Yetminster

YETMINSTER REP: Michaela and Graham Plaice: gplaice@gmail.com 872921

It IS the White Hart, not the Horse & Groom!

I must first offer my sincere apologies for misspelling Garth’s surname, which was Hentley not Huntley; if he had still been around, it would have cost me a beer! The Wriggle Valley Magazine team are desperately seeking an Editor. Kathryn, who has been an outstanding Editor, took over at a very difficult time, continuing in Bella’s footsteps to produce a great product for the community. The role of Editor is vital for the continuance of the magazine, and we are investigating all avenues to find a replacement.

Kathryn’s last issue will be the Jul/ Aug double edition. Please spread the word far and wide to see if somebody could step up and take over this role.

I thought I was seeing things when I read on Facebook that cows had been seen wandering in the vicinity of the Oak House Stores. What a shock to wake up the following morning to the national news reporting that several cows had been

killed on the railway line at Yetminster. The line to Weymouth and Bristol was blocked, with customers having to make alternative arrangements.

My sympathies go to everybody involved, especially to the farmer who lost his cows and to the people caught up in the accident.

My huge thanks to all the volunteer teams who have worked tirelessly to provide such a comprehensive programme of events to help celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I hope that the village gets behind these events and supports such a momentous occasion.

The next big gathering for the village will be the Yetminster Fair on Saturday 16 July. This should be a great event, involving a dog show, classic cars, and bikes on display as well as lots of stalls and a range of food drinks and entertainment. The proceeds of the show are distributed to groups and organisations around the village.

Please take the time and read the article on p31 by Julie Simpson, outlining her role in children’s mental health. A truly inspirational leader. Ellis reports from the White Hart: “We have at last seen enough sunshine and warm weather to put the external seating out at the front of the pub. Together with the new sunshades, this creates a real summertime feel. The two big planters have arrived from the Scout Troop which are now fully weather-proofed and look excellent on the rear sun trap trade patio. Many thanks for all involved to produce such substantial planters.

“Bakerman Dan has expanded the ever-popular menu and now has a very sophisticated new ice cream machine producing some super tasty new flavours. So, we are all set for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and look forward to being one of the core hubs over the days of the holiday.”

Finally, the Yetminster Community Project Team put on a fantastic quiz night in support of St. Andrew’s Church. The event was a sell-out. It was wonderful to see so many people from the village and surrounding area turn out – it seemed like there was life after COVID-19 after all.

Michaela and Graham Plaice

Coffee, Cake and Chat

Tuesday 7 June 2.30-4.00pm in the village hall is a Jubilee special. We will have cream teas and a pianist playing music for us whilst we enjoy eating them. Please wear a decorated hat – Jubilee themed – winner for the best one. We will still be collecting for the food bank, so any dry food/toiletries gratefully received.

July’s Coffee, Cake and Chat at Yetminster Village Hall is Tuesday 5 July 2.30-4.00pm, we look forward to seeing everyone, all welcome.

Angela and Grace

St. Andrew’s Church

Happy June, and what a month this promises to be with the Jubilee celebrations. There’s been a lot of planning going on and we all hope everyone’s hard work will prove to be a success. It poured down on the Queen’s Coronation Day in 1953 (hate to say but I can just about remember it!) and we hope the weather will be kinder this time.

St. Andrews will be decked with flowers over the Jubilee weekend so do come and enjoy them. There will be the special Jubilee Service at 10.00am on 5 June with some of the Coronation music and it would be brilliant to have a full church to mark the occasion. We hope very much to be able to sound the National Anthem on the carillon but the mechanical problems with the clock are still ongoing, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

The other church services in the month will follow the normal pattern: 12 June – popular informal service at St. Andrew’s School, 9.30am for chat, coffee and croissants: service 10.00am 19 June – Holy Communion 10.00am 26 June – our lovely quietist Book of Common Prayer Evensong at 6.00pm.

It would be grand to welcome new friends to these services.

Sadly, we said goodbye to two of our friends in May and funeral services were held for Brian and Margaret. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to all their family and friends as well as to all people who are going through a bereavement.

Last month we also had to say goodbye to Liz and Richard Kirlew who have retired and are leaving Holwell Rectory to live in the Chinnocks. Many will know Richard’s towering ‘six foot something’ presence and will know Liz from her work at the Surgery. They will both be very much missed, and we wish them well in their new adventures. I’m sure we will see them from time to time and Richard will still need his wellies, continuing to be very involved with his agricultural ministry.

Very heartening to see a Ukrainian flag flying over St. Andrews – I hope it will be a symbol for our country’s innate sense of fairness and outrage at wanton despoilment.

Ukraine is nearer home of course but we should also remember the peoples in Syria and Yemen and in all other conflict zones.

Finally, usual thanks to all the people who contribute in whatever capacity to help make our village a pleasant and welcoming place to live.

Churchwarden Geoff

Churchwarden.yet@gmail.com

Some of you will be aware that since January this year, I have been seconded to work for the Anna Freud Centre, a large organisation that focuses on children and young people’s mental health. I continue to lead the school as the Head Teacher and work closely with Mrs Anna Hedges, Head of School, to ensure the continued, excellent provision, recognised in our recent Ofsted inspection.

The Department for Education announced that every school must have a Senior Mental Health Lead by 2025. The Anna Freud Centre has been commissioned to design and deliver the training for this role, to schools across the country; thus, I train school leaders to understand the role of Senior Mental Health Lead and to promote a cultural change in our schools.

I have been championing better support for our children’s mental health since 2010 but over the last decade we have seen a significant decline in children’s emotional wellbeing. I believe there are several reasons for this deterioration, including reduced face-to-face interaction with their friends, with a dependency on virtual friendships and increased pressure and influence from social media. Reduced access to the outdoors and biophilia and increased pressure from schools and colleges/universities are also factors. I could go on…

It is a tragedy that suicide is the largest killer of men under the age of 45 in this country. Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2019 there were 5,691 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 18 suicides per day.

I believe that we have a responsibility in schools to create environments that effectively support our children’s mental health. Children and young people need to understand how to take care of their mental health, in the same way as we educate them about healthy eating and exercise. If we can identify potential poor mental health at an early stage, we can help to prevent children and young people reaching crisis point. Our mental health services do not have the capacity to cope with the number of referrals they receive each day. By raising the awareness of school staff to be able to step in early, we can reduce the need for referrals to specialist services and equip children with the tools they need to take care of themselves.

We are not expecting school staff to become mental health practitioners, we are educationalists. However, we can step up and educate ourselves to be vigilant and observant. We can learn how to respond with empathy to our most vulnerable children, who do not have the ability to manage their emotions due to early childhood trauma.

Education is an ever-changing landscape – we must adapt and respond to the needs of our children and young people in this fast-changing world. Mental health is everybody’s responsibility.

“A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support”.

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge

Patron of The Anna Freud Centre

Julie Simpson

St. Andrew’s Primary School

Yetminster & Ryme Walking Group

We keep saying this but we have been so lucky with the weather and our walks. Our April walk was from Montacute village west towards Odcombe, around a bowl with great views of the village.

Then into Hedgecock Hill woods towards Ham Hill and returning through Abbey Farm, with their stunning espalier crab apple trees. The Kings Arms was a popular lunch stop for many of the walkers.

On Easter Saturday we had a fun afternoon organising a Treasure Hunt around the village, a real family day out. Daf Barfoot made up 40 questions, making everyone really look and observe house names and sites. There were also pictures of Easter eggs with letters on, making up a word connected with maps and walking. This certainly brought out the competitiveness of many villagers!

The final results showed there were five winners, Easter eggs for all; there were creme eggs for everyone that completed the Treasure Hunt.

We are waiting for the Dorset Council Ranger team to put up new gates instead of stiles, which hopefully will be in place by the Jubilee Walk on Thursday 2 June, 2.00pm starting at the pub. Future walks are being organised; the June walk is from Batcombe Hill car park.

If you have any requests or suggestions, please don`t hesitate to contact us on yetpaths@gmail.com or Sara on 07773782052.

Yetminster Fair Association 50/50 Club draw

MAY 2022 WINNERS

1st prize of £50 No. 01 Mrs L Clothier 2nd prize of £30 No. 30 Mr J Ferretter 3rd prize of £20 No. 60 Mrs G Orton

Dorset Moviola In association with Yetminster Film Nights

presents

DEATH ON THE NILE (12A)

Tuesday 7TH June 7.30

Based on the 1937 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie this is a classic ‘whodunnit’ set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids. A glamorous setting and an all-star cast – pure escapism.

Jubilee Hall, Doors Open 7.00 pm Tickets £6 available from the Spar Shop, Yetminster, or on the door.

Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council

Chairman’s Notes – April Meeting

Much of the April meeting was taken up with discussions about the forthcoming Jubilee celebrations. Although there are restrictions on how the money can be spent, the Parish Council voted to support the events being held in Yetminster and the Beacon event being held in Ryme Intrinseca on Thursday 2 June.

We would like to thank all those people who have contributed to organising the events and trust that you will support them and help to make it a memorable four days. The funs starts on Thursday 2 June with a Jubilee walk at 2.30pm and the Beacons at St. Andrew’s Church and Ryme Intrinseca at 9.30pm.

On Friday there is a family Treasure Hunt at 2.00pm at the Old School Gallery and then on Saturday there is a family fun day and It’s a Knockout at the Sports Club. It’s not too late to enter a team by sending an email to ycsc@btinternet.com or you can just turn up to enjoy a picnic on the pitch and enjoy music from JBass.

On Sunday, following a special Jubilee celebration at St. Andrew’s Church at 10.00am, is the Big Lunch at 1.00pm when the whole village can come together to celebrate this unique occasion. Bring your own food and chairs and stay on until the evening to enjoy the music of the Fat Marrow Band.

There were several good news stories to report. The Neighbourhood Plan was considered by Dorset Council on 5 April and was formally adopted. Last year the YRIPC petitioned Dorset Council’s Place and Resources Overview Committee over the community’s concerns about excessive speeds on the roads through our villages. It has now been decided that the criteria for 20mph limits will be revised, meaning that communities can apply to impose new speed limits if they can meet three of the four threshold criteria. We are also pleased that the extension of the 30mph limit on Thornford Road has now reached the consultation stage and, with no objections, will become reality soon.

Not so good news is the continued leaking of untreated sewage in Brister End and Brierley Hay during periods of excessive rain, which has not been resolved despite remedial work undertaken by Wessex Water. The Parish Council will continue our communications with Wessex Water and the Environment Agency to push for further action.

The Financial Subgroup considered the report prepared by the Acting Responsible Finance Officer (RFO) and was pleased to note that the Cashbook correctly reflects the various financial transactions as verified by the monthly bank statements. It was recognised that a lack of continuity with RFOs had possibly resulted in an inconsistent approach, which may explain the discrepancy in the End of Year Budget Reconciliation; that this will be remedied before the main audit in June was reassuring.

To ensure impartiality over the planning application to construct a replacement Scout Hut, the Parish Council asked Dorset Planning Consultancy to review the application. Their finding was that the application complied with the Neighbourhood Plan and that it should be approved, with the proviso that a Flood Prevention scheme is provided.

Andy Perlejewski

Chairman of Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council

Best visit ever?

The consensus on our visit to Halswell (pron. Hazwell) House in Somerset was that this was possibly our best visit to date. It wasn’t just the lunch provided on our arrival or the wine and nibbles before we left (thank goodness for the coach), I am sure. Assisted by excellent and informed guides, Anne and Oxana, we saw in detail what is involved in restoring a Grade I listed historic house.

After our lunch under the gaze of a fine art collection, Anne provided a brief history of the house and the families who had lived there. Although the house is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, the history of ownership is rather blurred until the C.16th when Robert Halswell built the Tudor house which is now a wing of the building we see today. By a series of advantageous marriages, usually by a daughter whenever the succession of direct male heirs ran out, the estate expanded in size and wealth, and the C.17th and C.18th wings were added.

Come the C.20th there was a huge fire in 1923 which gutted the whole interior, although much of the furniture and paintings were saved. Most of today’s interiors are 1923+ re-creations carefully copied from contemporary drawings. In the 1950s the family sold the estate. From 1993 to 2003 the property stood empty except for a caretaker, when a developer bought it to use as an events location but went bankrupt in 2010. Empty again, it was bought in 2014 by Edward Strachan, businessman and art collector who, working with Historic England, set about its complete restoration as a ‘hobby’.

Our guided tour of the building exterior revealed the huge structural problems being dealt with. The fire and patching work by different owners had caused water ingress, damp and rotting. Inappropriate plasterings had been stripped away to allow view and repair of the walls. The original Tudor house stood out clearly. Having done the outside we then toured the inside which was a complete maze as the original houses had been built into each other like giant Lego. Again, everything stripped back, revealing timbers, joists and bare brickwork. Some rooms had now been restored completely with their coverings of Chinese silk wallpapers. Finally, onto the roof with panoramic views of Somerset, the Bristol Channel and Wales in the distance.

Some hobby!

Next Event: 8 June 2022, to Shaftesbury Abbey & Museum. For further information on visits or booking, contact us at yetminster8@ gmail.com