£25,000 – £30,000 Pro-rata dependent on experience.
Milton Abbey is seeking to appoint an experienced Accounts Assistant within the school’s small, friendly but busy finance department to cover a period of maternity leave.
You will be responsible for managing the school’s billing ledger, assisting with bill production, dealing with bill queries and assuming central responsibility for credit control. You will also assist the School Accountant with general accounting duties covering a variety of areas and so adaptability and flexibility will be necessary. We are looking for enthusiasm, excellent communication skills, a high level of attention to detail and accuracy in your work. The successful candidate will ideally be part or fully AAT qualified however formal qualifications are not essential. We do need a minimum of two years accounts experience ideally covering more than one of the ledgers and ideally some credit control experience.
The salary for this role will be £25,000 – £30,000 Pro-rata dependent on experience. Staff also benefit from 25 days annual holiday plus bank holidays, free parking, free refreshments and three course hot lunch during term time.
Further details may be obtained from our website or from HR on 01258 882306 or email [email protected]. Applications must be submitted on the school’s application form. The closing date for applications is Friday 8th December.
Please note that we are not accepting applications for this position through any employment agency and all applications should be made direct to the school.
Milton Abbey School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The appointment will be the subject of an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service. Additionally, please be aware that Milton Abbey School will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check will be part of a safeguarding check, and the search will purely be based on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. To avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination a person who will not be on the appointment panel will conduct the search and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern.
Riding into the fight against rural crime: Andrew Livingston spoke to one of Dorset’s new rural mounted volunteers
Police and Crime Commissioner David Sidwick (right) with new Rural Mounted Volunteer Tamsin Doar on Stella, the sassy Welsh Cob
You’ll struggle to find a village that doesn’t have a Neighbourhood Watch scheme or a collection of community Speedwatch volunteers. These initiatives allow for a greater number of eyes on those who are breaking the law in residential areas. But how can you help catch criminals who operate out inn Dorset’s vast countryside? ‘I want the countryside to be as protected as anywhere else when it comes to tackling criminals,’ says Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) David Sidwick. ‘I’m very clear that the police can never have enough resources to be everywhere, all the time. That’s why we as the public also need to do our bit. It’s why we have the other Watches, but we had a gap. We didn’t have a mounted Neighbourhood Watch and that’s effectively what this is. It is about all of us together, taking on the criminals who cause issues in the countryside.’ Now Dorset has its own team of Rural Mounted Volunteers. Dorset is not the first county to encourage the public to saddle up and help combat crime by becoming a Rural Mounted Volunteer. But David says his initiative ‘is just one more weapon in our armoury to take on these criminals who plague our countryside’. With six volunteers currently signed up, the Dorset Rural Crime Team is looking for another 18 volunteers across the county to ensure greater coverage. ‘Their job will be to help the police by giving us evidence and improving visibility in those areas,’ David says. ‘For me, this is just the next step in our journey to tackle rural crime.’ When David Sidwick was elected in 2021 there were only three people in the Dorset Rural Crime Team. ‘When I came into office I was very clear that the people of Dorset wanted rural crime tackled and I made certain that there was investment available. ‘Now we have 18 people on the rural crime team and in the last 18 months, they’ve retrieved more than £1.3 million pounds-worth of stolen goods – tractors, ATVs, generators and farm machinery – and given it back to the victims.’ The statistics show that the PCC’s investment has paid off. The 2023 NFU Mutual Rural Crime report showed a 22 per cent national increase in rural crime. In the same period, Dorset saw a 20 per cent drop.
David Sidwick with some of the Dorset Rural Crime Team
The first Dorset Mountie Tamsin Doar is one of the six volunteers currently signed up. The 27-year-old, who patrols around Milton Abbas, first rode a horse at the age of two and has a strong farming background. oth her parents and her partner in the industry. It is neither of those, however, that makes her the perfect candidate to be a Rural Mounted Volunteer. There is another thing that makes her the perfect candidate to be a Rural Mounted Volunteer. ‘I actually already work for Dorset Police, in the control room. I heard they were advertising internally through a colleague who was working on the Rural Crime Team. ‘I thought it would be a good way to combine my personal equestrian interest and, from a professional point of view, try to help combat rural crime a little bit – or at least raise awareness and make sure it’s reported.’ As a Control Room Supervisor, Tamsin is usually either handling 999 calls or despatching radio messages to officers to respond to the information phoned in from the public – plenty of experience to help her spot rural crime. During her 25 years on horseback, there have already been occasions where she has seen crimes that would be worth reporting in her new role. She says: ‘I’ve seen livestock worrying – dog walkers with their dogs off the lead, upsetting sheep and cattle. ‘Sometimes you see injured wildlife, which most of the time has just been hit by a car. But when you’re out in the middle of a field it can look a bit suspicious. Also, certain vehicles … sometimes you might see a car or a vehicle that looks a bit out of place. it’s crawling along looking into farmyards or smallholdings – it just doesn’t quite look right.’
Car vs horse As a rider, one of the rural crimes she most often spots involves interactions with motorists. ‘It’s the way they respond (or don’t!) appropriately to horse riders. But also farmers have issues where they’re crossing their cattle and a motorist won’t want to wait. That can escalate into an argument. ‘I’ve personally had a few run-ins with motorists who don’t want to slow down. Particularly at this time of year, when the sun gets quite low, it can take a few extra seconds to see them, which can make a big difference. It’s worse if a rider hasn’t got hi-viz.’ Thankfully, the Rural Crime Team is issuing all of its volunteers with Dorset Police issue high reflective wear for both rider and horse, to make sure they are visible at all times. Plans are also in the works for all Rural Mounted Volunteers to have body cameras on at all times for further evidence collecting when someone spots a crime being committed – or even something suspicious that may require further investigation. As in all the best police shows, a good cop needs a good partner – Starsky & Hutch, Turner & Hooch, Riggs and Murtaugh … and now Tamsin and Stella. Any potential criminals in the Milton Abbas area should beware – Tamsin says that her homebred Welsh Cob can be quite sassy!
Dorset Police are looking for 18 more volunteers across the county, especially in the Blackmore Vale area. If you are interested in becoming a Rural Mounted Volunteer, apply by emailing [email protected]
October’s activities on the allotment included harvesting even tender plants and the start of a new season’s harvest, says Barry Cuff
Barry’s root veg crop from a single day in October
October was a warm month, with the temperature rising above 20ºC on some days and only two slight white grass frosts around the middle of the month. It’s not been cold enough to kill off the tender plants such as courgettes and French beans – they slowed down but still kept producing. The soil was still workable, allowing plots to be cleared of weeds and old crop material; we aim to have all vacant parts of the plot clear and ready to be manured and mulched with homemade compost in November.
October’s allotment diary: On the 29th and 30th September we staked and tied our Brussel sprout plants, dug our first leeks, harvested carrots, beetroot, runner and French beans, winter radish and cut some excellent side shoots of Ironman calabrese. We also sprayed our whole brassica area with boron, as the plot is deficient in this trace element – we have observed symptoms of this deficiency over the last few years. 1st – Clearing weeds and plant material from this year’s pulse area, and we lifted two celery heads. 3rd – Harvested carrots, oriental salad leaves and winter radish, plus some nice raspberries. 4th – Cut the grass paths. Worked on our new strawberry bed, removing weeds and runners (potted up about 30 of the runners). 5th – Picked tomatoes and a few sweet peppers from the greenhouse. 6th – Dug our first parsnip and celeriac. Harvested courgettes, salad leaves, French beans and raspberries, and weeded the leeks. 7th – High temp of 24ºC! Removed all the sweetcorn plants and weeded the area. 8th – Had our first parsnip for lunch; good, but they need frosts to improve their taste. Ordered our seed from Kings Seeds. 10th – Cut our first Snow Prince cauliflower and our first Rossa Di Treviso radicchio – also picked a few more raspberries. 11th – Weeded the winter salad patch and staked and tied the purple sprouting broccoli plants. 13th – Harvested calabrese, leeks, runner beans and courgettes. 15th – The first grass frost of the season. Harvested winter squashes – seven Crown Prince, five Butterfly butternut and five sweet dumpling. 16th – Cleared the squash area of plant material and weeds and dug an area for garlic. 17th – Planted 40 cloves of garlic. Cut our first Chinese cabbage and picked calabrese. Cut the grass paths. 20th – Harvested carrots, parsnip, leeks, celeriac, winter radish and salad leaves. 22nd – Picked the last few runner beans and removed the plants and canes. 25th – Dug a few leeks and pulled a few spring onions, plus a Green Utah celery. 26th – Exciting day: the seed order arrived! We had 45 packets in total – 39 vegetables, two herbs and four garden flowers. During the sunny days this month it’s been lovely to see that the ivy flowers in our hedge have been alive with bees, flies, wasps and butterflies.
The Ibberton, Belchalwell and Woolland Village Hall – from a tin church to a thriving community hub, with state of the art big screen facilities
The Ibberton, Belchalwell and Woolland Village Hall
Nestled in the tranquil embrace of North Dorset lies the Ibberton, Belchalwell and Woolland Village Hall. The unassuming building has constantly evolved over the course of its 130-year existence to continue meeting the ever-changing needs of its three small rural communities. In 1892, when the roofs of the local churches in Ibberton and Belchalwell had crumbled, local carpenter George Loder, undertook the construction of a temporary corrugated-iron church on glebe land at Ibberton. The simple structure served as a place of worship and community gathering while Reverend L. S. Plowman began extensive fundraising efforts to restore the churches. In July 1909, Ibberton and Belchalwell welcomed back their places of worship, and the temporary church took on a new role as a Church Room for meetings, clubs, and entertainment. The hall’s altar was transformed into a makeshift stage, and was the setting for much homegrown entertainment including singing, handbells and acting with improvised costumes. Christmas parties were a much-loved regular event and they continue to this day.
A Village Hall In 1948, the hall and its surrounding glebe land were sold to the Pitt-Rivers Estate, ushering in a new era as the Church Room became the official Village Hall, with its own committee and trustees. In 1977 the hall was finally purchased for £250. The hall’s story took another turn in 1996 when ‘temporary’ centenarian was discovered to be leaning. With grants and local fundraising efforts, steel girders were installed to strengthen the structure. Three years later the 107-year-old windows were needing attention. At the same time grants allowed the electric heating and the 1950’s kitchen – complete with a butler sink and camping gas stove – were updated, and a disabled toilet and ramp access were added. In 2001, a grand reopening marked a new chapter in the hall’s history, with the modern amenities creating a vibrant community hub.
Popcorn and ice cream, bar and raffle [email protected] or 07771 561099 for tickets
Another facelift The latest hall project has just completed – a major upgrade of the audiovisual equipment, with LED stage lighting, and an electric film screen and projector. This new upgraded equipment will enable the trustees and committee to offer new ways to bring the community together through films, theatre and live music, bringing the big screen into the small hall. The hall also has a new gigabit fibre broadband connection supplied by Wessex Internet, which will enable streaming of live arts performances, talks and training. They will be further enhanced by the energy efficient, maintainable, stage professional lighting. As it looks forward to the next 130 years, the Ibberton, Belchalwell and Woolland Village Hall stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of rural communities, and is still here thanks to the dedication of its residents and the support of generous organisations.
For ten years, Dorset’s Digital Champions have been inspiring digital inclusion and transforming lives. Rachael Rowe reports
Digital champions at work in Sturminster Newton
Dorset Council is celebrating a decade of award-winning by its team of digital champions, in getting more of the county to use the internet. Most of us are quite comfortable with online shopping – or even opening a copy of the BV Magazine. But in an ever-more digital world, what about those people who find accessing the internet a challenge? In the first ten months of 2023, Dorset Council’s digital team were contacted by almost 2,000 people and a further 900 calls were made to the hotline. The Lloyd’s Consumer index identified that 63 per cent of the UK population has a very high or high ability to use the internet, but 27 per cent has low or no ability – and that’s exactly where Dorset’s Digital Champions have their focus.
A trailblazing project Lyndsey Trinder is the Route to Inclusion project officer at Dorset Council, focusing on getting Dorset people confident in using the internet. She has worked with the team for five years and credits the project to one person’s ’tremendous foresight.’ ‘When I joined it was known as the Superfast Dorset Team and concentrated on getting superfast broadband to everyone. However, my manager saw that the basic skills and abilities to be able to adapt to broadband just weren’t there – we were only doing half a job. She had the foresight to ask the then Dorset County Council to look into and develop this area – and she was given free rein to get on with it. ‘Our digital inclusion work in Dorset was way ahead of its time. It’s quite an achievement – no-one else is celebrating ten years.’
We are the champions One of the pivotal elements of getting more people to use the internet was the introduction of Digital Champions into the community. Lyndsey is incredibly proud of the group of volunteers: ‘Oh they’re lovely … amazing. Around three-quarters of them have a background in IT or software, and they come from all walks of life. They really need strong people skills as well. One of the big things they have to do is to win the trust of those people who don’t really want to be online – they need patience plus patience plus patience.’ Mark Jago has a military and technology background and volunteers as a Digital Champion in Gillingham. He runs a session each Saturday morning in the local library. ‘I got involved because I saw the frustration on social media, people not able to get things to work with their computers. I saw there was a need to help people with IT issues ‘People generally know more than they think – it’s often just a confidence issue. ‘There are all sorts of things we can help people do. For example, we’re helping a couple of Ukrainian refugees at the moment – they just need some support to use the internet. We’ve also helped people with Excel spreadsheets, and we have saved people money by showing them how to look online for better deals one energy bills. We saved one person around £600. ‘And then the other day we helped someone complete an Australian visa online so they could go and see their son.’
The Sturminster Newton sessions are held at The Exchange
Changing lives There are 45 Digital Champions spread across Dorset in 39 locations. All the libraries have support, and two GP Surgeries, in Poundbury and Weymouth, have a Digital Champion. Lyndsey says: ‘We work very closely with the NHS and we can help people use the NHS app, for example. But that isn’t very exciting! If we want to engage people in using the internet we have to find something that interests them. One of our champions had a reluctant gentleman come to see them – he just didn’t seem interested. But then he mentioned that his son was in a rock band in the 80s, so they started looking him up. Sure enough, they found lots of mentions of his son – and that got him interested!’ The team has helped many people over the last decade. Lyndsey remembers one case in particular that still gives her goosebumps today. ‘It was in 2020 when we were distributing IT equipment. It was near Christmas, and one of the social workers came to me because she had just met a deaf man – she could sign, and she realised that she was the first person he had communicated with since the start of the first lockdown. We gave him a smartphone and at the time I wondered why we were giving a deaf person a smartphone – but he used it to video call other signers and joined a WhatsApp group with signing friends. ‘It changed his world.’
Digital champion Mark Jago in his Gillingham library session
Being left behind Lyndsey is concerned about how to meet the offline population. ’Things are changing so fast. I worry these people will be left behind. A lot of things are going exclusively on line and people are missing out.’ Mark also recognises that even people who are online don’t always realise the extent of things they can do. ‘We were at a meant’ health event recently and, although people said they used the internet, we were able to say: “But do you know this?” It really helps if you can enable them to look more widely at what is available to them.’ The team has just won a Connection Britain award for its work on spreading and embedding digital knowledge. They trained other teams, including librarians and social housing staff who can also help people with online tasks so that they become more confident.‘A simple five-minute interaction can make a significant difference,’ says Lyndsey.
Join wildlife columnist Jane Adams on a nostalgic journey as she rediscovers the magic of autumn, sharing the joy of re-connecting with nature
Sometimes the best days come from the simplest things Image: Shutterstock
As a chill breeze ruffles the undressed trees, it brings with it a sense of excitement for the month ahead. At least, it used to … when I was young. Which got me wondering – how can I recapture that love? Because I really did love autumn when I was young. I couldn’t get enough of it. With the ground a canvas of russet, amber and gold, pavements turned into a rustling playground. A gang of us would spend hours searching for conkers, stuffing them into already-bulging pockets, and even though conker competitions left our knuckles bruised and our shoes without laces, we couldn’t have cared less. Then, as temperatures dropped, we’d crunch through frozen puddles, revelling in the feel of the ice exploding as it cracked deliciously under our feet. Autumn was fun – and having fun stimulated our imaginations, encouraged questions, and sparked a deep (unrecognised) connection with nature. This is probably how many of us remember autumn. But then we grow up. We become serious and sensible. Find partners and set up homes. Bills, jobs and responsibilities weigh us down. We suffer setbacks, heartbreak, grief and loneliness. I’m not saying life is all doom and gloom, but when you’re an adult, autumn can sometimes feel … well, a bit gloomy. I groan as the days get shorter and the sun loses its warmth. The other day I even caught myself comparing hot water bottles on Amazon! However, I have friends who still love autumn – and I mean they really love autumn. What if I could love it again? So, for the last few weeks, I’ve given myself a challenge. Every day I search out piles of leaves, kicking them into the air, making myself (and passers-by) laugh. When I put the bins out, I’m stopping to appreciate the dazzling stars and moon before rushing back inside. I pause and listen when I hear tawny owls and foxes calling, and I call back (even getting a reply sometimes). After it rains, I slosh through puddles in my wellies, and I’ll be jumping onto them after a frost just to hear the satisfying crack of the ice. Welcome back, nine year-old me. Having fun, being silly and not worrying about what others might think, as well as really appreciating nature and the season around me, has helped. Try it. You might enjoy it.
Puddle jumping – guaranteed to cheer up the gloomiest of days.
Wildlife walks and treats Red Squirrel walks and a cream tea Brownsea Island Visit the island out of season, enjoy a guided walk, see the red squirrels – and finish with a delicious cream tea at Brownsea Castle. 12:40 to 4pm on 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th November £30 includes ferry, entry, guided walk and cream tea Booking on National Trust website here
Welly Wednesday walks Kingcombe Nature Reserve A regular meeting – join the Dorset Wildlife Trust group for a walk on Kingcombe Meadows followed by an optional visit to The Kitchen at Kingcombe for a restorative cuppa. 10:30am to 12pm on 8th and 22nd November – FREE Booking on Dorset Wildlife Trust’s site here
An artist’s life from fashion to ceramics – for more than 60 years, Sally Tuffin has been at the forefront of British design. By Fanny Charles
Dennis Chinaworks celebrates 30 years of art pottery – All images Courtenay Hitchcock BV Magazine
If you took a magical mystery tour that began in Swinging Sixties London, went to the potteries in Stoke-on-Trent and to a specialist pottery shop in Stratford-upon-Avon, you would not expect to end up in Somerset’s hidden village of Shepton Beauchamp. The journey that began in the vibrantly exciting fashion scene of Biba, Mary Quant, Barbara Hulanicki, Ossie Clark and Foale and Tuffin was serendipitous – and serendipity has always played a big part in Sally Tuffin’s life. It still does. Now in her mid-80s, she continues to design for Dennis Chinaworks, the art pottery she and her husband Richard founded in 1993 – this year they are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the business which they run with their artist son Buchan at their home, Shepton House, in the tiny village near Ilminster. They bought the characterful Victorian manor more than 40 years ago, and now the house and its outbuildings house their various interests, including a glassworks and Richard’s publishing business. With their skilled team of potters and decorators, Richard and Sally create beautiful and unique vases, pots, bowls and teapots, with inspirations that range from tigers to penguins, from Greek myths to Elizabethan textiles, from traditional Japanese geishas to the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, who was a leading light in the Vienna Secession movement.
Sally, who is not only still working but also learning Italian ‘just for the joy of it’, trained initially at Walthamstow Art School, where she met Marion Foale. They went on to the Royal College of Art, where their fellow students included David Hockney, Peter Blake, and Paula Boty, the outstanding female Pop Artist who died tragically young, aged 28. Sally and Marion recognised they were ‘like minds’ and decided they would work for themselves rather than for a company. ‘We never thought about money,’ Sally recalls. After graduating from the RCA Fashion School, Sally and Marion started their design business, with a £200 loan and a sewing machine, in a rented bedsit. Their style was dressing down not dressing up, looking as if you hadn’t tried too hard – a style that is still effortlessly cool. They were trail-blazers at the start of an era that would see Britain become the youth fashion capital of the world, leaving the staid and male-dominated hot-house of haute couture in their wake. Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik says the pair ‘represented the revolution that was happening in London in the 60s.’ Foale and Tuffin rapidly became one of the leading design houses of the 1960s. In Iain Webb’s book profiling the two designers, he describes them as ‘two cocky, feisty, bolshy, arty, clever-clogs young women who at the beginning of the 1960s just happened to collide with fashion at the split second that they were needed.’ You certainly wouldn’t describe Sally in quite those terms now, but she is undoubtedly still feisty and very, very artistic.
Cloth for clay It wasn’t only clothes that got the Foale and Tuffin treatment – they were also commissioned to design the Sindy doll, England’s answer to America’s pink and perfect plastic Barbie. Sindy was, says Webb, ‘the doll with the hippest clothes’ but she was also ‘the girl next door,’ according to Marion, who knew that Barbie was too sexual for English girls. After leaving London in 1972 and having a family, Marion went on to run a successful knitwear business for many years, but has very recently retired – after all, both women are in their mid-80s. They met most recently at the memorial service for Mary Quant, held in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. For three years after Marion left, Sally continued to run the fashion company, but, she says, ‘it was lonely without Marion.’ By now she was married to Richard, who at the time was an antiques dealer in Kensington, and they moved to Shepton House. In the mid-1980s, Richard got involved with the famous but ailing historic Moorcroft Pottery. They bought a share in the business and Sally became art director, ‘substituting cloth for clay.’ She showed the team how to use the pattern-cutting approach to design that she learned at art school, and also encouraged the designers to sign their own work. Moorcroft once again became a success, and in 1992 Sally went on to work briefly at Poole Pottery, where her designs included a commission for a British Airways tailfin – Blue Poole was a beautiful collage of dolphins and seagulls.
Sally still has the very first Sindy doll, along with her original designs for the outfit in the box. – image Courtenay Hitchcock BV Magazine
In 1993 Sally and Richard set up their art pottery business at Shepton House. She says she is ‘not a natural potter’ and she was worried about the challenge of running a pottery. Support came from the ceramics specialist Barry Thornton, who sells Moorcroft and other famous names at his Stratford-upon-Avon business. ‘He told me, “Sally, if you make them, I will buy the lot.” So I started making!’ She may not be a natural potter, but her designs and creativity have been central to the lasting success of Dennis Chinaworks, even in times of austerity and uncertainty. The business has ‘grown like Topsy,’ she says. ‘There was nothing planned – there never was anything planned in our lives. It has just been serendipity.’ As well as their permanent small team, Dennis Chinaworks has a long record of training potters and designers. Sally says: ‘We have trained about 20 people. Most of them have later gone off to do it themselves. I feel we have put back something of what I got from an amazing free education.’ She and Richard are also proud that their business has its succession in place with Buchan, who studied painting at art school. He is grateful to be able to work in the family business: ‘I feel lucky to be in the arts and making a living. We weren’t taught anything about business at art school.’
Buchan Dennis in the saddlery – his personal studio space – image Courtenay Hitchcock BV Magazine
Unique commissions Dennis Chinaworks has a huge archive of designs showing many influences, and is constantly producing new work, sometimes to commission. Most of the designs come from Sally’s endlessly inventive imagination, with her vast artistic knowledge and particular love of late 19th and early 20th century Art Nouveau. Buchan is responsible for some of the more contemporary pieces with their vivid colour palette – look out for his distinctive horizontal rainbow stripes in particular. Occasionally, there have been pots, vases or plates by other artists – the quirky cartoonist Glen Baxter designed a series of six plates, featuring some of his best loved illustrations (‘Uncle Frank would keep us amused for hours’ with his saw and his sawn-off leg) and some Delft-blue style plates featuring exotica such as tennis played from the backs of an elephant and a tiger! The very small and highly skilled making team includes the decorators Vanessa Thompson and Theresa Blackmore and potter Rory Mcleod. The pots are thrown and turned on the wheel. Colour is spun on the leather-hard earthenware and decorated by incising and slip-trailing the designs. Further colour is added using underglazes and natural oxides, then the pots are finished with a clear glaze. From beginning to end each pot is the work of a single decorator, and their signature joins the number, company name, date and thrower’s mark on the base.
Inside the Dennis Chinaworks kiln, waiting for firing. Image: Buchan Dennis
Hero, Titan and a teapot The vases, bowls, boxes and dishes are bought by collectors and lovers of decorative pottery not only across the UK but around the world. The company has made commissioned work for galleries, museums and organisations and for individuals, as well as special sales or events, such as the British Art Pottery and Design sale at Woolley & Wallis’s Salisbury showroom on Wednesday 29th November. For this important auction, Dennis Chinaworks has made three unique pieces, a tall square Art Nouveau style vase called Hero, a gloriously colourful Klimt-inspired Japanese teapot (below, right), and Titan, a lidded bowl with Buchan’s distinctive fine horizontal stripes.
Klimt Japanese teapot, designed by Sally Tuffin, thrown by Rory McLeod and painted by Theresa BlackmoreDennis Chinaworks blanks are all hand thrown on a wheel at the Somerset pottery
Other commissions have included work for the Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection (Royal Academy of Arts), the Pugin exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Durer exhibition at the British Museum, the Cult of Beauty exhibition, also at the V&A, and the Duncan Grant exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery. Richard Dennis trained with the auctioneers Sotheby’s before establishing an antique glass and ceramics business, together with a publishing house producing specialist books for collectors. His business acumen has obviously been a key part of the success of the company, and he continues to run Richard Dennis Publications, publishing a wide range of art books, with a particular focus on historic and contemporary ceramics and pottery, including Moorcroft, Royal Doulton, Crown Derby, William de Morgan, Wedgewood, Midwinter and the Martin brothers, but also including jigsaws, cartoons, design, glass and furniture. Richard also published ‘Foale and Tuffin – The Sixties, A Decade in Fashion’, Iain R Webb’s portrait of his wife and her design partner, with contributions from leading figures of the period, including Jean Shrimpton, Terence Conran, Barbara Hulanicki and Manolo Blahnik and images from the top photographers of the day, including David Bailey and Helmut Newton.
Sally Tuffin with her son Buchan Dennis in front of the 17th century fireplace at Shepton House – image Courtenay Hitchcock BV Magazine
And finally … a bit of priceless advice from a fashion icon. If you worry about the cost of a clothing item you want to buy, Sally recalls the Foale and Tuffin motto: ‘Divide the price of the garment by the number of times you wear it.’
Artist Vanessa Thompson works in the shop area of the pottery – image Courtenay Hitchcock BV Magazine
This year the Dennis Chinaworks Open Day will be two days: Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd December, from 11am to 4pm.
Businesses in Sherborne’s old Yarn Mill face uncertain future after devastating floods, but the community rallies to support recovery efforts
The devastation left behind in the LS Flooring unit – Lee Steele estimates there’s £30,000 of damage
‘I think I have lost my business. How do you recover from something like this?’ When a torrent of water swept down Sherborne’s Ottery Lane on the A352, the impromptu river devastated to businesses in the Old Yarn Mill Business Centre. Lee Steele has run LS Flooring for 25 years and it was his unit which bore the brunt of the deluge on 28th October: ‘The back doors to my business just couldn’t hold up against the water that poured through the building. To start, I was ankle deep … before I knew it the doors blew off and I was up to my hips in floodwater. ‘All the carpet samples and equipment have been ruined and had to go to the tip. I’ve lost around £30,000 of stock. Because there has been a flood before, the insurance won’t pay out. We’ve had floods three times in the last 18 months – before that just once in the previous 25 years. To be honest, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.’ Hannah Wilkins from Vineyards was also affected by the flooding. ‘We have never had flooding like this before. Although our back doors are three feet above the ground, passing cars caused bow waves, making the water higher and it just kept washing in. With all the roads above us and the concrete, this run off had nowhere to go. ‘The last time the drains had been cleared by the council was 12 months ago, so there was a lot of build up of silt and leaves. ‘Lee’s business became a river and water flowed from his into everyone else’s. The drains in the car park were unable to cope with the water. We were all firefighting at the exits and also the front of the premises. Although our wines were stored off the floor, our store-room was affected. And down there, the water made all the cardboard boxes crumble so it was unsafe. We had to get loads of pallets and make plinths to store everything. ‘But now, when it comes to insurance, we’re classed as a flood plain and everyone’s premiums will go up. The landlord is having to install flood defences. All this water has come from somewhere. When you put more concrete around, the water has nowhere else to drain. We know the builders made a reservoir at the top of the road, but we’ve been and looked at it – and it is empty.’
Vineyards had to work fast to raise their stock above the flood
Community action One of the positive things to come from all the devastation was the community response. Hannah was amazed at how people turned out to help. ‘We put an appeal on social media for help with the clean-up and around 30 people turned up! They cleaned the place, took stuff to the tip and helped build plinths. And people brought coffee and cakes and bacon sarnies. It was one of the positives to come from this. ’There are lots of businesses here that were affected, including Molecula, Mary Hossack Antiques and Parachute Bar.’ Sherborne town councillors turned up on Sunday morning.Town Clerk Steve Shield told the BV: ‘We became aware of the problem last Saturday and visited to assess the damage on Sunday. The town council assisted with the clear-up process and was able to negotiate with Dorset Council about removing the waste to the recycling centre. Six full loads, weighing two tons, were removed from the site. ‘On Monday we spoke to Dorset Council, and the highways team has been doing some clearance. The sheer amount of water was incredible – we had properties affected all over the town, including on Cheap Street, parts of Horsecastles and the top of the town. ’The public can help. If they see a blocked drain, report it to Dorset Council highways department, so that it receives attention. If we don’t know there’s a problem, it can’t be fixed.’
The pressure of the floodwater forced LS Flooring’s back door off its hinges and an impromptu river filled the unit – the water level can be seen inside the glass as it begins to pour out the front of the building
Owners of businesses in Old Yarn Mill continue to clear up and assess the damage. They are also looking ahead with trepidation at a season of winter storms. ‘We are very worried about Storm Ciaran this week,’ says Hannah. ‘The Chamber of Commerce and Town Council have been to see us and Highways have now been clearing the drains. However, when this has all settled, we need to sit down with all of these people and sort out what can be done to support us – particularly if this area is going to be regualrly flooded. ‘And the public can really help by supporting the local businesses at Yarn Mill. Come and buy a beer from Parachute (or wine from us). Keep Molecula and Mary Hossack in mind for antique shopping – maybe for Christmas gifts. If you need signwriting, check out South West Signs. ‘We also have an open weekend from 16th to 18th November, so do please come and support us all. We have been blow away by the community spirit we have encountered and we want turn this disaster into a positive.’
It’s November, and this month’s jobs are almost all about the final clear-up for winter – with a little planning ahead, says gardener Pete Harcom
It’s time to finish the winter preparations! There are still a few more jobs to get done in the garden this month – before the Christmas rush! It might be November, but we can still get some good dry days to finish up outside before the harshest of the winter weather.
Your jobs list Clear any faded and dying annual climbers such as sweet peas from their supports. When clearing up flower beds, do try to keep off the soil if it’s wet to avoid compacting it – use wooden boards to spread your weight. Clear up fallen leaves and put them in plastic bags or in a heap to rot down as leaf mould (which may take a year or so). This can then be used as a mulch. Cover and protect agapanthus plants with mulch or garden compost. Straw can also be used for protecting half-hardy plants. Alpines planted in the garden can have a gravel mulch, or, if they are in containers, they will benefit from covering with straw (or simply bring them into the cold greenhouse for the winter).
Watch the compost Keep on top of the compost heap by turning it regularly. Keep it moist and mixed well with shredded paper – if the heap gets heated well, nettles and some weeds can be composted. Do not compost any of the ‘difficult’ weeds such as bindweed, ground elder or dock.
Leave the heads It is a good idea to leave your plants with attractive seed heads – like rudbeckia, sea holly (eryngium), teasels, love-in-the-mist and any ornamental grasses – as these will provide valuable food for birds in the winter months (and can also be used for indoor flower arrangements!). Just cut down the old seed heads in spring, when the new growth appears.
Bulb it There is still time to plant your spring bulbs and bare rooted trees and shrubs before the colder weather. Don’t panic if you haven’t got round to it yet!
Autumn show-offs Japanese maples, or acers, are particularly spectacular at this time of year with their rich autumn colours. They can be planted in the ground or in pots this month and will benefit from sheltered semi-shady spots in the garden.
Sowing seeds This is a nice job to do at this time of year. Just a few of those I strongly suggest sowing this month are sweet peas, ajuga reptans (really good for ground cover), cornflowers, astrantias, corydalis solida and allium sphaerocephalon. Eryngium (sea holly) is particularly attractive and can be sown now in a cold greenhouse. The seeds can take a while to germinate, but they are worth it – and bees love them.
Lastly … After all that is done, take a break and browse through your seed and garden catalogues – you need to start making a plan for next year!
