all over the press for months, but there is a hidden crisis. Enormous numbers simply cannot access NHS services, their struggles invisible because their condition cannot be seen.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 introduced ‘parity of esteem’. This means mental health must have equal priority to physical health. There have been exciting examples of investment in mental health – in particular, the recent announcement of critical children’s beds in Dorset – but the incidence of child suicide points to the real crisis.

In 2021 there were 221 deaths by suicide in children aged ten-18 – up 30 per cent from 2020. For comparison, the annual loss of children to cancer

is about 250. Children don’t wait months or years for medication to treat life-threatening physical conditions or get told to come back when their disease has spread further – but we do with young people presenting with deep mental distress.

Covid has impacted mental health and I expect the cost-ofliving crisis will shatter the wellbeing of many more. But to improve things we need to speak out –that’s the point of Time to Talk Day.

NHS funding is complex and I don’t pretend to have the answers. We have an ageing, growing and less active population, and we are asking the NHS to do things that could not have been imagined by Beveridge and Bevan. We must think differently, as the first Director General of the World

Health Organisation – Dr Brock Chisholm said: “Without mental health there can be no true physical health.” That remains true today.

We must all take care of our mental health to reduce the need for medical support but when we do need them it is cruel to expect people –especially young people – to become paralysed, lose their education or employment and potentially lose their life because we don’t have the promised parity in mental health.

It’s true we spend more annually on the NHS but that figure is not keeping up with the size or demographics of the population – compared to nations like France, Germany and the USA we spend far less per person.

Some people suggest it is the

fault of immigration – it’s not. People are living longer with more complex and more expensive needs, and more people are not contributing because they are too sick or too old. We are trying to pay for more with fewer people.

Liberal Democrats have called for a penny on income tax for NHS and Social Care. That may not be enough, and it must be ring-fenced and directed properly to go to the heart of the problem. This is a problem for us all, and so we must all contribute to the solution. Repairing mental health – especially for the young and the working population – is a fantastic way to restore the potential of people to earn money and pay their taxes. It makes sense to invest in mental health.

VIKKI SLADE Lib Dem Prospective

CHRIS BRADEY Chair, Swanage & Rural Purbeck Labour Party

Vikki Slade

Chris Bradey

Mum’s mission to tackle exams stress

By Andrew Diprose www.dorsetbiznews.co.uk

MOTHER-OF-TWO and former teacher Nicole Bateman was determined to lessen the pressure on youngsters after witnessing the declining mental health of her students during their exam years.

First she founded her awardwinning business A Box Full of Joy in 2021. It helps anxious teens with low self-esteem, and children who struggle to communicate their feelings, through card packs, emotions processing pads and gifts.

Now the mental health advocate is launching a comprehensive guide for parents of ten to 18-year-olds on how to support their child through the exam years.

Her new book is called My Child Has Exams…Now What?. It advocates early provision and a proactive approach to supporting young people navigate the stress and anxiety

around exams.

Nicole, who lives in Bournemouth, said: “Parents, rightly so, want their children to be well prepared for the future but the pressure of exams can be overwhelming for students and parents alike.

“The book is for parents who want to nurture their child to achieve their full potential without there being a detrimental impact on their

Former teacher Nicole Bateman founded her A Box Full of Joy business in 2021, now she has a book out called ‘My Child Has Exams… Now What?’

mental health. I’m on a mission to ensure that all young people know that they are not defined by their exam results.

“I believe a collaborative approach between young people, schools, parents and other professionals works best to help young people thrive.

“Exams are like learning to play a game and should definitely not be a measure of someone’s worth.”

Nicole’s book provides advice and practical tips by going through the ‘Organised Revision Method’, a nurturing approach to help parents get the best out of their child while connecting with them.

Together with experts in the fields of education, home organisation and family meal planning, she shares tips parents can implement to help their children approach exams in a healthy manner.

Nicole, who was named Rising Star/Young Entrepreneur, at 2022’s inaugural Bournemouth Business Awards, was a teacher at Twynham School in Christchurch for more than eight years.

Last year she received a boost from retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis as one of six weekly winners of ‘Small Business Sunday’, gaining a retweet by Theo to his near half a million Twitter followers and an Instagram share.

PHOTO: LaHu Studios

Charity offers help on road to self-employment

By Andrew Diprose www.dorsetbiznews.co.uk

A DORSET charity is set to roll out the UK’s first accredited Self-Employment Support Programme to help support people with special educational needs (SEN).

The initiative, from Bournemouth-based SAMEE (Support and Mentoring Enabling Entrepreneurship), will be available nationwide.

The new, flexible programme – branded as You’ve Got This! – supports individuals through the development of skills needed to explore selfemployment as a viable career option.

It has been built on extensive research and co-creation with people recognised as having SEN, including those with neuro-diverse challenges.

SAMEE chief executive Samantha Everard said: “The inclusive SAMEE Steps into Self-Employment programme has been created to cater for the needs of learners with SEN.

“As there is no maths and English element associated with the qualification, it’s accessible to all.

“This qualification offers a range of support and resources

which can be specifically tailored to the individual requirements of each learner, providing solutions which are responsive and in keeping with the already established SAMEE ethos.”

The SAMEE charity has taught self-employment skills to enable disabled adults, particularly those with learning disabilities, to escape poverty and gain independence through successful self-employment start-up since 2016.

The SAMEE Steps into Self-Employment has been accredited by the respected awarding body NCFE, an educational charity dating back over 160 years. NCFE chief executive David Gallagher said: “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to help build a qualification with such an important purpose and that has the potential to enable hundreds, if not thousands, of people to start meaningful work.”

The official launch of the Steps into Self-Employment Level 1 qualification will take place in March with a weeklong programme of activities with virtual trainers across the UK and local campaigns across Dorset.

Postponement of Making Tax Digital for Self Employed

The government understands businesses and self-employed individuals are currently facing a challenging economic environment, and that the transition to MTD for ITSA represents a significant change for taxpayers, their agents, and for HMRC.

That means it is right to take the time needed to work together to maximise those benefits of MTD for small business by implementing gradually.

The government is therefore announcing more time to prepare, so that all businesses, self-employed individuals, and landlords within scope of MTD for Income Tax, but particularly those with the smallest incomes, can adapt to the new ways of working.

The mandation of MTD for ITSA will now be introduced from April 2026, with businesses, self-employed individuals, and landlords with income over £50,000 mandated to join first.

Those with income over £30,000 will be mandated from April 2027.

SAMEE’s You’ve Got This! programme supports individuals through the development of skills needed to explore self-employment as a viable career option

Sport

Daisy strikes gold three times over

YOUNG Swanage swimmer

Daisy Kirkpatrick won three gold medals at the Dorset County Swimming Championships against the best swimmers in the county for her age group.

Daisy, 11, came first in the 100 metres butterfly, 200 metres breaststroke and 100 metres individual medley in the championships held at the Littledown swimming pool in Bournemouth.

She was representing the Swim Bournemouth team in the event which attracted 400 swimmers from across Dorset.

Daisy won 11 medals in the championships and will be gaining some experience in 50-metre pools before going on to compete in the South-West regional championships in April at Millfield School in Somerset.

She also won Swim Bournemouth’s junior swimmer

Club’s community award

MEMBERS of Swanage Cricket Club were bowled over after being presented with a prestigious trophy for the efforts they make to involve the whole town in the game.

The Jack Douch Memorial Trophy for Cricket in the Community, open to clubs across Dorset, was presented to Swanage at the recent gala dinner.

This acknowledged the completion of a pavilion extension and a second pitch laid to introduce more youngsters and women to the

game.

The youth section has more than 100 members aged from seven to 15 with boys and girls benefiting from the knowledge and expertise provided by fully accredited England and Wales Cricket Board coaches.

The club are fortunate to have built up close long-term links with several local businesses.

For anyone interested in playing for or sponsoring the club, visit the club’s website, www.swanagecricketclub. co.uk

of the year trophy at the start of the year.

The dedicated youngster trains three mornings and two evenings a week, and for the early starts sets her alarm for 4am to be in the pool by 5am.

Daisy’s family run the popular Swanage fish and chip shop The Fish Plaice.

SWANAGE & WAREHAM Rugby Club have been short of match action with both their last two opponents pulling out of fixtures.

First, Frome 2nds could not raise a side for their home match and cancelled the game, and then Avondale said they could not play because they did not have a front row.

The walk-overs meant

Swanage & Wareham were awarded five league points for each fixture.

Before the home game against Combe Down on Saturday, March 4, Swans are holding their third vicepresident’s luncheon.

To make sure of a place and for more details contact Mike Brett on 01929 480256 or at mjb.goat@btinternet RON BUTLER

Gym bids to raise roof repair funds

PIDDLEHINTON Gym, a local community hub for indoor sports and recreational activities at Piddlehinton Enterprise Park, is fundraising to keep its doors open.

More than 200 people and ten organisations use the gym every week for badminton, five-a-side football, archery, junior tennis, remote-control car racing, roller hockey and more.

The gym has provided affordable facilities for local people and employees for over 15 years but the building’s 80-year-old roof leaks badly during heavy rainfall.

Now the roof must be replaced as it can no longer be repaired for safety reasons and unless funds are raised, the gym will have to close in the next year.

Facilities include a 32m x 12m main hall – two badminton courts – with sprung wood floor, raised exercise area with

multi-gym, exercise bike and electronic treadmill, plus club room with table tennis table, kitchen, disabled toilet and changing rooms, plus storage and large car park.

The building was a former drill hall for a military camp built in 1941 and in 2007 was leased from Dorset Council under a 99-year non-repairing lease by Piddlehinton Gym Charity, run by local volunteers.

The charity was formed to

manage the facilities and has invested more than £15,000 over the past six years on maintaining the building, including multiple roof repairs, funded directly by gym users.

Paul Hayes, chair of the Piddlehinton Gym Charity, said: “This project is critical for the sustainability of this local community resource.

“Rural sports facilities are in short supply and a negative impact on the wellbeing of the

local community would be caused if the gym is forced to close.”

Piddlehinton Gym Charity has so far secured £25,000 of the £100,000 cost of replacing the roof, thanks to Piddlehinton Parish Council, Jade-Aden, Prototype Electronics and the clubs that use the facilities.

Various funding grants have been applied for, but the charity is now reaching out to local people and organisations to help keep the community resource open.

Anyone who would like to help with fundraising can visit the GoFundMe page at www. gofundme.com/f/piddlehintongym-new-roof-fund

It is also possible support the appeal by becoming a corporate sponsor, joining one of the clubs or using the facilities – the gym is open seven days a week from early morning to late evening.

Daisy Kirkpatrick in the Purbeck Gazette last summer after another medal success

The gym has a main hall with sprung floor and two badminton courts

Star actor’s first car up for auction

ICONIC British actor Sir Michael Caine CBE’s first ever car, a 1968 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Drophead Coupe with a fascinating history, is being offered for sale at auction.

Having been treated to an extensive restoration by the current owner, Caine’s former car is now refinished in its original colour of Black.

One of just 506 Silver Shadow Two-Door Drophead Coupes hand-built by RollsRoyce’s in-house coachbuilder Mulliner Park Ward from 1967–71, the car is estimated at between £100,000-£150,000 in the auction hosted by H&H Classics.

Damian Jones, H&H Classics’ senior motorcar

specialist, said: “Sir Michael Caine is a true British icon, so it’s a pleasure to be able to offer his very first car for sale, which in itself is another great British classic.

“From its original purchase by Sir Michael, and its subsequent 43-year ownership by infamous Gasworks restaurateur Jack Leach, the car’s history is truly captivating and one which I’m sure will delight and fascinate the new owner.”

In 1968, Caine wandered into the renowned Jack Barclay showroom in Berkeley Square with a handwritten shopping list which read, “milk, bread, newspaper, cigarettes, RollsRoyce.” Unkempt and

unshaven, Caine was ushered off the premises, so he journeyed to Mayfair’s other Rolls-Royce dealership, HA Fox in Dover Street, where he found the Silver Shadow which had been taken into stock after the playwright and screenwriter Terence Rattigan cancelled his order for it.

Having bought the car, despite not having his own driving licence, the actor found it was much cheaper to employ a chauffeur than pay the premium his insurers quoted should he decide to go down the ‘L-plate’ route.

Less than two years later, the

Silver Shadow was acquired by John Leonard Ernest Leach (Jack Leach), owner of the Gasworks restaurant in Fulham, which became a hotspot for the rich and famous. A familiar sight on the Fulham and Kings roads for decades afterwards, Leach continued to own the car for the next 43 years until his death in 2013.

The classic, collector and performance car auction is at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, on Wednesday, March 15.

For further information about the sale or the car, visit www. handh.co.uk

Call for cats hit-and-run law

FELINE hit-and-runs could soon become a thing of the past if a new law were to be introduced, says the UK’s leading road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart.

The new law would mandate motorists that run over a cat on Britain’s roads to stop, report the incident to the police and seek help from a vet.

Currently, under the Road Traffic Act (1988), drivers are required to report collisions involving animals such as dogs, horses, pigs and sheep – cats are not protected under the same regulations, and collisions do not need to be reported.

IAM RoadSmart supports parity of treatment for cats, by ensuring that they are also recognised under legislation. Its plea comes in the wake of MPs speaking in support of the

appeal at a petitions committee debate last month, prompted after an e-petition amassed 102,436 signatures.

During the debate, transport minister Richard Holden acknowledged the “heartbreak caused by the loss of pets”.

The Cats Protection charity estimates there are 11 million owned cats in the UK, with just over one in four households (26 per cent) owning a cat.

A 2022 UK Parliament motion heard that about 230,000 cats are hit by cars every year, averaging 630 a day.

The research, conducted by insurers PetPlan, also claimed that kittens are most at risk, with half of all cats hit by vehicles being aged between seven months and two years.

IAM RoadSmart supports the proposed regulation changes as it could help keep all road users,

as well as cats, safer on UK roads.

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM RoadSmart, said: “Drivers are required by law to stop and report incidents where they have hit a dog, and we have witnessed cars either drive slow and with extreme caution, or stop, when a dog has run loose into the road.

“However, the same level of

care is rarely observed when a cat runs out – perhaps because the driver knows that, legally, they do not have to stop.”

“But if a law requiring drivers to stop if they hit a cat were to be brought in, we believe it could strengthen driver vigilance and responsibility overall – meaning the benefits of the legislation will stretch far beyond the protection of cats.”

Michael Caine’s first car, a 1968 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, has a fascinating history – and is expected to sell for £100,000 to £150,000

Food & Drink

great drinks real winter warmers

1 Winter Lore by Gritchie Brewing Co

ONE of Gritchie’s brews for the colder weather, this rich stout gives subtle hints of deliciously smooth coffee and chocolate. Owned by movie director Guy Ritchie himself, Gritchie Brewing Co has gained a lot of traction with its brews, with Winter Lore being a popular choice.

Where to find them: Ashmore, Salisbury. Visit: www.gritchiebrew. com

2 Rhubarb Cider by Lilley’s Cider A MUST-HAVE winter staple. Tangy, delicious rhubarb hints in a crisp cider, what more could you ask for? Sweet and

Visit: www.lilleyscider.co.uk

3 Dorset Dry Gin by Conker Gin

A SIMPLE, effective classic, Conker’s Dorset Dry Gin is an undeniable must-have for gin lovers. Crisp, sharp and sweetened slightly by hints of elderberries, just add tonic water and a peel of lime. Sorted.

Where to find them: Bournemouth. Visit: www. conkerspirit.co.uk

4 The Wicked Wyvern Bottle by Badger Beer

A SUBLIME ale, this deep bronze fruity number is another popular choice, and it is easy to

the dry-finish pale ale is a fresh, delicious drink to add to the shopping list.

Where to find them: Blandford. Visit: www. badgerbeers.com

5 Yapp Rosé by Yapp Brothers

This affordable rosé is a fresh addition to the Yapp Brothers’ trio of own-label wines with screwcaps – for when you lose the corkscrew. Perfect if you want to make the bottle last the week. Crisp and well-balanced.

Where to find them: Mere. Visit: www. yapp.co.uk

6 Stormy Lemonade by Twisted Cider

Picture a refreshing glass of traditional lemonade… Even better, picture a crisp glass of lemonade-infused cider, the perfect mix for any Dorset/ Somerset native! This moreish cider is incredibly refreshing and zesty. Twisted Cider has rocked the boat with another of its popular quirky flavours. Where to find them: Longburton. Visit: www. twistedcider.co.uk

7 Baked Apple Gin by Vineyards of Sherborne

Attention all dessert lovers! This warming, winter-spiced gin with a hint of vanilla is a cold-weather necessity.

Picture a baked apple dessert, fresh out of the oven, but just in a bottle, not on a plate. This unique gin is a definite must-have this winter.

Where to find them:

Sherborne. Visit: vineyardsofsherborne.co.uk

8 Blanc de Blancs 2018 by Bride Valley

THIS award-winning signature fine wine is from the harvest of 2018 and Bride Valley considers it to be its best yet. A white wine everyone will enjoy. With hints of lemon, a floral aroma and a light fruity taste, it’s got to be added to that festive shop. Where to find them: Little Cheney Visit: bridevalleyvineyard. com

9 Lemon & Lime Cider by Lilley’s Cider A TASTEBUD

awakening! A clean, crisp, refreshing, nostalgic cider. Delicious all year round, there are not many occasions this cider doesn’t complement. It is easy to see why this is a popular choice from the Lilley’s Cider range.

Where to find them: Frome. Visit: www.lilleyscider.co.uk

10 The Cranborne Poacher Bottle by Badger Beer

THIS multiple award-winning ale from Badger Beer is one for those who like the sweeter things in life. This superb, fruity ale has a damson and liquorice taste with hints of treacle and fig rolls. A perfect one to try during the winter season. Where to find them: Blandford. Visit: www. badgerbeers.com

11 Bison Grass by Tack Room Distillery

THERE are not many smells that top freshly cut hay. If you agree, then this is the gin for you. You’ll be glad you’ve discovered this gem with a beautiful aroma and a hint of citrus. Try Bison Grass Gin with warmed cloudy apple juice on a cold day. Where to find them: Milton on Stour. Visit: tackroomdistillery.com

Spring is on the horizon, but these drinks – all produced in the South-West of England – are the ideal tonic for the last weeks of the coldest season

Meditations in nature: A day out on Dorset’s heathlands

by Susie Curtin

BRIGHT sunshine and a biting wind greet me as I arrive at RSPB Arne, now part of the wider Purbeck Heath National Nature Reserve – an area where the birds and amphibians of this lowland heath are valued and protected.

I have come here today to enjoy the flocks of winter waders, particularly the avocets and the spoonbills, and, of course, the light and atmosphere that can only be experienced here in this wild, open landscape beside the watery expanse of Poole Harbour.

Lowland heathlands are characterised as being under 300 metres above sea level. The soil is often comprised of sand and gravels, interspersed with peat and inky, amber-coloured

pools. These, and the heathers, gorse, pines and birches, paint the landscape in vibrant hues. In summer, the heath has a slight Mediterranean feel, but not today under an icy blue sky and wispy winter light.

Following the trail, I soon find my favourite hide, tucked away in the woodland overlooking the reedbeds. From here, my eyes feast upon a pair of marsh harriers quartering low over the feathery fronds of champagne-coloured reeds. I can hear the haunting calls of curlew in the distance and the chatter of brent geese. Alone in this wild place, the problems of the world slip away. It is just me, the birds and the land.

Once the harriers are gone, I gather my belongings and make way towards Shipstal Point in

search of the resident flock of spoonbill. Passing by an old oak tree, I watch as a tree creeper, beginning only a foot off the ground, silently edges up the trunk. His curved beak searching in between the masses of ivy for tiny insects. Such an exquisite, busy bird.

Beyond the oaks and pines, I am greeted by a forest of birch trees, their gleaming white bark and purple catkins looking resplendent against the blue sky. From here, the path heads out towards the hide that overlooks the saltmarsh and I hope provides a sighting of Arne’s growing flock of spoonbills.

Spoonbills are a genus of waders that can be found on every continent in the world except Antarctica. They are large white, heron-shaped birds with distinctive flat, spatulatype bills that sweep side to side as they feed on aquatic creatures in the shallows. In the summer they develop an exotic-looking feathery crest at the back of their heads and a patch of yellow feathers on their breasts.

I am in luck. Eight of them are huddled together like snow-white sentinels at the end of a thin, muddy spit. These are

Eurasian spoonbills. Typically, they are asleep with their astonishing beaks hidden under their wings. The species is of European conservation concern. Although they bred in the UK in medieval times in East Anglia, they did not breed here for 300 years. Then in 2010 they returned, and we now have 29 breeding pairs with Poole Harbour hosting the largest flock in autumn and winter. I particularly love to watch them in flight when their necks and legs are fully extended, and you can see their black wingtips. Despite their slumber, I am delighted to see them. A perfect end to a perfect day.

As I make my way home, I recall that Thomas Hardy was a child of the Dorset heathlands. In The Return of the Native, he described the heath as “a harsh, unaltered land of sombre nature intensifying the sad hours of day and night”. That is certainly not a description I recognised today.

n Dr Susie Curtin is a nature writer and qualitative researcher; wildlife travel blog at rewildingjourneys.com/; email curtin.susanna@gmail. com

RSPB Arne, now part of Purbeck Heath National Nature Reserve, is home to spoonbills. The birds have distinctive flat, spatula-type bills that sweep side to side as they feed on aquatic creatures in the shallows

My two key coaching questions...

By Alice Johnsen

IN my coaching sessions, clients do most of the talking.

My role is to listen with focus and an open mind, ready to ask questions that push the issue forward. Sometimes the questions bring about small steps, sometimes they are turning points. Or sometimes they just get my clients to look at issues in a new way.

My two favourite questions – that you can use in any part of your life without waiting for a coaching session, are ‘why’ and ‘so what’. These two questions are the ones I ask most often and with greatest effect. Here’s why.

Why? As in: Why did that person say that? Why doesn’t my team listen to me? Why do I feel frustrated about this business? Why am I procrastinating away from that decision? Why am I holding back?

Stopping to think about the reason behind an issue brings clarity. With clarity comes acceptance, understanding, a new way of seeing through the problem.

But it is not automatic. We get too caught up in the issue

itself to see through the distracting emotion or built up layers of reaction to see the true reason. When that happens, we’re not ‘doing anything wrong’ – it’s just how our minds work. But we can help ourselves by asking ‘why?’. So what? Asking this pushes us to think beyond our immediate reactions to the steps that follow. It takes us further down a way of thinking or to a new idea. Great not only for developing plans or moving away from current blockages

but for a more effective way of managing our everyday lives.

I remember this question being particularly helpful for a GCSE student revising last year. They were always being asked to ‘expand their answers’ –remember that one?! All very well if you know you have more to say but if not, asking yourself ‘so what’ pushes your thoughts further.

And in daily life it is helpful when it comes to planning logistics or administration because it helps us move

through a problem in a logical way. We can use the question ‘so what?’ to help us think through things thoroughly and carefully as well as to push the boundaries of our original thought.

Try these questions when you are next feeling stuck or aware you are putting something off or when you next have to make plans. I hope they help you.

n Alice Johnsen is a life coach. Phone: 07961 080513; visit www.alicejohnsen.co.uk

Asking ‘why’ and ‘so what’ can help if you are feeling stuck or aware you are putting something off or when you next have to make plans

PHOTO: Mohamed Hassan/ Pixabay

READER’S PICTURE Our NHS 2023

Our poor, poor NHS.

It is limping along with fearful wounds. It has fewer doctors per head than most of Europe.

In the world’s fifth richest country, it is starved of cash.

Instead, the UK is now the world’s third largest arms’ dealer.

Reorganisation is shoved on top of reorganisation

As Tory politicians attempt to batter it into silence.

Still, the NHS refuses to give in. Its patients are all over England. They are everywhere. And they are all here, Waiting in ambulances outside A&E. Hour after hour, they wait to be treated. Even inside A&E, their ordeal continues.

They are squeezed onto chairs. They are hunched upon trolleys. They are lying on coats on the floor. The seriously ill are whimpering in pain. Still, the NHS won’t give up.

Like a worn-out donkey in the brickkilns of Asia,

Forced to work all day in the searing heat,

Denied the sustenance that it needs, Because its owners will not care for it.

It is thirsty. It is hungry. It is injured. It has open sores where the cruel harness bites.

It is carrying more than its own weight in heavy bricks.

It has become old before its time. Despite its courage, it cannot last long in these conditions.

Soon it will stumble for the last time. And collapse into a heap of weary bones.

SARAH EARLY

Sept 2017 (revised 2023)

‘Why are we slovenly?’

‘HEAR Hear’ Mr Madsen (‘Town needs a ‘Tidy up Czar’’, Gazette, February 6) - the town is looking very ‘down at heel’ and I loathe the sight of unpicked-up dog poo and litter, finding it visually very offensive.

Yes we do need a ‘Tidy Up Czar’ but surely this should be a council position, as should be street and verge cleaning - a designated mobile member of the council whose job is to go round, inspecting and managing litter clearance.

However, why bother when there are volunteers doing their work?

Having said that, I take my hat off to folk

like Frank Roberts and the many volunteers who try to keep our surroundings in Swanage litter free.

Noble as their actions are, I do feel that for the exorbitant council tax we pay, it shouldn’t be necessary.

However if these folk didn’t litter-pick for us, imagine how much worse the litter would be?

I can’t get my head round it - don’t people notice it?

Why, as a nation, are we so slovenly? It is a nation-wide problem.

Not that it is a local matter but the litter on the grass verges between Wareham and Poole is a horrendous eyesore on both sides - takeaway coffee cups, drink can and plastic items, large commercial waste containers at Holes Bay - full to overflowing and unemptied - so the wind can blow the piled-high contents around.

As well as folk chucking rubbish out of cars, I do think that some of the cause of littering on the grass verges comes from flat bed trucks - more so on a windy day.

And then, why is it all so different from Wareham, Wool and into Dorchestervirtually no litter and neat clipped hedges.

It should be like that everywhere.

ALEX GRAY (MRS) Swanage

PCC’s plea to minister

tipping hot spots, more needs to be done to deter fly-tipping which has become the anti-social behaviour of the countryside.

With the cost-of-living crisis impacting on the lives of millions of people, urgent action is required to tackle this problem.

The cost of fly-tipping on private land is estimated to be up to £150 million a year, and the cost of clearance of fly-tipping to local authorities in England nearly £50 million. It is time to make criminals pay for fly-tipping, not taxpayers.

Our proposals include:

1. Increase the maximum fixed penalty notices for small scale fly-tipping to £1000

2. Change the maximum fine of £50,000 to become a minimum fine to be imposed on repeat, large-scale offenders

3. A greater use of powers to impound and destroy vehicles involved in fly-tipping

4. Introduce a national waste crime offenders list for individuals and companies

To:

Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey MP Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

WE trust you have settled into your new role well.

According to DEFRA, a total of 55,162 fly-tipping incidents were recorded across the South West region in 2020/21, up from 50,506 during the previous 12 months.

As Police and Crime Commissioners representing the South West of England, we agree that further action needs to be taken in tackling the growing menace of fly-tipping across our countryside.

While we welcome measures such as digital waste tracking, fixed penalty notices and the increasing use of CCTV in fly-

5. Support and fund the creation of a national analysis resource to enable the police to effectively collect and analyse data on fly-tipping in rural areas and to tackle organised criminal gangs profiting from fly-tipping in the countryside

If we are to achieve the Government target of eradicating waste crime by 2043 then greater coordination across the country and tougher penalties to deter criminals should be at the heart of our strategy and we would urge you to consider our proposals to help achieve this.

David Sidwick Mark Shelford Alison Hernandez

PCC for Dorset PCC for Avon and Somerset PCC for Devon and Cornwall

Chris Nelson Philip Wilkinson

PCC for Gloucestershire PCC for Wiltshire

Readers’ letters on matters of local interest are welcomed. Email them to ed@purbeckgazette.co.uk along with your name and where you live. Please let us know if you are happy for your name and address to be printed. If

state ‘name and address supplied’.

Robin Boultwood, of Swanage, took this photo of Bramble Bush Bay, Studland, recently

Patient approach best with hedges

by Sally Gregson

DURING the winter months the structure of a garden becomes more apparent – the lines of fencing and hedging, punctuated by the verticality of trees, form shapes and outlines.

In a new garden it’s quite important to put in the structural plants – trees, hedges – first of all, at the same time as working out the outline of new beds and borders. Trees and hedges take time to grow.

It can be tempting to plant fast-growing hedging conifers such as Leyland cypresses. But while they get to the desired height very quickly, they don’t stop. They carry on growing at the same rate.

Cutting a hedge two or three times a year gets more laborious the older the gardener gets.

Yew is the very antithesis of such conifers. It is slowgrowing and makes dense walls of dark green that are impervious to wind. Provided

the ground drains and the plants are kept watered and fed throughout their early springs, they will make a two-metre ‘wall’ well within ten years. And will only need to be cut once a year. Plant them in improved soil two to three metres apart.

Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) both hold their leaves throughout the winter if they are cut as hedges. They should be planted about one metre apart, and it pays to keep them watered, especially in a dry summer. Trim them both twice a year.

Country hedges are easier to maintain. Choose species that are suited to your soil – willows and dogwoods are better in damp, heavy soils; and spindles and field maples are more suitable for well-drained soil. Their berries will feed the wild birds and small mammals can shelter between their thick

stems.

When planting any type of hedging it pays to incorporate plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure in the planting ditch. It holds the

moisture, while draining away any excess – it improves the soil texture. So that by the spring your new hedge will get away and look meaningful by the end of summer.

The sweet smell of shrubs in winter

by Sally Gregson

ONE of the joys of the winter garden is the flowering of some

£395

of the best scented shrubs. They all have to pump out every whisper of perfume to attract any passing pollinator, be they unseasonal moths, wasps or, more probably, bees. Their flowers are often yellow – a colour attractive to insects, and they have guidelines to highlight the way in.

One of the most well-known is the Witch Hazel (Hamamelis mollis) which fills the garden with its delicious perfume. Witch hazels have been bred and selected over the years, and now we can buy beautiful spidery-flowered shrubs in all shades of yellow, orange and even soft red. Hamamelis can be a little difficult to grow in very chalky soils, especially in deep shade, but otherwise they will make strong shrubs in neutral to acid soils and pump

out the perfume from late December to March.

Another favourite shrub grown for its winter perfume is the Christmas Box (Sarcococca confusa). In the trade the subtly different species really have got confused, and it’s as well to check on the true identity before buying. Sarcococca humilis is a mildly running shrub, which is useful in the right place, but could outgrow a specific spot.

All the Christmas boxes bear lots of small, white flowers from December to March, each with a knockout perfume. Plant one by your front door and give your winter visitors a treat. If they have not met it before, they will be amazed at the volume of scent exuded by such small, white flowers.

But perhaps the favourite scent of all is that of the

Daphne. It is a shrub that can be a bit ‘miffy’ to grow. Some species sit and sulk for a while before they fade away. Daphne tangutica is a more reliable and easy form, however. And it has good, evergreen foliage that makes a well-shaped, one-metre tump of dark, shining leaves and typical pink and white perfumed flowers. Cut a small twig, if you dare, and put it in a little jug on the kitchen table. It will pump out its citrus perfume for days.

Daphnes are the most desirable of winter shrubs but they can be quite expensive, which reflects not only their appeal, but their difficulty to propagate. How typical it is that such a good plant does not root easily or well from cuttings. It only makes its desirability the greater.

Yew hedging in Sally Gregson’s last garden

Create your own style with a special commissioned piece of jewellery - the possibilities are endless...

By Amy Brenan, Director of Heirlooms Jewellers, 21 South Street, Wareham

DO you have an old favourite or inherited piece of jewellery lurking in your jewellery box unworn and forgotten?

If it’s inherited, maybe it is not really your style but you can’t part with it.

Or it may have been fashionable but now doesn’t look appropriate.

You can breathe new life into these pieces by having them redesigned.

A solitary earring could be transformed into a gorgeous contemporary pendant.

Or the gemstones from an old-fashioned brooch could be reset into a very wearable ring.

Before you approach a jeweller to redesign a piece of jewellery for you, it’s worth having a look online or in a magazine to see what type of style is attractive to you.

It also gives the designer a better idea of what you would like and the opportunity to talk through options like additional stones, different metals and any personalisation you would like – for instance a word engraved on the inside of a ring or a symbol, date or birthstone that means something very special to you.

At Heirlooms, we were recently commissioned to make an engagement ring for a Welsh gentlemen for whom it was really important that his homeland was reflected in the ring.

We were able to incorporate this by featuring a Welsh knot into the design.

We also adapted a beautiful Victorian mourning ring, complete with the original blue enamelling which was very typical of the time, and were able to inset a new agate stone to make the ring more wearable for our client.

The moral of this story is pretty much any piece of jewellery can be redesigned into something you would love to wear.

The possibilities are endless.

adverts@purbeckgazette.co.uk

P.R.Honeywill Upholstery

Upholsterer of Antique & Modern Furniture 40yrs Exp

Sofas-Chairs-Headboards-Footstools-Boat Cushions

Window Seats-Leatherwork

Fabric & Foam Sales

Call Pete on 01929 556567

Mobile: 07765764603

The new piece of jewellery could breathe new life into something that wasn’t previously worn

Marnhull

A semi-detached 4 bedroom period house presented in excellent decorative order with large garage / workshop located in a sought after village with amenities. EPC E; CTB E. Freehold Sturminster 01258 473766

Affpuddle

&Sampson

Guide £575,000

Sherborne

find out how this fast and efficient method of sale and purchase can work for you, please contact:

OIEO £315,000

A Grade II Listed 2 bedroom townhouse with views, communal gardens and garage. EPC C; CTB C. Share of F/H; Lease 982 years remaining. S/Charge - £1,158.96 per annum Sherborne 01935 814488

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

Wanstrow Guide £500,000

Sampson SOLD SOLD

Mark Lewis | 01258 473766

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190 Graham Barton | 01297 33122

A development plot of 0.77 acre with OPP for four houses. Outside of phosphate catchment area. Further 25.81 acres (10.44 hectares) adjoining land available by separate negotiation. Freehold Yeovil 01935 423526

21% above guide

Meredith Holmes | 01202 843190

West Stafford Guide £500,000

Graham Barton | 01297 33122

100% success rate at our December Auction

100% success rate at our December Auction

Affpuddle Sold 21% above guide

An attractive end of terrace 3 bedroom modern cottage in the heart of this popular village with parking, a garage and no onward chain EPC D; CTB E. Freehold Dorchester 01305 261008

LONDON WEST COUNTRY 2 3

West Morden Sold 45% above guide

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

Winterbourne Houghton Sold 233% above guide

COMMERCIAL Purbeck Gazette February 20, 2023 37 purbeckgazette.co.uk

Symonds SEE MORE SCAN HERE SYMONDSANDSAMPSON.CO.UK

RESIDENTIAL | RURAL

SOLD

TO FIND OUT HOW WE CAN CONNECT YOUR PROPERTY WITH LONDON BUYERS, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL OFFICE

To find out how Affpuddle Sold 21% above

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!

Top acts bringing the blues to town!

SWANAGE will be rocking to the sound of The Blues next month.

The 37th Swanage Blues Festival rocks into town on Thursday, March 2, and boogies through till late Sunday with a full programme of blues-based tunes and rhythms to shock the town into life.

In recent years, around 1,500 people have come to meet up with old friends, make new ones and enjoy the venues, hostelries and accommodation of their choice.

The newest venue is the Showbar & Taproom at the Mowlem, which has undergone considerable changes and improvements in recent years and is very welcome.

The Conservative Club is back for the second time and there’s all the usual venues from a golf club to holiday park, youth hostel association to bars and clubs, showing how this event has a wide appeal.

We are a members club that welcomes non-members also.

Welcome to the Grand Hotel

Blues Festival 2023

Friday, March 3rd

Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion @8.30pm

Saturday, March 4th

Robert Hokum @2.30pm

Robert Hokum @8.30pm

Sunday, March 5th

Vince Lee & Sophie Lord @2.30pm

Hugh Budden & the Blue Chords (Festival Finale) @8.30pm

The Centre – previously the youth centre - has gained a marvellous reputation for its quality of sound and attracts artists that regularly play theatres such as the Tivoli in Wimborne.

There is as usual a host of new entertainers to the official programme. Two artists who have regularly taken part in the open mic and jam sessions and are rewarded with name slots.

Singer and guitarist Isobel Thatcher appears in a duo with her brother on saxophone at the Red Lion. Thomas Heppell – who has been nominated for several awards in a national blues pollentertains both solo at the Black Swan and with his band at the YHA.

New bands include Born Healer, the Jon Storey Band, who are based in Portugal, and The Million Dollar Bash which features great musicians including George Hall from Weymouth and Robbie McIntosh (Pretenders and Wings).

Vince Lee appears again with his Big Combo and also in his duo with double bassist Sophie Lord – some of their recent videos are achieving in excess of 500,000 views on YouTube.

Fans support the festival by buying support wristbands at £15 each, and say that wearing them helps identify other festival fans, brings people together and creates even more of a party atmosphere.

Most venues, some retailers and Swanage Information Centre sell the wristbands.

Full information about the festival is available at www.swanageblues.org and at Swanage Information Centre.

The Grand Hotel Swanage is proud to support the Swanage

The Grand Hotel, Swanage is a classic Victorian seaside hotel that nestles in the heart of the beautiful Isle of Purbeck and dates back to 1898. It commands spectacular views across Swanage Bay and Peveril Point.

Blues Festival

Tribute to a singing legend

By Lorraine Gibson

WHAT’S new pussycat? How about It’s Not Unusual, the new musical coming to The Tivoli in Wimborne?

Billed as ‘the ultimate Tom Jones experience’, the concert re-creates the magic of the

singer’s golden years and, say its promoters, is a stylish, graceful celebration of his music.

All the classic numbers, backed by a ‘powerhouse’ of a live band, feature including the hit evergreens – Delilah, Green,

Green Grass of Home, What’s New Pussycat?, Sex Bomb, Kiss, Mama Told Me Not to Come, She’s a Lady and, of course, It’s Not Unusual.

The show is presented by Entertainers – creators of hit shows such as The Magic of

Motown, Lost in Music and The Rocket Man.

It is at The Tivoli, Wimborne, on Thursday, 9 March, at 7.30pm, online tickets £29.70, box office tickets £27 – visit www.tivoliwimborne.co.uk or phone 01202 885566.

Touring opera company is coming to town

THE English Touring Opera (ETO) is bringing two works to Lighthouse Poole next month – Handel’s Giulio Cesare, and Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia – as part of a national tour.

It is ETO’s first season under the leadership of new general director Robin Norton-Hale and he said: “This hugely ambitious season demands virtuosic singing and exceptional dramatic ability from our casts, in stories encompassing farce, social

satire, political intrigue and epic tragedy. Audiences can expect musical and dramatic fireworks!”

Period-instrument specialists The Old Street Band will play for both performances.

Guilia Cesare is on Friday, 10 March, at 7.30pm, and Lucrezia Borgia on Saturday, 11 March, at 7.30pm.

For tickets and more information phone 01202 280000 or visit www. lighthousepoole.co.uk

Although it is not currently a legal requirement, please consider wearing a face covering to protect yourself and others when visiting the Tivoli.

THE SOUND OF SPRINGSTEEN THE BILLY JOEL ALBUMS SHOW STARRING ELIO PACE AND HIS BAND

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (15)

HENRY BLOFELD: MY DEAR OLD THINGS

IT’S NOT UNUSUAL! - THE TRIBUTE TO TOM JONES

English Touring Opera will be presenting Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia (left) and Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Lighthouse Poole next month

Comedian promises a tonne of fun

COMEDIAN Lloyd Griffith is stopping off at Lighthouse Poole on his biggest tour to date with his new show, One Tonne of Fun.

The show will feature his unique bag of stand up, dubious impressions and a sprinkling of singing – he trained as a classical choral singer at the University of Exeter.

This year Lloyd is appearing several new television shows including ITV drama series Nolly about the soap opera Crossroads, playing the part of Paul Henry – the actor who

portrayed the popular role of Benny in the series.

Starring Helena Bonham Carter, the mini-series was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Peter Hoar (It’s A Sin).

Lloyd is also appearing in the new series of the BBC’s Bad Education and in the Channel 4 comedy Everyone Else Burns in which a hyper-religious family navigates its way through the modern world while avoiding eternal damnation.

Lloyd has also just launched new comedy podcast Fit &

Proper with fellow comedian Rhys James, in which they invite a famous guest to take over a football club and rebuild it however they like, from changing the kit and the mascot to insisting all the players have a moustache for no reason.

Lloyd has also co-hosted Soccer AM for Sky with John ‘Fenners’ Fendley and Jimmy Bullard, and co-hosted Netflix comedy-entertainment show Flinch with Seann Walsh and Desiree Burch. He also fronted documentary Can You Beat The Bookies?, in which he explored

Stories from a suitcase

A COMPELLING, lyrical and warm evening of storytelling is promised when Phil Okwedy visits Briantspuddle.

Gypsy-jazz on strings

GYPSY-JAZZ band Latchepen, admirers of Django Reinhardt and anything that swings, are coming to Langton Matravers next month.

The London-based quartet (pictured) perform jazz on strings, with influences ranging from Romani music to bebop.

Latchepen, made up of Matt Holborn (violin), Kourosh Kanani (guitar), Dave Kelbie (guitar) and Simon Read (bass),

perform at venues in the capital such as Ronnie Scott’s, and tour all over the UK playing arts venues and village halls.

They are at Langton Matravers village hall – phone 01929 423834 – on Saturday, 4 March, at 7.30pm, on a visit to Dorset with Artsreach, the county’s touring arts charity.

More information and tickets are available online at www. artsreach.co.uk

The Gods Are All Here was sparked by the discovery of a series of letters from his father in Nigeria to his mother in Wales.

Phil (pictured) draws deeply on his dual heritage and has been telling stories in schools, libraries, pubs, theatres and festivals for over ten years.

The Gods Are All Here is a

the gambling industry. He has also appeared in series 1 and 2 of Ted Lasso, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Comedy Central at The Comedy Store, Jonathan Ross’ Comedy Club, Roast Battle, Question of Sport, Not Going Out, Richard Osman’s House of Games, and supported Jack Whitehall on his arena tour.

The show at Poole Lighthouse is on Wednesday, 1 March, at 7.45pm. Tickets and more information are available on 01202 280000 and at www. lighthousepoole.co.uk

captivating performance piece that weaves myth, song, folk tales and legends of the African diaspora with an astonishing personal story.

The performance is at Briantspuddle Hall – phone 07788 1002573 – at 7.30pm on Friday, 24 February,

The show is suitable for ages 12-plus due to the themes covered.

Further information and tickets are available online at www.artsreach.co.uk

THE sequel to Menopause: The Musical, the original ‘ultimate girls’ night out’, is coming Lighthouse Poole Tuesday, 28 February. Menopause the Musical 2: Cruising Through Menopause, fast forwards five years to catch up with the same four characters for tales of their lives, loves and losses as they set sail on the high seas. For tickets and information phone 01202 280000 or visit www.lighthousepoole. co.uk

Lloyd Griffith trained as classical choral singer at Exeter University

Spotlight Diary

Diary Entries are FREE if your event is FREE. If you charge, then it’s £6 plus VAT per entry, per month. The deadline for 6 March is NOON on 24 February. Call Lizzie Wilmot on 01963 400186 or email lizzie@blackmorevale.net.

KEY: * = Start time not known or n/a; Ffi = for further information; Sw = Swanage; Wm = Wareham; VH = Village Hall, Telephone code 01929 unless otherwise stated.

FEBRUARY2023

Please call prior to attending events listed to ensure they are still on.

EVERY MONDAY

09.00 U3A Table Tennis Group meet at Harmans Cross VH.

09.30 - 10.30

Adult Modern line dance: Corfe Castle Village Hall: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

10:30 - 11:30 - Adult Improvers Ballroom/Latin: Corfe Castle Village Hall: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

10:30 - 11:30 - Under 1s Baby Group – Swanage Children’s Centre. 01929 557000

10:30 - 12:30 Cuppa and Company - enjoy our warm space and have a free hot drink and biscuits. Swanage Library.

11.30 - 12.30

Adult beginners Latin American & Ballroom Line dance (you dance solo): Corfe Castle Village Hall: Free Taster Session: Call 01202 243803: Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

13:00 - 14:00 - Under 2s Baby Group – Swanage Children’s Centre. 01929 557000

14.00 Pins and Needles at Harmans Cross VH.

14.00 Digital Champions. Support people in the community to use the internet and gain basic online skills. Booking essential on 01929 423485. Swanage Library. .

14.00 Swanage Disabled Club meet until 4pm. Meeting place All Saints Church Hall, Ulwell, Swanage. Transport available. Call Mrs Daphne Saville on 01929 425241.

14:30 - 16:30 - Cuppa & Company: drop in for a free hot drink and a chat at Wareham Library

15.45 Wareham Short Mat Bowls Club meets at Furzebrook village hall until 16.00. New members and visitors welcome. Free trial sessions and coaching. Call the secretary on 07597 782613.

16.00 - 18.00 Colour Me Happy. Adult colouring session at Swanage Library. Drop in.

18.00Swanage Tennis Club at Beach Gardens, Swanage. Free cardio tennis taster. Till 7pm.

18:30-19:30 Ladies & Girls Touch Rugby. Swanage and Wareham M&Y. 07940 222327

18:30 - 20:30 Wareham Youth Club - Years 8 & 9 - office@pycf. org.uk

18:30-19:30

Ladies & Girls Touch Rugby. Swanage and Wareham M&Y. 07940 222327

19:00 Purbeck Chess Club. Corfe Castle Village Hall. Free taster sessions. All levels welcome. FFI Steve 552504

19.30 Wareham Choral Society. Lady St.Mary Church, Wm. Till 9.30. New singers always welcome. 01202 632678. warehamchoral@gmail.com

EVERY TUESDAY

09.30 Isle of Purbeck Arts Club. Painting and sketching. At the Catholic Church Hall, Rempstone Rd, Swanage. Till 1pm. Outdoors in summer - isleofpurbeckartsclub@gmail. com

09.30 Wareham Art Club Workshop at Wareham Parish Hall. 553718.

09.30 Families and Babies F.A.B Dorset Wareham breastfeeding group, all pregnant and breastfeeding mums/ families welcome. Not Just Sundaes Community cafe, South Street, BH20 4LU

09:30 - 10:30 - Adult Improvers Modern Line Dance: The D’Urberville Centre, Wool: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

10.00 First Steps Parent & Toddlers’ Group. Swanage Methodist Church till 11.30am during term time. Sylvia Garrett 425420, office hours.

10.00 Wareham Croquet Club meet at the Recreation Ground until 5pm. New members and visitors welcome. Call Tony on 01929 550190 or Lesley on 01929 553927 or email warehamgolfcroquetclub@hotmail.com.

10.00A Place Of Welcome at 103 High St. Swanage. Friendly drop-in for everyone, providing a free cup of tea or coffee, a listening ear, conversation and basic information. Everyone welcome, whatever the circumstances. Until 12 noon.

10:00 - 11:00 - Under 1s Baby Group – Wareham Children’s Centre. 01929 557000

10:30 - 11:15 - Adult Latin/Ballroom Line Dance: The D’Urberville Centre, Wool: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

10.30Swanage Walking for Health Group starter walks (1530mins). Start from the Mowlem Shelter on Swanage Seafront. Get back into the Swanageing of things gently! 481000.

10.30 Wareham Walkers. Convivial health walks for mainly older people, of up to two hours in and around Wareham, ending with coffee at a local tea room or pub. www. wareham-walkers.org.uk or call 552933.

12:15 - 13:15 - Adult Beginners Modern Line Dance: The Purbeck Sport Centre: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

13:00 - 14:00 - Under 2s Baby Group – Wareham Children’s Centre. 01929 557000

13:15 - 14:15 - Adult Beginners Latin/Ballroom: The Purbeck Sport Centre: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

13.45 Wareham Short Mat Bowls Club meets at Furzebrook village hall until 16.00. New members and visitors welcome. Free trial sessions and coaching. Call the secretary on 07597 782613.

14.00 Swanage Town Walk. Local historian takes walks lasting 90 minutes. Meet outside the Museum in the ‘Square’. Contributions welcome. Easter - September

14:15 - 14:40 RhymeTime (including holidays): lively songs and rhymes for under 3s and carers at Wareham Library

17:30 - 19:00 Wareham Youth Club - Year 6 - office@pycf.org. uk

17:30 - 19:00 Wool Youth Club - Year 6 - office@pycf.org.uk

18:00 - 20:00 Rugby training - give it a try! Girls training U12’s - U18’s. Swanage and Wareham M&Y. Call Sophie 07743 896360.

18.30 Studland Yoga at Studland Village Hall. Beginners and experienced practitioners are all welcome. Until 8.00 pm Call 07932180327 Email yogawithsemra@gmail.com

19.00 Wareham Youth Club year 7, Wareham Youth Centre.

19:00 - 21:00 Rugby training - give it a try! Adult training, all ages welcome. Swanage and Wareham M&Y. 07581 454986

19:00 - 20:30 - Wareham Youth Club - Year 7 - office@pycf.org. uk

19:00 - 20:30 - Wool Youth Club - Year 7 - office@pycf.org.uk

19.30 Belvedere Singers rehearsal at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Victoria Avenue, Swanage. BH19 1AZ. Till 9.30pm. All welcome! 425074.

EVERY WEDNESDAY

10.00 - 11.00 Adult Improvers Latin American & Ballroom dance class: St Edwards Church Hall, Swanage: Call 01202 243803: Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com.

10:00 - 12pm Citizens Advice Bureau (every Wednesday

except the first of the month) No appointment needed. Swanage Library.

10:30 - 11:30 - Under 1s Baby Group – Bovington Children’s Centre (Holt Road, BH20 6LE) 01929 557000

11.00 - 12.00

Adult Improvers Modern Line Dance: St Edwards Church Hall, Swanage: Call 01202 243803: Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

12.00 - 13.00

Adult Beginners Modern Line dance: St Edwards Church Hall, Swanage: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

13:00 - 14:00 - Under 2s Baby Group – Bovington Children’s Centre (Holt Road, BH20 6LE) 01929 557000

14.30 Local Historian walk around Swanage, lasting 1 1/2 hours. No need to book, just turn up in Swanage Museum, contributions welcome. Easter - September

17:30 - 18:45 - Corfe Castle Youth Club - Year 6 & 7office@pycf.org.uk

18:00 - 20:00 - Wareham Youth Club - Years 10 and aboveoffice@pycf.org.uk

18:00 - 20:00 - Wool Youth Club - Year 8 - office@pycf.org.uk

18:00 - 20:00 - Planet Purbeck - Secondary School agesoffice@pycf.org.uk

18:00 - 19:30 Rugby training - give it a try! U12’s - U16’s. Swanage and Wareham M&Y. 07799842225

18.30 Swanage and Wareham Hockey Club Junior (6-14yrs) Training, Wm Sports Centre. Until 7.30pm. Email: Swanagewarehamhockey@outlook.com.

19:00 - 20:15 - Corfe Castle Youth Club - Year 8 and aboveoffice@pycf.org.uk

19:00 - 21:00 Rugby training - give it a try! Ladies training Swanage and Wareham M&Y. 07940 222327

19.00 Swanage Town Band meet for our weekly practise in the Swanage Methodist Church. New musicians warmly welcomed. Please call David Cook (musical Director) for further informaiton on: 01929 422909.

19.00 Purbeck Runners have a club run every Wednesday. See purbeckrunners.co.uk for details.

19.00 Swanage & Wareham Depression Support group. Meets weekly alternating between Swanage and Wareham. Please call Mary 01929 426896 or email Nick on nickviney@hotmail.com

EVERY THURSDAY

08:30 - 11:00 - Wareham Home Producers Market in the United Reformed Church, Church Street, Wareham. For more information please contact 01929 553798.

09.00 Swanage Painting Club. Catholic Church Hall, Rempstone Rd, Swanage. Friendly group. New members including beginners welcome. Till 1pm. Jane on 01929 427078.

09.30 Swanage Tennis Club at Beach Gardens, Swanage. Free Matchplay taster session for prospective new members. First 3 sessions are free. Until 11am.

09:45 Free Chess (just buy something in the café) at Chococo (Not school hols/half term) All levels welcome. Til 12 Noon.

10.00 Volunteer Centre Drop-In at Wareham Library till 12pm. Find our about volunteering to support community groups and charities.

10.00 Wareham Croquet Club meet at the Recreation Ground until 5pm. New members and visitors welcome. Call Tony on 01929 550190 or Lesley on 01929 553927 or email warehamgolfcroquetclub@hotmail.com.

10.30 Midweek Market Morning Service URC, Church St, Wm. Prayer requests to Revd. Simon Franklin 556976.

10.30 Woodworking with Bernard and Terry at the Purbeck Workshop in Wool. The Workshop provides craft activities free of charge to those touched by cancer - friends and family are welcome too. D’Urberville Centre, Collier’s Lane,Wool. www.purbeckworkshop.org 07757 776907. www.purbeckworkshop.org Phone: 07794 479208.

10:00 - 11:00 - Under 1s Baby Group – Upton Library - 01929

557000

13:00 - 14:00 - Under 2s Baby Group – Upton Library - 01929

557000

14.00 Swanage Town Walk. Local historian takes walks lasting 90 minutes. Meet outside the Museum in the ‘Square’. Contributions welcome.Easter - September

18.00 Wool Youth Club year 9 up, D’Urberville VH.

19.00 Purbeck Arts Choir meet for rehearsals, with conductor David Fawcett, at St Mary’s School, Northbrook Road, Swanage. Sept-May. All welcome. For more info call Liz Roberts 01929 481419.

19.15 Wareham Town Band Brass & Woodwind. New players welcome. 07526. 535371

EVERY FRIDAY

09:30 Coffee @ 112 - Drop In For Coffee! Catch up with friends at 112 High Street (United Reformed Church) in Swanage. Cake and bacon butties. Fair trade stall. Donations for Swanage Disabled Club and Church Funds.

09:30 - 10:30 - Adult Improvers Latin/Ballroom: Corfe Castle Village Hall: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

09:30 - 11:30 Honeybees Parent & Toddler Group. Term time only. 07786 874006.

10:30 - 11:30 Library Gets Lively (including holidays): stories, rhymes, songs and activities for under 5s and carers at Wareham Library

10:30 - 11:30 - Adult Beginners Latin American: Corfe Castle Village Hall: Free taster session: Call 01202 243803. Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

10.30 - 12:30 Do you want to volunteer in Swanage? Meet the team at the Volunteer Bureau in Swanage Library!

11.00 - 11:30 Swanage Library Rhyme Time, ages 0-4.

16:45 - 17:40: Swanage Cricket Club - Under 9’s @ The Swanage School. 01929 421216

17:45 - 18:40: Swanage Cricket Club - Under 11’s @ The Swanage School. 01929 421216

18.00 Purbeck War-Game & Model Club. Royal British Legion, Swanage. 426096.

18:45 - 19:45: Swanage Cricket Club - Women & Girls @ The Swanage School. 01929 421216

19.30 Informal Lesbian Social Group meets each Friday for fun, laughter and to make new friends. Ffi, contact Karen by email at: outinpurbeck@gmail.com

20.00 New Adult Beginners Latin American & Ballroom dance class at The Swanage school (main hall): Call 01202 243803: Email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com.

EVERY SATURDAY

All Day: Children’s Classes with The Purbeck Dance Studio, For further information ring 01202 243803 or email purbeckdancestudio@gmail.com

11.00 - 12:00 Lego and Megablok Mayhem at Swanage Library

14:00 - 15:30

Crochet Creations at Swanage Library. Once a month so booking is essential. Ring 01929 423485

18.30 Whist. Come and join us at the Reading Room, Church Hill, Swanage. Call Richard on 01929 553516.

EVERY SUNDAY

09.00 Purbeck Runners meet at the Mowlem, Swanage. 8+mile run.

09:30 - 11:30 Rugby training - give it a try! U12’s - U16’s. Swanage and Wareham M&Y. 07799 842225

10.00 Arts and Crafts Market at the Mowlem in Swanage. A wide range of local art for sale, including pottery, glass, cards, fabric and much more! To book a table, or for more info, call Tony on 01929 421321.

10.30 Stoborough Baptist Church – would love to welcome you for meeting. For details please call 01929 550309 or website www.stoboroughbaptistchurch.co.uk.

16:00 - 16:55: Swanage Cricket Club - Under 13’s @ The Swanage School. 01929 421216

17:00 - 17:55: Swanage Cricket Club - Under 14’s @ The Swanage School. 01929 421217

18:00 - 18:55: Swanage Cricket Club - Under 15’s @ The Swanage School. 01929 421218

19:00 - 20:15: Swanage Cricket Club - Adult Training @ The Swanage School. 01929 421219

The Blackmore Vale Ltd continues to enjoy great success and we are looking for an experienced Account Manager

You will be managing a regular client base as well as generating new business selling into various magazines. Previous sales experience is required and you should be hungry for success.

The role is a hybrid of working from home/office and out and about within the Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire areas. You must own your own vehicle – a mileage allowance is paid.

Previous sales experience

Hungry for success

Hours are Monday to Friday 9am – 5.30pm. Salary is dependent on experience.

If you’ve got what it takes to be part of this fantastic team, please send your application to debi.thorne@blackmorevale.net

Closing date for applications is Friday 24th February 2023.

Cryptic crossword

20

23 British & Eu ro p ean HOLIDAY BROCHUR E

Our selection of individually tailo red coach holiday tours offer a custom made product providing a feeling of luxury and aspiration. Sp ecifically aimed at the more discerning customer.

Convenient & FREE local picking up points throughout the PURBECK area

5 Days

BRITISH

Sun 21st to Thur 25th May

Yorkshire TV Themes

Heartbeat, Emmerdale, All Creatures

5 Days – Sun 28th to Thur 1st June

Dumfries & Galloway

Gardens of South-West Scotland

5 Days – Mon 19th to Fri 23rd June

Barging Around Yorks.

Boat cruises and a Steam Railway

5 Days – Wed 5th to Sun 9th July

North Yorkshire Coast & Yorkshire Moors Steam Railway

5 Days – Mon 10th to Fri 14th July

Derbyshire Peak District

History, Heritage, Stunning Scenery

2 Days – Sun 16th to Mon 17th July

ELVIS – For 1 night only!

Professional tribute to the World’s greatest musical icon

Chesford Grange, Warkwickshire

5 Days – Mon 31st July to Fri 4th Aug

Kents Heritage Coast

Beaches, cliffs and ancient sites

EUROPEAN

7 Days – Sun 14th to Sat 20th May

THE ISLE OF MAN

Less hurried, cleaner, safer…

6 days – Sat 10th to Thur 15th June

PEARL OF THE RHINE

Boppard in Germany

4 Days – Mon 14th to Thur 17th Aug

DISNEYLAND PARIS

4 Star Magic Circus Hotel off-site

Prices reduced by £40 per person!

4

8 Days – Tue 15th to Tue 22nd Aug

AUSTRIAN TYROL

Cables, Cogs and Cruising

Amazing views and experiences

5 Days – Sat 14th to Wed 18th Oct

GUERNSEY & SARK

Spectacular Channel islands

5 Days – Sun 3rd to Thur 7th Dec

GERMAN

CHRISTMAS MARKETS

8 Days – Thur 21st to Thur 28th Dec

CHRISTMAS IN ITALY

£1,990

£2,740