12 minute read
Letters
Government must honour its pledge
UNDER THREAT?... Rural Dorset
Just a modest increase in investment in our Green Belts would benefit nearly half the population. At CPRE we’re urging Government to honour its pledge to protect and enhance these lands and have published a report asking it to deliver funds to meet its Levelling Up Bill commitment to ‘improve Green Belts around towns and cities’. The report is both timely and important as I understand that Dorset Council is considering relaxing the Green Belt designations on ground of ‘exceptional circumstances’ and a commitment from Government to increase funding for their protection and enhancement would send a powerful message that it’s serious in its aim to develop ‘brownfield first’. The term ‘exceptional circumstances’ is a big problem locally, being used to justify removal of land from Green Belts for development - often of large houses that don’t address the lack of affordable housing for Dorset residents. Seventy per cent of Green Belt around Wimborne alone has been removed for development. This power has also been used to remove Green Belt protection from the countryside close to many in BCP and East Dorset, particularly in the Stour Valley. The report analyses of the geographical spread of agri-environment schemes and considers the financial implications of the Environmental Land Management schemes - soon to be introduced. These schemes will replace agricultural and land management subsidies and will be how Government funds its commitment to safeguard and improve Green Belt land. It is vital that these schemes recognise the benefits to be achieved by that investment, not least for urban dwellers. Dorset residents, please write to your MPs, ward councillors, parish councillors, drawing attention to this threat to the Green Belts, urging them to pressurise the Government. Please visit cpre.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2022/05/ CPRE_Countryside_Next_ Door.pdf.
Peter Bowyer Chairman, Dorset CPRE
Frost-free fete
The Ice Queen will wow the children with the amazing Bierfass Oompah Band providing the music when Gussage All Saints, nine miles from Blandford, holds its annual fete with a host of stalls on Saturday, June 25, in the picturesque grounds of Gussage House from 2pm. Gussage All Saints. All fete proceeds go to supporting the village hall and local church. Sorry, no dogs allowed.
Cartoon by Lyndon Wall justsocaricatures.co.uk
Bemoaning issues caused by his own party
Re: Government failures dominate complaints (NS&A, May 20). Mr Chope MP bemoans the decline in the delivery of public services but conveniently ignores the fact that the years and years of unnecessary austerity since this Conservative government came to office in 2010 has led to considerable reduction in staffing and resources allocated to public services. With the many experienced staff discarded and budgets reduced, service standards were bound to decline and they will only improve if staff and services are properly resourced. At the outset of the Covid pandemic, both national and local government struggled to respond promptly, clearly showing the impact of inadequate funding in the public sector since 2010. My guess is that of the 100,000 increase in the number of civil servants claimed by Mr Chope, a large percentage of those would have been employed trying to implement failed policies that his government have tried to implement - Brexit being an obvious example.
Rob Staite Christchurch
Town gardens open for blooming good cause
More than 20 gardens in and around Wimborne Minster will be opened on Sunday, June 26, from 11.00am to 5.00pm to raise funds for Wimborne in Bloom. Visitors are asked to pay £7.50 at the first garden visited and they can start at any garden and visit in any order. Gardens will be well signposted throughout the town. Once again, the event is being held in the morning as well as the afternoon. Enjoy a day out and see some lovely gardens at the same time as raising money for Wimborne in Bloom to support this year’s ‘In Bloom’ Campaign. Teas will be available at various gardens. Leaflets are available from the Tourist Information Centre and other venues in town. Full details are on the Wimborne in Bloom website: wimborneinbloom. org.uk
n Baskets arrive for last year’s Wimborne in Bloom
‘i can’t believe my luck!’ was the reaction of the latest of our competition winners in The New Stour & Avon Magazine. Debbie Brown of Ferndown entered the competition, to win an iPad, to mark the launch of the New Stour & Avon Website. Debbie, who works for Ferndown-based AE Joliffe, says that she is an avid reader of the magazine and was delighted to have won the prize, worth £1300. James Peacock, owner of Peacock Computers, said it was a pleasure to donate the iPad and hopes that Debbie will have hours of enjoyment from her prize. He presented the new iPad outside of his shop in Ringwood.
Join Dorset’s most beloved immersive theatre company, Earth Kin Events, tomorrow, Saturday, June 18, for a summer solstice celebration like no other, in Europe’s largest, most magnificent Earthouse. Occurring annually in the northern hemisphere in June, the summer solstice takes place on the longest day of the year when the sun appears to reach its highest point in the sky. Ancient monuments aligned with the astrological movements of the sun such as Stonehenge, the Temple of Karnak in Egypt and the Temple of the Sun in Machu Picchu, Peru, suggest the peoples of Earth have marked the summer solstice as a significant spiritual and cultural event since prehistoric times. Today, the summer solstice is welcomed by many as the official start of the summer season and the herald of warmer days in the sun. Earth Kin Events specialises in connecting people in the UK of all faiths and none to their heritage, their local landscapes and each other through storytelling, gentle ritual and music. This summer solstice, join Earth Kin’s most experienced musicians, poets and storytellers as they gather round the fireside in the Ancient Technology Centre’s awe-inspiring neolithic Earthouse to explore summer solstice myths, legends and folklore through poetry, dance, song, drumming, theatrical performance and much more. Find out how the Sun King was born, how the Sun Warrior came to be and why the mighty Oak King is the sovereign of summer in a glorious celebration of our most celestial star. The Viking longhouse bar will be open from 6pm and formal celebrations will begin at 7.30pm. The event is not suitable for children under 12 years; parental guidance advised. Normal adult ticket £23.50; concessions, including students, those aged 1218yrs, seniors over 65yrs and those living with disabilities £21.50. For further information visit www.earthkinevents. co.uk.
Millbrook House
RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME
CHILD OKEFORD, BLANDFORD FORUM, NORTH DORSET, DT11 8EY Millbrook House
RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME
CHILD OKEFORD, BLANDFORD FORUM, NORTH DORSET, DT11 8EY
• 24-hour care by dedicated and experienced staff • Twenty-nine beauti fully appointed en-suite rooms • Freshly prepared home cooked cuisine For further informati on and a brochure contact us on 01258 860330
• 24-hour care by dedicated and experienced staff • Twenty-nine beauti fully appointed en-suite rooms • Freshly prepared home cooked cuisine In the heart of North Dorset this elegant home for the elderly is set in two acres of beauti ful gardens. Established as a care home for over 30 years. Like you we value care, respect and dignity. If you are For further informati on and a brochure contact us on 01258 860330 seeking care for yourself or a relati ve a warm welcome awaits you here at Millbrook house. enquiries@millbrookhousecarehome.co.uk | www.millbrookhousecarehome.co.uk A place you really can call ‘home’. We care, allow us to care for you. Registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), regularly inspected • Family and friends welcome to visit and recently rated good. We are proud to have also recently been awarded at anyti me a ‘Commend’ by the Gold Standards Framework. • Convalescent and holiday breaks • In-house acti vity programme
Please visit us at anyti me
In the heart of North Dorset this elegant home for the elderly is set in two acres of beauti ful gardens. Established as a care home for over 30 years. Like you we value care, respect and dignity. If you are seeking care for yourself or a relati ve a warm welcome awaits you here at Millbrook house. In the heart of North Dorset this elegant home for the elderly is set in two acres of beautiful gardens. Established as a care home for over 30 years.
A place you really can call ‘home’. We care, allow us to care for you. • Family and friends welcome to visit at anyti me • Convalescent and holiday breaks • In-house acti vity programme
Please visit us at anyti me
Like you we value care, respect and dignity. If you are seeking care for yourself or a relative a warm welcome awaits you here at Millbrook House.
A place you can really call ‘home’. We care, allow us to care for you.
24-our care by dedicated and experienced staff
Twenty-nine beautifully appointed en-suite rooms
Freshly prepared home cooked cuisine Family and friends welcome to visit at anytime Convalescent and holiday breaks In-house activity programme
Please visit us at anytime
For further information and a brochure contact us on 01258 860330
stouravonmagazine.co.uk In celebration of the Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, Lewis-Manning Hospice Care hosted a Great Dorset Jubilee Tea Party, welcoming the local community to join them for homemade cakes, traditional and delicious cream teas, a terrific tombola and handcrafted gifts stall. They even had a celebrity in their midst – Maggie the Seaside Baker, pictured right, who was a contestant in Channel 4’s ‘Great British Bake Off”. Maggie kindly baked and donated a spectacular coffee and walnut cake for the tombola and entertained attendees with her baking stories from inside the famous tent. The event took place within the hospice car park and boasted a huge variety of mouth-watering display of cakes and sweet treats for people to make a donation for. Traditional scones were kindly donated by Mark Bennett Patisserie and another supporter, which were perfectly accompanied with clotted cream and jam, kindly donated by BV Dairy and Cherry Tree Preserves.
Maggie bakes the cake at fundraiser!
As well as cream teas, guests also enjoyed homemade creations, including chocolate brownies, jubileethemed biscuits and cakes fit for royalty. A tea party wouldn’t be complete without a proper cup of tea, and thanks were given to Dorset Tea for providing all the tea bags and Asda Bournemouth for supplying coffee and flavoured water. Guests were treated to the musical sounds of Stuart ‘The Piano Man’, who played a variety of popular songs. Thanks to everybody that came along and made the afternoon so special, the donations helped to raise more than £1,000, which will go towards funding the hospice’s free of charge services across East Dorset and Purbeck. To get involved and host your own tea party with friends and loved ones at home, visit lewis-manning. org.uk/great-dorset-tea-party to download a Great Dorset Tea Party pack. The pack includes posters, sweepstake games and themed DIY bunting.
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Well-known local legend Ken Hoare and his wife Sylvia have been celebrating their Platinum Jubilee alongside someone nearly as famous! Kenneth George Hoare, only son of Earnest George Hoare and Florance Lillian Hoare and Sylvia were married on June 7, 1952, at Hampreston Church, with the reception at the Innisfail Hotel off New road Ferndown, now replaced with many bungalows. Ken’s father started his haulage business when he left the Army in 1918 with horses and carts, hauling timber from the New Forest to Ringwood railway station. He then excavated sand and gravel from local pits and supplied local builders. His first vehicle was a Model T Ford, he then had an agreement with Lord Wimborne to rent a parcel of land at Little Canford where he installed a gravel washing and grading machine. In those days all the gravel was excavated by pick and shovelled onto half-ton skips and winched to the washing plant. That area of land is now the Wessex Water Depot. Ken’s father took him away from school at the age of 13 to work in that quarry operating a new gravel washing plant. It was not long before Ken was driving a dumper and a lorry in the quarry at the age of 14 and at 15 he was driving a 15-ton Dragline excavator, dredging gravel from below water level and loading it onto dumpers. On June 3,1944, he was called up into the Army and served in the REME servicing diesel engines on the gun sites defending London and in 1945 he was sent to join a regiment bound for the Middle East, After three years out there he was demobbed. Back home in his father’s workshop he was soon repairing vehicles and various plant equipment. His father passed away in 1951 which left Ken and his mother to carry on the business. Due to the pressure of working long hours Ken joined the West Hants Motor Club to have some weekends away taking part in hillclimbing with his VW 1300 Beetle and in 1966 became the British Champion, an achiecement he repeated in 1970 driving a 1300 VW Golf. He then took up autocrossing and rally -cross, competing for 37years. The firm expanded with two gravel quarries and two sand quarries, 12 vehicles (four and eight-wheelers) with 30 employed personnel. Due to the recession the firm ceased trading in 1989 after 71 years. Sylvia and Ken had two sons, who are both married, and they have five grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren..
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