Chetnole

CHETNOLE with REP: Liz Tebbatt 873140 tebbatt.towers@gmail.com Hamlet, Melbury Bubb & Stockwood DISTRIBUTOR: Stan Darley

‘All for one and one for all’ – the Chetnole Inn gets a facelift from the painting fairies

We remember our wonderful former editor Bella Neate-Clegg even more so at this time of year and we send our love to Nick, Hebe and Monte. Good luck Nick with your future plans, it’s been an exceptionally difficult year for you.

Welcome to Sarah and Paul Hodgkinson and their two dogs from Christchurch and we look forward to seeing you around the village.

Have you received your Flower show schedule yet? Get your creative juices flowing ready for 7 August!

Was it just me or did anyone else feel a bit emotional stepping inside the village hall on polling day? All the kids’ birthday parties we’ve had there came whizzing back – it’ll be so good to have it open again for all of us.

Our coffee mornings have restarted, which is wonderful. And it’s great to be back at the pub, which is looking very smart (thanks to some very special village residents). Let’s use our important local facility as much as possible to make up for all those boring nights in front of the telly – I won’t take any persuading. Reopening day on 1 May felt just like the good old days, with villagers and visitors flocking for a much-needed pint and chat. Even the inclement weather failed to deter most (Beaumonts, you went that extra mile with your gazebo) and it’s good to have Maria and the team back where they belong at last.

Enjoy flaming June.

Maria would like to give a massive thank you to the self-proclaimed painting fairies, aka Jeff Beaumont, Dave Orton and Steve Fudge et al, for volunteering themselves for the job of painting the front of the pub. It really was beyond kind of them. And it goes to show the absolutely amazing community spirit of Chetnole residents. In the words of the musketeers, “one for all and all for one!”

St. Peter’s Chetnole

St. Peter’s Church Chetnole Annual Meeting was held in April 2021 by Zoom. We now have two churchwardens, Stephanie Fripp and Richard Charrington. We welcome Nick Hewitt to the PCC as our new treasurer. Sue Woodford is benefice rep, Aly Kozowyk continues as secretary, Maggie Henry as electoral roll officer, and Anne Andrewartha and Jan Witt on the committee.

During the partial lifting of lockdown we had two communion services, a Harvest service, a carol service, and a family service on Christmas Day – maintaining social distancing at all times. We were unable to have a Remembrance Day service as we have no outside war memorial. Thanks to everyone’s generosity, we were able to donate £125 to UNICEF from Christmas collections.

The church was opened and decorated for the day of the Flower Show in August which was extremely popular.

Unfortunately, during the year we saw many deaths including some of our most senior villagers. We had two funerals in church, three in the churchyard, one internment of ashes, a dedication of a tree and a blessing of ashes in the porch.

The church continues to be opened for private visits on Wednesdays and Sundays, with food bank drop off, and book and puzzle exchange. We hope soon to be able to open again every day. Please continue to watch the church notice board for regular updates and service schedules.

Chetnole St. Peter’s PCC

ST PETER'S CHURCH CHETNOLE

CREAM TEAS in the CHURCHYARD

(in village hall if wet) with TEDDY BEAR PARACHUTING

Sunday July 4th from 3.00 to 5.00 p.m.

Once again Teddy Bears will be jumping off St. Peter’s church tower. Bring your parachute and teddy bear (or any other soft toy) and have a go! Any size or design will do, provided it fits into the basket for hoisting up the tower. Make sure your Teddy’s name and your family name are clearly marked. Children and adults of all ages welcome. All entrants get a certificate and the slowest descent (that lands in the churchyard!) will win a prize. £1 per jump for church funds.

Sadly, we’ve been unable to arrange our usual door to door collection for Christian Aid Week this year (hopefully next year!), but if you’d like to donate, you can do this very easily by following this link www.christianaid.org.uk and clicking on the red Donate button at the top right of the website.

This year’s appeal is to help the world’s poorest communities fight against climate change. From drought to flooding, climate change robs people of control over their lives. Extreme weather means people are struggling to survive without a reliable source of water.

Your gift could help a community build an earth dam, so when the rains do come, they will have the water they need to live. A reliable source of water will help families withstand long drought or relentless rainstorms. Every gift can change lives. Thank you!

Maggie Henry

Christian Aid coordinator

Chetnole fuel group

If you would like to order some domestic heating oil, please call John Sanford on 01935 872973 at least five working days before the next delivery date which is 17 June.

Hardy’s Women – BBC radio drama

A dramatisation of Thomas Hardy’s The Woodlanders has recently been on BBC Radio4 as drama of the week, part of the Hardy’s Women series which views the novels from the perspective of his female protagonists. Now on BBC iPlayer, The Woodlanders story is set within our district. In fact, Little Hintock is probably an amalgamation of two villages – Stockwood and Hermitage. It is the home of the main characters, and most of them were born there.

For interest here are other Hardy place names.

Hardy name Supposed place Hardy name Supposed place

Kings Hintock Melbury Osmond Great Hintock Minterne Magna Emminster Beaminster Stapleford Stalbridge Sherton Abbas Sherborne Casterbridge Dorchester Abbot’s Cernel Cerne Abbas Marshwood Middlemarsh Nether Moynton Owermoigne Mellstock Stinsford

Linda Carroll

Exceptional local service on the Heart of Wessex line

The Friends of Chetnole Halt were pleased to see this comment on our local rail service in a recent Times ‘Letters to the Editor’.

Chetnole and Stockwood Parish Council

The Annual Statutory Parish Council Meeting was held via Zoom on 12 May 2021. Hopefully, if the lockdown is lifted as planned, the next Parish Council Meeting will be held in the village hall on 12 July 2021 at 7.30pm.

We had three planning applications to review; two were approved, but there were a few objections raised against the third, which have been registered with Dorset Planning.

The defibrillator has been serviced and new batteries installed, with a life expectancy of five years. We need more people to be trained in the use of the machine; if anyone is interested in gaining this knowledge, please contact Sue Woodford for further information on the training available.

The rubber matting on the children’s play area is beginning to deteriorate and we have several quotations and options for improvement. It is hoped that the work will be completed this summer.

The goal post netting is falling apart in several places and will be replaced where necessary.

The Friends of Chetnole Halt (FOCH) are arranging for the installation of a bench on the platform. Unfortunately, there could be some structural difficulties, and they await GWR confirmation before proceeding. There is now a web page for Chetnole Halt on the Parish Council web site. It contains some interesting information and is well worth a read. The more support for the Halt the better. To aid visibility a new sign, “To the station”, will be located at the junction of the Batcombe and Stockwood roads.

Angelique McBride, of Farming Wildlife Advisory Group South West Ltd

(FWAG) has produced maps and aerial photographs of the upper Wriggle valley identifying the types, and proposed positions, of a number of measures to reduce the flow of water through Chetnole. We are now sending copies to the landowners concerned, inviting their opinion on the suggestions with a view to conducting site visits in early July.

Cllr Mary Penfold (DC) informed us that funds are available for community projects under the Community and Cultural Project Fund. For more information, please contact Sue Woodford at: clerk@chetnoleandstockwood-pc. gov.uk. We look forward to getting back into the village hall on 12 July.

Owen Pope Chetnole Roundel

By the time you read this, all finger posts in Chetnole will be complete again. Our thanks go to Dorset CPRE and the residents who gave donations to cover the cost of the two replacement roundels made by Bridport Foundry. Also to Ned K, for his ingenuity in adapting them to fit on the posts.

Gordon Ratcliffe