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Twinning association calendar
Fordingbridge Twinning Association held its monthly meeting with the express purpose of generating its annual plan of events. The first will take place on Saturday, March 12, which will be its annual Murder Mystery evening, invariably a sell-out event. This popular evening is entitled Pasta, Passion and Pistols and is to be held in St Mary’s Church Hall at 7pm for 7.30pm. Without giving away the plot, you the jury must decide who the murderer is! Tickets are £15, to include a meal, available from Caxton Décor and Jessica Fashion. Soon after that, the association’s AGM will take place on May 5 at 7.30pm, at Avonway. Members are invited, and anyone not yet a member can join on the night. There will be cheese and wine. Membership for 2022/2023 begins at this meeting, and remains at £10 per household. Contact Keith Bennett on 01425 655331 or by email (hippotrain@btinternet.com) for further details.
Get jabbed for holidays
Public Health Dorset has reminded people who aren’t vaccinated that there’s still time to get the vaccinations now necessary for visiting most foreign countries. A spokesman said: “There are plenty of appointments available as well as availability at walk-in clinics.” Visit: dorsetccg.nhs. uk/vaccinations/
by Faith Eckersall
Dorset Council has published shock plans to axe financial support to Wimborne’s Queen Elizabeth Leisure Centre. The cash-strapped authority believes it could save around £550,000 a year from 2024 and claims the way the centre is funded – Dorset provides the management but doesn’t own the facility – ‘raised the question as to whether this provides value for money’. However, locals disagree, with the council’s own survey showing ‘overwhelming support’ to keep the arrangements as they are now. Other residents accused the council of giving ‘selected reasons’ for wanting the centre closed and criticised the implication that because 83 per cent of people use a car to access the centre, they could drive to other leisure facilities within the area. One resident said: “The arguments made that people can drive further to use facilities in nearby towns or will pay more to use private gyms and pools contradict the council’s stated intentions to reduce unnecessary car journeys and tackle health inequalities. The increase in housing, people and vehicles in Wimborne should mean we need more local health and leisure amenities closer to where people live, not fewer and further way.” In a statement, the council said that the centre’s funding ‘is far higher’ than any of the eight leisure facilities it owns, which share the rest of the £1.7m yearly budget. It also hit back at claims that the potential closure was: ‘Inconsistent with the council’s commitment to health and wellbeing’. ‘The council operates three other leisure facilities in the East Dorset area, as well as two country parks, so it is felt that there is clear evidence that Dorset Council is supporting the community to be physically active. Many other areas of Dorset are less fortunate and don’t have access to the same level of leisure facilities.’ The authority pledged to work with the QES owners to ‘find a sustainable way of keeping their facilities available to those who need them’. ‘This will involve helping the school find alternative funding opportunities, making the current facilities more widely available and providing support and guidance for any users who may need to make alternative arrangements for their activities, if necessary,’ said Dorset Council. It is also pledging a one-off payment of £150,000 towards the replacement of the site’s all-weather pitch. Portfolio holder for customer and community services, Laura Miller said: “I respect the strength of feeling from the local community, but Dorset Council simply cannot justify spending so much public money managing a centre that we do not own, in an area that has so much comparable leisure provision close by. Making these recommendations has been difficult, but the school has a considerable amount of time to explore options for the centre’s future and I remain hopeful we can help them find a solution to their funding concerns.” The issue was set to be discussed at the council’s place and resources overview committee yesterday, February 10, and the recommendations will be considered and decided upon at the full cabinet meeting on Tuesday, March 1.
Post office back Sign up for virtual meets
The Post Office run from Corfe Mullen Village Hall reopens on Monday, February 28, at 9am. The service will be open on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am-11am. And the village hall is now fully open for bookings. Details are available from 01202 698600 or email vhbookings@corfemullentc.gov.uk. West Parley Parish Council is urging residents to sign a national petition to allow it to continue holding virtual meetings. The council said that the right to hold virtual meetings ‘regrettably ended’ in April last year. “Many councillors, staff and members of the public don’t wish to expose themselves to the risk of meetings,” said the council. For more information, visit: change.org/p/ uk- government-andparliament-for-councilsin-england-to-have-thechoice-to-meet-remotely? Despite continued covid restrictions in 2021, the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation, which inspires children to ‘climb as high as they can dream’ by awarding scholarships and bursaries, had a successful fundraising year thanks to support from businesses, individuals and schools. Proving that every cloud has a silver lining, while government constraints meant that fewer JTYAF awards could be given out since youngsters were prevented from participating in activities, on the upside it means that the charity now has extra funds for 2022. Subsequently, the foundation’s trustees have now allocated a lifechanging £101,550 for awards for young local people that includes a £33,000 Jubilee Fund in celebration of the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
ACHIEVEMENT: Trustees at the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation
The pandemic disrupted the life of each child in our community and significantly impacted the mental health of many, so this Jubilee Fund is great news for eight schools in the Ferndown area who have been invited to bid for this extra financial support, allowing recipients to offer enrichment projects that support their pupils’ wellbeing. The foundation was set up in 2008 in memory of John Thornton who was killed in Afghanistan, aged 22. Since its inception, it’s given more than £850,000-worth of help to more than 2,000 local schoolchildren and youth organisations. Thanking the charity’s champions, Pete Thornton, chairman of the JTYAF, said: “We continue to be humbled by the support we receive. Any charity is the sum of its supporters, and we are so grateful to everyone whose generosity has helped the JTYAF. “This is going to be an exciting year and the Jubilee Fund is a really appropriate way to mark the Queen’s Jubilee.” For more information, visit: jtyaf.org.
Platinum Award-Winning Care 2020
We have recently been awarded this much sought after accolade for our work with Gold Standards Framework
“The staff here are quite simply wonderful, they can’t do enough for you. The food is excellent with plenty of variety and my quality of life has improved since moving here.
I only wish I made the decision sooner.” Current resident
