Yetminster

Stepping out into Church Street on early mornings has been like stepping through a time warp. The tap, tap, tapping of metal against stone coming from the tower of St. Andrew’s Church – often the only sound to be heard – must be how it was in the Middle Ages when churches could take a hundred years to build. A stonemason quite literally could have a job for life. Looking up at the tower one could imagine the scaffolding of wooden poles secured with ropes. No metal secured with clamps. No visi-vests. No hard hats. No health and safety: if you fell off or were hit by falling masonry it would have been “the will of God”. One morning someone turned on a power tool and the fantasy disappeared.

Back in the real world of the roads and paths of today’s Yetminster I came across another dog walker picking up the you know what. However it was not the deposits of her own dog. She was clearing up after other careless dog owners. While I have every admiration for this lady’s community spirit, isn’t it a shame that she had to do such a thing? Come on you anti-social dog owners have sense of pride in the village. Bag it and bin it, as the notices say.

If you haven’t completed it yet, don’t forget the Neighbourhood Plan Survey. You have till 19 October to submit your views. The Government is looking at Planning laws again but approved neighbourhood plans will be taken into consideration. This survey is a vital step

St. Andrew’s clock tower

on the path to approval.

David Torrance is standing down from the Parish Council. (It’s hidden there in the report on p.34.) He has done sterling work over the years for the

community both as councillor and Chair. His departure should not pass without a sincere thank you for all that hard work.

Quite by co-incidence I too am stepping down – not from the council(!) but from this post as Yetminster Rep for the Wriggle Valley Magazine. I have really enjoyed writing this piece. Your feedback via phone, email or just stopping me is the street has been terrific. But now it’s time to pass on the baton. Taking over from next month will be Graham and Michaela Plaice. So it’s goodbye from me, and hello to Graham and Michaela (contactable on 01935 872921 or gplaice@gmail.com)

John Ferretter

The Yetminster & Ryme Intrinseca Neighbourhood Plan TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Hopefully, you will have recieved the consultation pack and have either read and already commented on the plan, or are about to, as it is essential that we get it right and we need your feedback to do this!

Please use the online questionnaire at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YRINP-Reg14 if you do not feel confident in using this then you can also use the paper copy of the form in your pack which you can complete and “post” back to us using one of our four posting boxes.

Should you not have received the consultation “pack” then please contact the Clerk to the Council and you will be sent one – tel: 01935 83915 email: yetminster@dorset-aptc.gov.uk

Don’t forget that details of the consultation process and the Plan itself are available online at yrinp.net and at yetminsterparishes.gov.uk. As we don’t all have access to the internet, or if you are unable to get to any of the above for some reason, then please contact Jodie Carter, the Parish Clerk ( tel: 01935 83915 email: yetminster@dorset-aptc. gov.uk) and we will arrange for a copy of the plan to be sent to you on loan although numbers are limited due to the need to quarantine the documents on their return. YRIPC NP Working Group

The Consultation started on 7 September and lasts until 19 October so please respond as soon as you can

Yetminster & Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council Chairman's Notes – September Meeting

This was a busy and important meeting and it was good to have several members of the community in attendance.

DC Councillor Penfold provided a helpful update which included the intention by Dorset Council to purchase and install a number of electric vehicle charging points. The need for these is something that is identified and encouraged within the Neighbourhood Plan both for new and existing developments and it is reassuring that we appear to be on the right track with this.

We are awaiting a date for the installation of the refurbished Ryme Intrinseca signpost and we have placed the order for the replacement of the fencing to Boyles path. We are also awaiting delivery of the new allotment notice board so that we can better communicate with the allotment holders 33

and are in discussion with the Friends of Yetminster Station over signage to emphasise where the station is. The path from the railway bridge to the Millennium Woods is in poor condition and we are also looking at how this can be improved as we have been granted funding from Dorset Council.

Central government is proposing changes to the planning system based on a new three categories zonal approach – Growth areas suitable for substantial development, Renewal areas suitable for development, and areas that are Protected. The White Paper recognises that Neighbourhood Plans should be retained as an important means of community input and it is clearly important that we get ours approved so do please read the plan and let us have your comments before 19 October.

Following the audit of the Council’s finances for 2019/2020 it is proposed that the Financial Subgroup meet with the Clerk / RFO as a matter of urgency to review this and propose a plan of action to include regular joint reviews and approvals and for this to be brought to the next meeting.

We were able to agree the cost of the installation of two new notice boards for Yetminster and the relocation of the existing board to Ryme Intrinseca the intention being that one of the boards in each village will be available to the community and the necessary permissions are now being sought.

The Hamcrate Working Group will be meeting to review and implement the results of the recent survey of the Allotment Holders and we have taken on board a suggestion to invite an allotment user to join the working group and will be seeking nominees for this.

Having been a councillor for a number 34 of years I have decided to stand down from Council duties and we have elected Cllr Perlejewski as Chairman and he will be assisted by Cllr Hughes as Vice Chairman. Both are experienced Councillors and I am sure that the Parish Council will only benefit from their new roles. Because of his involvement with the Hamcrate Community Sports Club the new Chairman will not be involved in decisions relating to the Club and Sports field although his views as the tenant are obviously likely to be sought.

We have had several enquiries about the possibility of utilising the Community Asset procedure should the circumstances with the White Hart change. Having spoken to the planning department at Dorset Council we appear to have received conflicting advice on these which we are endeavouring to clarify, and we will obviously want to discuss any changes with the owners. We continue to receive feedback on the footpaths for which we are grateful, and we hope to meet the Highways Officer informally to discuss the need for signs to alert drivers to potential horse riders.

I would like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm, help and support over the last year and express best wishes to the new Chairman, Vice Chairman and the members and the Clerk for the future.

David Torrance

Outgoing Chairman YRIPC

October at St Andrews..... and Harvest time!

How fast the year flies by! October brings in the Harvest and a carnival of colour. Our Harvest Sunday service will now take place on Sunday 18 October at 10.30am. This may well be outside, weather permitting, with more updates to follow in the weekly round robins. October hopefully restarts our regular weekly service schedules, see page.... and also on the website at threevalleysteam.org. At St Andrews this will be as follows: 1st Sunday 10.30 am HC 2nd Sunday 09.00 am HC (BCP) 09.30 am approx, Breakfast 10.00 am Second Sunday Worship 3rd Sunday 10.30 am HC 4th Sunday 10.30 am HC (CW) Please note it is now a legal requirement to wear a face mask in church, however if you have a medical condition which exempts you, just let the Sidesmen know as you come in.

We are also required to keep a list of those attending for 21 days, so please let us know beforehand if you are planning on attending.

Hopefully these rules and regs won’t last for ever. After each service the church will be closed for three days for cleaning; details for personal prayer will be updated in the weekly round robin.

Looking ahead: our Remembrance Sunday service will be held on Sunday 8 November. This will be held outside, possibly in the Hall car park, to accommodate numbers with social distancing rules, so do bring warm coats and brollies!

Carols at St Andrews..... keep the date: Sunday 13 December at 4.30pm

As always we are indebted to the help given so willingly by so many volunteers, many of whom are reaching retirement age and well beyond! We always need younger arms, backs and brains, so please let me know if you can offer your help, inside or outside the church or by joining us on the PCC.

With my best wishes,

Churchwarden Clare

churchwarden.yet@gmail.com

St Andrew’s CE Primary School

Happily, all children and staff returned to school at the beginning of September for a new academic year. For many children this was the first time they had seen their friends and teachers in a long time. We are currently focused on settling the children back into their daily routine and supporting where they feel anxious or worried.

It is very difficult for school leaders, at the moment who are trying to make informed decisions on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the guidance from the ‘Department for Education’ is conflicting and therefore, unhelpful. At this time of

the year, many children have mild colds and sniffles – I worry that the absence rates will be very high because parents are worried that their children may have COVID-19 and keep them at home.

Many colleagues share that they feel a significant responsibility to keep all children and staff safe and well in very uncertain times.

The Big Hug

Over the summer term, work continued on The Big Hug, which is now in full bloom. The outdoor tables are now complete and the pond is occupied by a variety of little beasties. We received some very helpful material from Malcom Wemyss, a resident of Yetminster who is a butterfly expert. Malcom very kindly visited the site and produced a report for the school. He also produced a butterfly watch guide for the children to use when they are in the Hug.

It will be very interesting to see if there is an increase in the number of visiting butterflies because of the Hug. I would like to thank Malcom for volunteering and contributing his time and expertise.

We received a very generous donation from Mrs Tessa Hill to buy a fruit tree for the Hug. I would like to thank Tessa for her ongoing support for the project and for taking such an interest in our school. 36

On Sunday 11 October, we are hoping to host the ‘Second Sunday’ worship in the school hall. If you would like to attend the worship, please contact Rev George Moody on the Three Valleys Benefice website. It would be lovely if some of our children were able to participate in the worship with the wider community.

Many Blessings

Julie Simpson

50/50 Club SEPTEMBER 2020 "Bumper Draw"

1st prize£100 2nd prize 3rd prize 4th prize £50 £30 £20 No.51 Mr M Fuller No.40 Mr D Walton No.16 Mr A Rolls No.30 Mr J Ferretter

Want to join? – forms available at http://yetminsterparishes.gov. uk/a-z/yetminster-fair-association

The Association raises money for local organisations and is nonprofit making and run entirely with voluntary support yetminsterfair@aol.com

St Andrew’s Bells and Clock

St Andrew’s has an ancient ring of five bells, with the largest, the Tenor, weighing in at about 19 cwt (965 kg). A final bell to complete a ring of six, the Treble weighing in at about 6cwt (305 kg), was added in 1937.

The bells are located in the bell chamber just below the tower roof, the louvred windows allowing the sound to come out. They are rung from the chamber above the vestry and like all instruments, they need to be played regularly so as well as an enthusiastic (if small) band of local ringers, the tower is used by visiting bands.

The oldest bell is pre-Reformation. The church tower dates from about 1470, so could this have been the original bell that called people to mass? It always amazes to think how a piece of metal about a metre in diameter and weighing half a ton could be made, transported and lifted into place 15m or so in the air. Not so easy today, but then, without any modern equipment, it must have been a real mission. And it’s still there and doing its job 500 or so years later.

St Andrew’s Bells Weight Diameter The tuning of the 3rd and 4th bells seem to give a real dissonance!

St Andrew’s clock was made by Thomas Bartholomew in 1682 and was one of the first that he made. In about 1670, he had set up business in Sherborne as a clockmaker, whitesmith and blacksmith. The first records of the family appear in the Sherborne church records for 1674 with the baptism of Thomas, son of Thomas and Anne.

Thomas and Anne, had a large family – 19 children. They continued as clockmakers in Sherborne for three or four generations; the last was Josiah who died in 1792.

Thomas’ name is commemorated on a small brass plate attached to the clock, along with the names of the three churchwardens who commissioned him to make it, the rather wonderfully spelt Binjamin Coomes, Thomas Stone and appropriately named William Bishop.

The clock was made by hand, all the gears and wheels would have been planned, marked out and cut by hand in Thomas’ workshop (remember he was also a blacksmith !) but he set his new

Bell Treble

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

Tenor

Tuned

C# B A G#

F# E UK kg ft : in

6.0.18 7.2.0 8.1.0 10.2.0

14.3.0 19.0.0 305 356 407 509 2’7” 2’10” 2’11” 3’2”

713 965 3’6” 3’11” cm

78.7 86.4 90.2 97.2

107.9 120.7

Cast

1937 1610 1595 Pre 1540 1665 1608

Notes

Recast 1889 For comparison, the Tenor bell in Sherborne Abbey weighs about 2350kg. It takes four beefy ringers to raise the bell from rest 37

creation into a frame from a much earlier clock from around 1600. There are no records to show whether this earlier clock was in Yetminster tower if it was or obtained from elsewhere.

Due to its age, the old frame would probably have held a verge and foliot movement as the much more accurate pendulum movement invented by Christopher Huygens was not around till about 1656. Despite the turbulent times in England in the 17th century, it is remarkable how new cutting-edge clock technology from the Netherlands caught on so rapidly, but by 1682, Thomas Bartholomew, was able to use it for Yetminster and to make a clock so well that it is still working satisfactorily nearly 350 years later.

The old frame of around 1600 is finely decorated and proportioned and its joints accurately constructed to give it the rigidity required for the clock to work accurately. Thomas Bartholomew added relatively heavy straps to the frame to support the weighty mechanism, secured by hand-made nuts and bolts. Rather old photograph of the 1682 clock. You can see the winding mechanisms and where the winding key fitted

There are two trains, “the going motion”, controlled by the pendulum and “the strike”; which triggers the chiming mechanism. These mechanisms are driven by weights and until 1986 when

Note the church clock has no face

the clock was restored, they were hand wound daily by the Sexton with a large key, rather like a lock gate key. This must have been a real chore, extremely heavy work to lift the lead weights on ropes from the church floor below, having first had to climb 57 steps up the spiral staircase! Nowadays, the clock guardians have it easy, the weights are raised by electric motors although they still have to climb the stairs. The motors sometimes have a mind of their own, and not being mechanical, there is little the guardians can do if they go wrong other than phone the maintenance firm in London.

There is also the chiming apparatus, the carillon, operating on five of the bells through a system of wires and pulleys which plays the National Anthem at 3, 6,

9 and 12 o’ clock (at night as well!)

The carillon mechanism. You can see the pins that engage the levers. These are linked to the bells through a series of wires and pulleys

It was added in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. There may have been some kind of carillon before this, maybe made of wood, similar to the one at East Coker, as the mechanism that triggers the carillon appears very much to be a part of the 1682 clock. There is no record of what it played though. The inscription plate records that it was gifted by Arthur Williams of Hill House but does not mention a ‘replacement’ so if indeed there had been a previous carillon, it may have fallen into disrepair.

‘God Save The King’ was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, which came to be known as the National Anthem at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In September 1745 the ‘Young Pretender’ to the British throne, Charles Edward Stuart, defeated George II’s army at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh and in a fit of patriotic fervour after the news had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged ‘God Save The King’ for performance after a play. It was a tremendous success and was repeated nightly and the practice soon spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting monarchs with the song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was thus established. There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used.

The manufacturers were clever to fit the tune onto only five bells and when you listen, you can spot where the tune has been altered slightly to fit the notes available. The tune has been borrowed extensively, and around 140 composers including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, have used it in their compositions.

But more locally, apparently according to legend, one day, Bob Walker, the then Yetminster and Sherborne town crier moved into a cottage near the church and having had a long day was about to go to bed when the National Anthem struck up. “Good God,” he said, “do I have to stand to attention every night before I go to bed ?”

Two village volunteers help maintain the clock - presently it gains about 10 seconds a day although this can vary a bit with the weather and the state of the barometer (and seemingly whether there’s an ‘r’ in the month). The clock can be regulated by altering the length of the pendulum, but it is a very coarse adjustment and we don’t think 10 seconds a day is bad after 340 years !

Brian Rowsell and Geoff Goater

We are indebted to the notes about the clock in the Trebles Going series by Gordon Rendell for much of the information.

Coffee and cake

Many thanks to everybody that supported the reopening of coffee and cake in September it was a great success and enjoyed by everyone who attended. We look forward to seeing you all again on Wednesday 7 October 10am–12noon when we will be raising money for Macmillan and running a raffle too. If you would like to donate a

prize we would be very grateful but will need these in advance so please get in contact with Angela on 07455102247 to arrange drop off. Unfortunately we will be unable to accept any prizes given

Brownies and Rainbows Are Back!

We are delighted to say that Rainbows & Brownies will be able to meet again indoors from the 24 September 2020, subject to arrangements with the Jubilee Hall and meeting the Government and England National Youth Agency criteria for youth organisations. Numbers are limited to 15 young members plus an appropriate number of leaders and it has been confirmed that the new limit of six will not apply to youth organisations.

We will initially operate each unit on alternate weeks – giving ourselves a chance to make sure we have everything in place to operate safely. We normally meet in Yetminster on Thursday evenings in on the day due to COVID guidelines.

Thank you once again for your

Grace Barnett and Angela Alston

continued support. 40

during term time between 5.45 and 7 pm.

If your daughter is aged between five and seven we would be delighted to welcome her into our Rainbow unit; and if she is aged between seven and 10, she would go to the Brownies.

Just at the moment, while numbers are more limited than normal, there may be a short waiting list. However, spaces will come available and when restrictions are lifted, we will be able to take our normal numbers, so if you think your daughter would like to join us please get in touch.

For both units and other options in the Sherborne area – please go to www. girlguiding.org.uk and click on Information for Parents, Register your Daughter.

Caroline Cornelius

Rainbow and Brownie Leader

Congratulations Tilly Gets Gold (Again!)

At the beginning of September, we held a Backwoods Cooking and Whittling Day in the woods and were very very pleased to surprise one of our Guides, Tilly, with the presentation of her Guide Gold Award by our North Dorset Division Commissioner, Sarah Fricker.

The Gold Award is the highest award achievable in the Guide section and although Tilly completed her award shortly before the lockdown, sadly plans for a big celebration are on hold. Tilly has also completed her Chief Scout’s Gold Award as a member of Yetminster Scouts – a fantastic achievement for which she worked really hard and showed dedication to both organisations – we are really proud of her! Meanwhile, back in the woods…. The Guides tried whittling carrot whistles – there was no waste as they made a great snack! A rather more tricky task was cutting the wood and whittling the parts for the three legged stool shown here. Massive thanks to our Brownie leader Fiona for helping with this activity.

And the baked beans on that plate are not Heinz – the girls had to make up their own recipes and cook without normal utensils. One of the Guides made her very own baked beans from scratch using haricot beans and a number of other secret ingredients; she cooked them in one of the empty tins over the fire and accompanied them with a chicken and vegetable kebab using a whittled hazel ‘kebab stick’. Her friend made baked salmon with avocado. All followed by a banana split cooked in foil in the embers …better than a packed lunch any day.

If you daughter would like to join in the fun, we have a few spaces in both Guide (aged 10–14) and Ranger (aged 14–18) sections and would be delighted to welcome new members – please go to www.girlguiding.org.uk and click on Information for Parents, Register your Daughter, for details of these units and others in the Sherborne area.

Angela Orton

Guide and Ranger Leader