OTHER NEWS

Leigh Art Show

After all the uncertainty over the last year or so due to Covid 19, it has been decided to go ahead with the Leigh Art Show in October of this year. Set in the beautiful, thriving village of Leigh, in the Village Hall, the Art Show is a very popular biennial fixture in the Leigh calendar of events.

A range of artists, from professional to amateur, offer a wide variety of art such as pictures, sculptures and ceramics to exhibit and sell.

Leigh Art Show has always been and still is a charitable event and many local charities have benefitted over the years. Run entirely by volunteers, Leigh Art Show could not operate without their generous support.

Fresh coffee, tea, soft drinks and delicious cakes will be available for visitors to buy throughout the exhibition and the Chetnole Inn is just a mile away for anyone wishing to have a pub lunch.

The Show opens with a Preview event on Friday 22 October (6.00 – 8.00 pm) and the main show runs on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 October from 10.00am – 4.00pm both days. Address: Leigh Village Hall, Chetnole Road, Leigh DT9 6HL. Payments: cash, cheque and most cards.

Carole Little

The Story Pig

The Story Pig is a small but perfectly formed farm situated two miles from Sherborne at Sandford Orcas. Grown from nothing, James and Charlotte have built their herd of Tamworth pigs to over 350 now, they sell their free range

meat far and wide and have many local fans too. They supply The Newt and Hauser and Wirth and The Queens Arms in Corton Denham, some of the most prestigious places to eat in our area.

Their latest venture is to open their farm to the public, they have a new on-farm cafe in their beautiful new tipi. They also sell all their prime pork from there too. The cafe is open Thursday to Sunday, 10.00am–4.00pm. Everything is home baked by Charlotte, and she is becoming well known for her quite amazing baking.

Their cafe is surrounded by their cottage garden brimming with flowers and veg; just beyond this is their lavender area where 1000 lavender plants flow gently down the slope. Look up and you have quite the most incredible view while you sit and enjoy a coffee.

Their vision is to invite as many people as possible to share their view and to be able to buy the very best free range pork available anywhere, so if you are looking for a trip out, pop to Lavender Keepers, they hope to see you soon.

Bus Back Better

Dorset Council has launched a survey to find out how local bus services can be improved and what would make more people use them. The Council is working in partnership with bus operators, and other transport providers, to deliver improved services in response to the Government’s Bus Back Better – A National Bus Strategy for England. A critical part of this response is the development and submission of a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), and input from bus users is an important part of the plan.

Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for highways, travel and environment, said:

‘We are putting current and potential bus users at the heart of this improvement plan. We want to design a future bus network that is attractive for passengers, more affordable, simple to use, faster and more reliable, and greener. Your views will help us shape the future vision and priorities for the bus network in Dorset, so please take the time to complete the survey.’

Dorset Council wants to hear from both people who already use buses, and from those who currently do not to understand why they don’t. They also want to hear from public, private and voluntary organisations who have an interest in making our bus services work better.

Use this link to give comments and suggestions, as detailed and specific as possible: https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov. uk/2021/07/30/help-us-bus-back-better/

The Bus Service Improvement Plan will be published by 31 October. It will be further developed and updated annually.

Citizens Advice

Changes to the Dorset Council Housing Register

Are you listed on the Dorset Council waiting list for social housing? If so, you need to be aware of a very important change in the current system. Following the recent local government reorganisation, Dorset Council is changing how properties are allocated and how people should apply for housing. There will be a new Home Choice website from 4 October this year; anyone already on the list must reapply to join the Dorset Council Housing Register by 1 October.

To re-apply you will need to access the Dorset Council website to open a new account at https://www.dorsetcouncil. gov.uk/housing/housing/re-registrationprocess. Don’t delay as you must meet the 1 October deadline to keep your original registration date.

Properties will continue to be advertised on the current Council website until 1 October and then on the new website from 4 October, if you have re-applied and been assessed. New applicants for housing – anyone aged over 16 years – will now only be able to apply to join the Housing Register from 4 October this year.

You will need an email address to both re-apply and apply. Advice and support on this is available from the Dorset Council Digital Hotline 01305 221048 (Mon to Fri 10.00am – 12 noon). Advice about the Housing Register policy and process is available by email to: dorsetcouncilhomechoice@ dorsetcouncil.gov.uk or by phone on 01305 221739.

If you would like help with this or any other problem, contact Citizens Advice by telephoning our freephone Dorset Adviceline number on 0800 144 88 48 between 10.00am – 4.00pm Monday to Friday. Alternatively visit our website, www.centraldorsetca. org.uk, where you will find more information and contact details.

Dorset Accents

I joined the William Barnes Society a couple years ago. Barnes was a teacher and an academic and in later life, a vicar, and lived through the bulk of the 19th Century, dying at Came rectory in 1886 at the grand old age of 85. The Society aims to keep his memory alive and preserve the old Dorset dialect observed and recorded by him.

I’ve always been fascinated by regional accents and helping as I do at Lytes Cary and Montacute House, it’s wonderful to hear so many different ways of pronouncing the Queen’s English in one day, but for sheer pleasure I go back to Barnes’ writings and poems.

He was observing and writing in far more agricultural times than the present when, apart from the trades, the vast majority of men, women and their children would have worked on the land. This slow, steady agricultural way of life would have gone on virtually unchanged for centuries and Dorset was probably characterised by images of simple folk living a rustic way of life.

This dialect poem sums it up. It’s not by William Barnes but is very Barnesesque in style, and it always makes me smile. It is by Devina Symes and called ‘Darzet Volk’.

Zome think we Darzet volk be daft ‘Cos of the way we do zpeak. Well ‘tisn’t zoo, we cin read an’ write An’ we knows the days of the week.

We do know enough to get us by, An’ not enough to meake us depressed. We be ‘appy volk, content wi’ our lot, That’s mar than thee cin zay ver the rest.

We ‘ave no reason to veel evil minded, In Darzet there be beauty all around, Livin’ yere do meake thee veel good, No purdier place cin be vound.

No, we bain’t ashamed of what we be, We’m honest volk be choice, We do live our lives ver every day, An’ we’m proud of our Darzet voice.