A glorious 60 years of flower arranging

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11 October 2024

Sturminster Newton Floral Group are this year celebrating their 60th anniversary. To commemorate this event, the group invited international flower arranging judge and demonstrator Michael Bowyer to create several stunning flower arrangements. The Club also provided a delicious afternoon tea for the occasion, with a stunning 60th anniversary cake accompanied by a glass of fizz.
The Floral Group is a member of the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies (NAFAS) and the chairman of the Dorset area was able to attend the event, as well as past members of the club. Sandy Milne, chairman of the Sturminster Newton Floral Group, says: ‘The afternoon was a great success and will go down as a day to remember.
‘One or two ladies in the club have been members for more than 30 years: during that time members have competed at the Chelsea and Malvern Flower Shows. The Club has a wealth of memorabilia recalling the success of flower arranging shows held in Sturminster Newton over the years.
‘We have seen the fashions in flower arranging change, and more recently the impact that using less oasis – floral foam – to hold the plant material in place, because of environmental issues, has had. Styles have returned to the methods used prior to foam being invented – that of crumpled chicken wire and pin holders.
‘As a member of NAFAS there are always events taking place in our area that the group can attend, including flower arranging demonstrations, workshops, our annual Christmas celebrations and our Area Show – where the competitive classes demonstrate the wonderful designs that can be created with flowers.’
The group meet at 2pm on the second Wednesday of each month in The Royal British Legion Hall in Marnhull, and warmly welcome visitors to attend (admission to non-members is £7). Meetings vary from flower arranging demonstrations by local and national demonstrators, workshops with guidance on the best ways to make the most of shop-bought and garden flowers, flower-related talks or have-a-go crafts with a flower theme.

For more information see here, or contact Sandy on [email protected]

Settling in and stepping up

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Editorial team

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11 October 2024

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With a fresh start as part of the Fox-Pitt eventing team, Jess Rimmer has had a month of change, but is excited for a new chapter

Jess Rimmer with Max (Mr Mister) all images Courtenay Hitchcock

September has been an exciting month for Team Rimmer. Having achieved a first class honours degree in Biochemistry, I decided to put it to good use (not!) and take the next big step in pursuing my eventing career.
Fontmell Parva has been my home for as long as I can remember, and I owe so much to both the place and the people for getting me to where I am today. But, as with any career, progression is natural and it was time for a change. A few weeks ago we made the move to Hinton St Mary, thrilled to be joining the Fox-Pitt eventing team.
I have been trained by William since my teenage years, and with his recent shift towards teaching since retiring from top-level competition, the move made total sense – helped hugely by the support of my very generous owners, and of course my family.

Elsa (Lisnaught Lady Cruise, left) getting to know her neighbour George, one of William Fox-Pitt’s horses
All images: Courtenay Hitchcock

New home, new routines
As you’d imagine, moving five horses, all their kit and all of mine (and yes, I took both lorries too!) was no mean feat. Between mum, Lily and me, we managed to get all settled in with just a few short trips. I was grateful we were literally only moving 15 minutes down the road and not three hours away!

“What have you got in your hand?’ says George

I’m trying to embrace my tidy side (I’m still not sure it actually exists) as I organise my new tack room … but hey, at least everything is in the same place!
Elsa, Max, Jimmy, Henry and Mattie have all settled in beautifully, and they’ve adjusted to the new routine very quickly.

Jess with Max in their new digs at the Fox-Pitt Eventing yard in Hinton St Mary

This month, Max – one of Jess’s ‘young guns’ – will be competing at Swalcliffe Park and Bovington

We’ve been here for a month already, and we are absolutely loving it! I’m living in the on-site accommodation otherwise known as The Lodge with four other girls, who come from all over the world, all with different horsey backgrounds. It’s so interesting chatting with them about the similarities – and differences – in the ways we’ve all grown up with horses.
Although the work days are busy, there is a real sense of camaraderie and I’ve felt part of the team since day one. We all muck in and help each other, whether it’s yard work, riding or deciding which outfit to take on holiday! The working environment is great, and combining that with the fantastic training opportunities and facilities it feels like a real honour to be here, learning from world-class people in a world-class environment.

Season’s end
As far as actual eventing is concerned, I have been totally preoccupied with our big move, and I can’t really believe how quickly the end of the season is creeping up on us.
We have one final push with the three 3* horses (Mattie, Elsa and Henry) as they aim for Bicton International at the end of the month, while the ‘young guns’ Max and Jimmy aim for Swalcliffe Park mid-month and Bovington the following weekend as their final runs … Great British weather permitting, as always!
I’m looking forward to putting some of my new training to good use, although I do have to keep reminding myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Regardless of how the season ends, I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the Fox-Pitt team – I am SO excited for what’s to come.

Dorset Chamber Raises Concerns Over Employment Rights Bill

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Editorial team

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10 October 2024

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The Employment Rights Bill, which introduces significant changes to UK labour law, has garnered both support and concern from businesses in Dorset. Key elements of the bill include a ban on exploitative zero-hours contracts and the practice of “fire and rehire.” From the first day of employment, workers will gain protection from unfair dismissal, access to statutory sick pay, and entitlements such as parental and bereavement leave. The reforms also seek to enhance flexible working, improve protections for pregnant workers, and ensure compliance with holiday pay regulations through a new Fair Work Agency.

Dorset Chamber chief executive Ian Girling said: “This bill represents the biggest shake-up of employment rights in a generation. We understand the need for legislation to protect the rights of employees and ensure that they are all treated with respect and care in the workplace. However, employers in Dorset have concerns about how these measures would be implemented and the potentially damaging impact that they could have on their businesses, particularly in terms of day one rights.”

He added, “The new laws must achieve a fair balance that provides the right support for employees while encouraging businesses to recruit and allowing them to grow. We have been lobbying our local MPs and working with the British Chambers of Commerce, and will continue to make Dorset’s voice heard during the consultation process and passage of the bill.”

For more information, visit the Government’s Employment Rights Bill page

A Little Bit of The Script’s the Thing

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Editorial team

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10 October 2024

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On the 16th October 7.30pm, in a special free spin-off evening to the Dorset Scriptwriting Festival, writers and anyone interested in scriptwriting can enjoy work by local scriptwriters Sue Ashby and Craig White, delivered by their chosen actors, alongside film contributions from actors, playwrights and directors including Mark Rylance, Patrick Marber and Beth Flintoff. The evening will also feature a Q&A with festival director Ed Viney, where you can find out more about the next Dorset Scriptwriting festival in 2025, and how you can be involved.
The Exchange is hosting this event in partnership with Artsreach and Dorchester Arts Centre, and the event is free to attend, though booking is advised and donations to The Exchange will be welcomed.
The Bibbern Gallery Bar – currently showing a photographic look at Dorset landscape and wildlife by Marilyn Peddle – will be open from 6.30pm and for discussion after the programmed event.
Further information is available by contacting The Exchange on 01258 475137, or by visiting the Exchange website.

Turk(ish)
The next Artsreach event at The Exchange is an empowering autobiographical show by contemporary circus artist Poppy Plowman, on 29th November, with a tightwire workshop session available on the same day. The Exchange is immensely grateful to William Fox-Pitt and Alice Plunkett for a fascinating illustrated conversation about a glittering career in eventing presented to a large and enthusiastic audience, all for the benefit of The Exchange. The next fundraising event will be a Quiz on 24th October – why not get a team together and give it a go.
stur-exchange.co.uk/whats-on

RBL raises more than £2k at Cheese Fest

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Editorial team

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10 October 2024

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Some of the team manning the RBL stall at the Cheese Festival

The Sturminster Newton Royal British Legion branch, ably led by Poppy Appeal Organisers Tracy and Anthony Walsh, were provided with a charity pitch at the Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival.
Over the two days they sold raffle tickets for a wide range of prizes, including a very special bottle of gin dedicated to the Special Boat Service that had a commando dagger in the neck rather than a cork!
Alongside the raffle there was a Name The Teddy competition for the children to win one of two bears, plus lots of poppy merchandise available for a donation to the Poppy Appeal.
Over the two days the group raised a total of £2,473.11. Branch chairman Trevor Legg says: ‘It’s an amazing sum. We must send huge thanks to everyone who came over and said hello, and who contributed by buying tickets or donating. Without you we would have had nothing! Secondly, we thank the Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival committee for letting us have a pitch this year. And lastly, we must thank all the businesses who donated prizes – without their support there would be no raffle!’
Do you have a few hours to spare late October or early November? The Stur RBL branch are looking for Poppy Collectors. Please contact Tracy on 07967 412758 or [email protected]

Why this chair?

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Editorial team

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10 October 2024

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The art of making patterns of chairs helps Shaftesbury artist Zara McQueen to tell her own story and those of other families

Skyline, a recent painting which shows how landscape forms are creeping back into Zara’s geometric genogram paintings. All Images: Fanny Charles

As a social worker and therapeutic family practitioner, Zara McQueen was used to making “genograms” with clients and patients, using personal papers and objects to help them explore their family backgrounds – but when it came to creating her own, she found she did not want to lay out her life like that.
Instead, the Shaftesbury artist hit on the idea of telling her story through patterns of chairs. The inspiration came from looking around her at the studio at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) where she was studying for an MA in Fine Art.
‘I noticed the chairs pushed up against the walls – brightly coloured plastic university chairs, marked with paint and studio life,’ she writes in the book of photographs which she produced after this unusual project. ‘I began to move them, transforming functional, splattered pieces of furniture into me and my family.’
As she explored relationships – two chairs was ‘a love story’ – and recreated the convoluted patterns of her extended families, with its journeys and multiple divorces, she decided to find out what chairs meant to other people. She invited a wide range of people to send an image and answer the question, Why this chair? The result is an extraordinary diversity not only of pieces of everyday furniture but of memories, ideas and individual stories.

Zara showing one of her mobiles to an exhibition visitor

Coloured plastic chairs were an immediately eye-catching feature of Zara’s latest exhibition at Shaftesbury Arts Centre, where visitors could both engage with the three-dimensional aspect – by sitting on or moving a chair – and explore other forms of genogram, in subtly-coloured geometric paintings and delightful mobiles. She says: ‘I have no idea where the current body of work will take me, but I am enjoying the exploration. Using chairs as stand-ins for people, making mobiles as well as drawings and paintings, is liberating.’

Landscapes of the mind
Zara is best-known as a painter of atmospheric and engaging landscapes and you could call her recent paintings ‘landscapes of the mind’ – but it is also clear that landscape is her natural artistic form, and it is evident from the recent exhibition that it is creeping back into her work.
She was born in London, into a Jewish family with a complicated background that included numerous divorces and remarriages, and with a great-grandmother who came to England from Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century. Zara was ‘totally dyslexic’ and painting and drawing were her favourite subjects. She wanted to go to art school but only finally achieved her ambition when she was 60, studying for an MA in Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) where she graduated in 2023 with a distinction.
‘This course was my first formal art training. I always wanted to go to art school, and I got there, eventually! It was an amazing experience and a real privilege to study with some exceptional tutors and peers,’ she says.
She went to AUB with a primary focus on making paintings and collages inspired by the landscape around Shaftesbury. But gradually, with the chair project developing, she began to produce paintings and mobiles which were inspired by and re-created the squares and circles of family groups. Now, a year on, her work is once again changing as the geometric shapes are increasingly influenced by landscape forms.
Zara has lived in Shaftesbury for 30 years and cites the encouragement of the local community as an important factor in her success as an artist. She says: ‘I have had so much support from local people – they have been to my exhibitions and bought my art.’
The university course and the recent developments in her art follow a diagnosis of breast cancer and the inevitable emotional response. ‘I did a lot of deep diving and my work got very autobiographical,’ she says. ‘My art comes from me – it has always kept me sane.’
Zara has exhibited widely in Dorset and Wiltshire. Two recent works have been selected for the Royal West of England Academy’s 171st Annual Open Exhibition.

* A genogram is a graphic representation of a family tree that displays detailed data on relationships among individuals. It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to analyse hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. Genograms allow therapist and patient to identify and understand various patterns in the patient’s family history which may have had an influence on the patient’s current state of mind – Genopro.com

Could you share the magic of history?

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Editorial team

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9 October 2024

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Rachel Simpson-Fernandes in the Victorian Kitchen

Wimborne’s Museum of East Dorset has welcomed a familiar face as its new Learning and Family Assistant. Rachel Simpson-Fernandes, with over a decade of teaching experience in primary and special education needs (SEN), has joined the community-focused museum to inspire local schoolchildren through hands-on history.
Rachel, who is passionate about both teaching and history, says, ‘I couldn’t believe my luck – teaching and museums! Two of my favourite things – the perfect role for me that combines creativity and practical skills.’
Her role will involve co-ordinating school visits from across the county, offering themed workshops that cover 2,000 years of British history. The sessions give children the chance to find out about life as a Roman, for example … or as a scullery maid in the Victorian washroom.
“I remember coming to the museum when I was at school,’ says rachael. ‘It’s changed so much since then: no boring questionnaires here! It’s wonderful to play a part in moving the museum forward, offering even more activities for schoolchildren.’

Children enjoying one of the volunteer-led sessions

The museum, which has earned the Sandford Award for heritage learning seven times, also offers a Hands-On History loan programme, making its resources accessible to schools nationwide. Now, Rachel is calling on locals to get involved as learning volunteers: ‘You don’t need experience,’ she says. ‘Training and mentoring is provided, and every session has a detailed delivery plan that is easy to follow. All we need is people with a passion for history, who love the magic of museums and how they enrich children’s lives. And if you fancy dressing up as a Victorian housekeeper or Roman soldier – even better!’

If you’d like to learn more, contact Rachel on [email protected].

The teen who went from ‘almost’ to gold

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Editorial team

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9 October 2024

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When William Saunders joined the Fun Box club at Sturminster Newton Boxing Gym five years ago, coach Shaun Weeks knew he was a future bright star for the club. Last year William made it to the National Schools Championship Final, narrowly losing out on a very tight points decision to an unbeaten boxer from Washington Tyne & Wear. The following season June 2023-May 2024 William continued to improve, with a few narrow defeats that were on occasions hard to take, says Shaun: ‘Pushing European Champion Billy Long to the wire in the Barum Box Cup and then losing again in the King of the Ring (Sweden) final on a split decision was hard.
Again we thought William had done enough to win. So we sat down and had a chat to see what was needed to change those ‘nearly wins’ into actual wins.
‘The coaching team felt William just needed a bit more aggression and – more importantly – some self belief. He deserves to be on the top table.
‘William took it in, worked hard over the summer: and now he’s reaping the rewards. At the start of June he travelled to the Bristol Box Cup Championship and came home with a gold medal.
‘The following weekend we were in Manchester for their Box Cup Championship, and William beat the favourite to win a second gold in two weeks!
‘Then a few weeks ago we were in Ilfracombe to compete in the Barum Box Cup, where William won both the semi final and the final with stoppages. Three gold medals in a row: that’s some achievement for the 14 year old!’

Moving forward
William will be travelling to Sweden at the end of October with nine of his teammates, looking to continue his gold rush at The King of the Ring Championships. Next March he will be looking to step up again in the National Championships, moving from the Schools age group to Junior as he looks for his first national title.

Going, going, gone!

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Editorial team

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8 October 2024

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It’s the unsung hero of autumn: as other blooms fade, ivy flowers offer insects a final feast before winter, says wildlife writer Jane Adams

Honeybee busy collecting the pollen on an ivy flower

As we quietly slip into autumn, with fewer hours of daylight and cooler temperatures, many of our flying insects are making their last farewells. Of course, not all are nearing the end of their lives: some, like bumblebee queens, will tuck themselves away until warmer weather returns. But before they go, there’s time for one last hurrah.
With the vibrancy of spring and summer faded, it can sometimes feel like winter is approaching fast. Happily, October still has a few surprises tucked up her sleeve – and one of those is the humble ivy, or, more specifically, its flowers. I know what some of you are thinking.
Ivy? Has she lost her mind?
Bear with me.
Ivy is easy to dismiss as an invasive weed which rampages through gardens and smothers everything. However … sometimes that smothering is exactly what’s needed.
We have a dead apple tree in our garden. Many years ago, it became the scaffolding for an ivy with high-rise aspirations. Gradually, the ivy crept up the trunk of the old tree, until one autumn it reached a height of about six feet … and flowered. It can take ivy up to ten years to reach maturity and bloom, and even then, it will only do so when it gets enough sunlight … but wow, when it does, you’ll know about it.

Red admiral butterflies enjoying some sunny autumnal ivy nectar

If I step into the garden on a sunny day in October, I can smell the honeyed fragrance of the ivy flowers before I even see them. As I get closer, the ivy’s firework-like blooms explode with a myriad of colours, shapes and species of insects: black, yellow and orange marmalade and hornet hoverflies, comma and tortoiseshell butterflies with their hankie wings, as well as wasps, hornets, ivy bees and fluffy yellow and black virgin queen bumblebees.
It’s approaching sensory overload, I admit, but there’s a wonderfully rowdy and friendly festival vibe.
So, when the sun shines this month – as we all hope it will – I encourage you to go in search of a flowering ivy and immerse yourself in this autumn phenomenon. But be quick. This performance is over in the flap of a wing and the stare of a compound eye.