At a dinner event, the winners of the 2021 Love Local, Trust Local Awards were announced this week – and the overall winner raised an emotional response as their story was heard.
Hosted at The Langton Arms in Tarrant Monkton, more than 120 local food producers, farmers, fishermen and entrepreneurs arrived at the awards evening full of expectation. The only Dorset food & drink awards to take place as a real event this year, the Love Local Trust Local team aimed for a night to remember.
There were 13 individual awards to be won, including Cheese, Dairy, Meat, Fish, Bakery, Drinks, Honey, Jams & Condiments, Fruit & Vegetables, Innovation & Diversity, Conservation & Sustainability, Recognition Award and The Rising Star.
We are the champions
The well-deserving 2021 Champions were Gullivers Farm, Shop & Kitchen, whose story touched everyone in the room on awards night. Gullivers is a social enterprise who regenerated the oldest building in West Moors (1789) and opened its doors in October 2015 as a farm shop, a market garden, a farm & a deli kitchen. They pride themselves on farming responsibly and mindfully, holding themselves accountable for ethical and environmental standards on the organic, biodynamic farm. In addition to which, throughout the business the team offers work and opportunities to those with learning disabilities, special educational needs and disabilities.
The awards are sponsored by range of Dorset’s small businesses, all keen to support and strengthen the work of our British farmers, fishermen and food producers. From local solicitors and estate agents to farmers and furniture makers, this is an event full of local Dorset organizations working together to promote our amazing local food industry
By producers for producers
The Love Local Trust Local movement was created by Dorset farmers in 2018 in order to recognize and celebrate the hard work of farmers and local food producers. Love Local Trust Local is also tackling corruption in the food labelling industry, and helping to protect Britain’s world-leading food production standards. The awards were created by farmers and producers, for farmers and producers, with the main objective being to truly celebrate the work that goes into our local food production.
Are you passionate about supporting bereaved children, young people and their families? Would you like to lead an enthusiastic, friendly team for a children’s charity in Dorset?
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and inspirational leader to take a central role in guiding our charity into its next phase.
Mosaic are looking for a Head of Operations
Hours: 30 hrs per week Salary: £35000-45000 FT
Base: Milborne St Andrew, Blandford, DT11 0LG
We are looking for someone who will maintain an overview of operations, while understanding and responding to the needs of both the staff team and the charity. They need to be an effective communicator, with high levels of emotional intelligence, and be responsible for creating a supportive, positive and effective workplace.
The post holder will need to be able to switch easily between problem solving and strategic thinking, a confident decision maker and able to manage multiple projects and tasks concurrently. They will need a ‘can do’ attitude and to be a ‘completer-finisher’.
Closing date: Tuesday 4th January 2022
Full job description and application form available from:
A relationship breaking apart is painful – but when you own a property together, life becomes more complicated says Karen at Porter Dodson LLP
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Everything is in place. Your offer has been accepted on the house of your dreams; the mortgage has been approved; and you have instructed your conveyancing solicitor. You are buying with your partner; you are contributing more towards the deposit, but that doesn’t matter, you trust each other.
What happens if living together isn’t quite a perfect as you had imagined, the relationship breaks down and one party wishes to realise their interest in the property?
Co-owners get equal shares
The starting point with regards to legal ownership will always be the legal title, which is recorded at the Land Registry. Co-owners are usually entitled to joint and equal shares in the property, unless a clear contrary intention can be shown.
This situation often leads to disputes, so much future upset could be saved by simply entering into a Declaration of Trust at the outset. A Declaration of Trust is a legal document which sets out the financial arrangements between people who have an interest in a property. The premise for the document is that it provides legal certainty surrounding property ownership and entitlement, which may vary from what is recorded at the Land Registry.
The Declaration of Trust is drafted specifically for your requirements, it will record the arrangements surrounding contributions, mortgages, intentions, income, repairs, insurance, any indemnities and how the net sale proceeds should be divided on any future sale.
The Declaration of Trust is legally binding. This means the contract cannot be changed unless both parties agree, in which case amendments can be made. Ideally, a Declaration of Trust should be set up alongside the purchase of the property, but it is also possible to prepare one after completion.
If you would like to discuss the possibility of entering into a Declaration of Trust, please contact Karen Watts on 01308 555639 or [email protected]
I am writing, I’m afraid to say, with a complaint: I have very much missed the column from Vineyards in the last couple of issues, and demand its prompt return. I enjoy wine, but in all honesty I know little about it. I have always been happy to simply grab a good-looking bottle with a familiar name in my local supermarket. Since I have been reading your wine column over the last year I have been fascinated – what was once a rather intimidating landscape has become more understood, and I have become more adventurous in my choices. I have also been encouraged by the apparently genuine friendliness and charm of the column to bravely visit my own local independent wine shop – and was relieved to find it as friendly, welcoming and helpful as I hoped. Please bring Vineyards back. I require more education and good suggestions! Mr A B, Shaftesbury (it wasn’t by choice that they went away! Vineyards have recently moved premises in Sherborne, and the understandable upheaval meant they needed a little time. If you turn to the Food & Drink section, you’ll find them back with some excellent advice for your Christmas table! – Ed)
For those who unbelievably still refuse the vaccination for Covid, here’s an extract from The Times newspaper of November 24, 2021 in their leader column. “Those dying in hospital have sometimes admitted they were to blame for refusing vaccinations. Exhausted doctors have given vent to their anger that they must still treat people whose plight was largely avoidable. Statistics show that almost all those now in intensive care, apart from those with underlying conditions, have not been vaccinated.” And for those who have had their two jabs, The Times adds (leader November 22nd) “A third dose takes protection from infection from approximately 50% to more than 93%.” We have just returned from M&S in Blandford. Approximately 50% of customers were not wearing masks. This is despite the fact that not only is the infection still with us, there is a more transmissible variant creeping across the world. Writing in The Times, a pharmacist, Dr Brian Walker, adds, “…global research has found that masks can slash incidences of coronavirus infection by 53%. The study found that masks are more effective than social distancing and hand washing. Other than vaccination or drugs, masks offer the best protection available.” And still we have aggressive and selfish idiots (Piers Corbyn comes to mind) with no scientific and medical knowledge who think they know better than the world’s leading medical professionals and scientists. BJ, Shaftesbury (since receiving, masks have again been ruled as mandatory – Ed)
What a lovely article on page 28 of your November magazine about the old Co-op in Child Okeford (see Roger Guttridge’s Looking Back article here) . What a surprise for me to see the photograph too, showing the staff line-up at the time. The young lady on the far right is my aunt Mary Wareham (later Mary Day) who lived just along the road from the Co-op at the Barracks, Upper Street. She worked there for many happy years and was well known in the village. Thank you for the memory. Judy Waite nee Wareham.
I am sure others will already have told you but the plane in the readers photos section in the October issue is a Tiger Moth, not a Swordfish. The CAA have a database called G-Info and anyone can look up any CAA registered plane (starts with a G-) and ‘EMSY’ comes up as a Tiger Moth to prove the point. Turns out I am a plane geek after all! Thanks for the Magazine. Colin O, Hinton St Mary (you are correct Colin – I actually received rather a lot of corrections. I didn’t feel it needed me to print them all… – Ed )
David Warburton MP has been vocal in his concern at the lamentable condition of our increasingly polluted rivers. And yet he voted against the amendment to the Environment Bill that would have prevented water firms discharging raw sewage into our rivers. Why would Mr Warburton and his colleagues want to stop water companies from having a legal obligation not to pump raw sewage into our inland waterways? In 2020 alone raw sewage was dumped into rivers more than 400,000 times, at enormous ecological cost. If the financial sustainability of a privatised water system depends on the wholesale dumping of raw, untreated sewage into our rivers, then that system is not fit for purpose and should be replaced by a model of public ownership that prioritises ecological sustainability and public health. Our precious countryside deserves so much better. Mr A Fletcher Milborne Port
I’m excited at the prospect of Aldi opening a superstore in the retail park just outside Stur – it’ll be great for the town and will bring jobs and people to our area. I’ve worked with town planners and retailers up and down the country for 25 years and there is concrete evidence that such new openings has a wider beneficial effect on the community. Let me give you a very small example: I talked to a group of publicans in a rather down at heel seaside town who were horrified at the news that Wetherspoons was going to open a superpub right in the middle of them. Wetherspoons famously stocks a huge range of drinks at low prices and their menu is absurdly inexpensive. ‘They’ll undercut us all,’ was the publicans singular message. I visited the area a year later to interview these publicans. They were all still there. All their pubs were thriving – as was Wetherspoons. Thousands more people were flocking to the place as ‘Spoons acted like a huge magnet and some people – after visiting the cavernous superpub preferred a quieter more cosy pub even though their drinks were more expensive. As for food sales, the old pubs upped their game by providing a more gourmet alternative to ‘Spoon’s canteen-like offering. Those who run Stur Biz are doing a good job, but they cannot make people open new jobs and businesses in the area. These will only come when entrepreneurs are convinced that there will be a market for their products. Yes, there are one or two tired shops in Stur that may be hit but businesses must evolve. AP Hazelbury Bryan
I was frankly offended by Andy Palmer’s story in Tales from the Vale (Nov issue) about him checking out his friend’s new girlfriend. It was patronizing and sexist, and I hope you won’t publish degrading ‘tales’ like that again. Name and address withheld. I think if you read it again (see Andy’s Nov column here) you’ll see he makes exactly the opposite point – that the men involved were completely outwitted by more socially and emotionally sophisticated women who clearly possessed the upper hand – (your female) Ed
We loved your Tales from the Vale piece about giving birds in your garden individual names. Eg Andy Palmer calls the wrens, René, Renata and Renoir, which my children love and they’ve started to do it, which is driving me slightly mad, so thanks for that! But my wife wondered, when the birds disappear for a while does Andy sing, ‘Wren, will I see you again. These precious moments etc’. She also added, ‘bet they don’t publish this!’ BB, Sherborne I hate to disappoint your wife. But I did. And knowing Andy, I can categorically comfirm that yes, he does – Ed.
he Sherborne Antiques Market is! Thanks to your article last month, I went into Sherborne especially to visit it – and I’ve been back twice since. And while there I’ve stopped for (excellent) coffee in two different coffee shops, discovered a number of other small independents and managed some of my Christmas shopping. This is the very best of an independent high street in action, one excellent shop drawing in visitors who then explore further, and in turn bring in more custom as they tell their friends and family. Thankyou for highlighting not just this fantastic shop, but all the small independent shops you share every month, it really has opened my eyes to the diversity I have found since moving to what I’ll admit I thought was a ‘quaint sleepy area’ for my retirement. Janet H Stalbridge
Marston Church is a beautiful 18th century church less than 2 miles from Frome. Used occasionally for church services, new life is being brought to the building as a music venue. Starting with a Daisy Chapman concert during the Frome Festival, regular open mic sessions on Sunday afternoons have brought performances from some wonderfully talented singers and musicians who love the accoustics and enjoy the setting.
On 15th December Frome actor, Pip Utton, will perform his solo play “A Christmas Carol” in the character of Charles Dickens. Says organiser John Salmon “Those who have seen Pip will know this is not a performance to be missed. Those who haven’t – well here’s your chance.“ On 22nd December Belshazzar’s Feast are showing their celebrated Christmas show that mixes folk, pop and classical music with superb wit and dry humour. John adds “tickets are just £15, and selling fast, so please don’t be disappointed.” For details of all our Marston events please keep an eye on www.marstonmusic.co.uk.
After over 30 years of making jams and chutneys to raise funds for Okeford Fitzpaine Village Hall, local resident Anthea Calcott has decided to stop creating her popular preserves which have featured at fetes and sales in the area. Anthea is also a recycling genius- as everything has been sourced from gluts or windfalls. An incredible £21,000 has been raised over the years from jam and chutney sales which has contributed to improvements at the village hall.
Oxford’s Bakery was established by Frank Oxford in 1911 at Alweston, near Sherborne. For this month’s A Country Living, Rachael Rowe spoke with Steve Oxford, the families fourth generation baker to be working the same 100 year old oven.
Image by Rachael Rowe
When I arrive at Oxford’s Bakery in Alweston, owner Steve Oxford is showing two baking students how to check for a sticky bottom on a Dorset lardy cake. He’s also reminding them about a dirty underpants test and other top baking tips (you need to book a course to find out the answers). It’s the end of the day for Peter and Penny who are busy packing up bags and trays of scones, fruit bread, cottage rolls and more after enjoying themselves on the traditional baking course. But there’s a lot more to the work at Oxford’s Bakery as I find out after asking Steve.
How did you get into the baking business? “Ever since an Oxford could reach the bench here, we have been baking things. I started making cottage rolls when I was six. I didn’t think I would get into this, but I helped at places like the Dorset Steam Fair. In the 90’s it was not cool to be a baker. I was a DJ at the time and lived in Bournemouth. I had a choice of working in Abu Dhabi or helping Dad in the bakery. I went to Wareham Farmers market, and people there said how they would love to have a bakery. I realised that I could add value by using quality. Within six months I turned Oxford’s Bakery into a limited company.”
The old way
The bakery was formed in 1911 when Frank Oxford moved from Sturminster Marshall to Alweston and took the lease. He married the same year “Two of the most expensive things he did,” says Steve with a grin. The 1921 oven is still used today – and the baking tins are 75 years old. The bakery has used Stoate & Sons flour, from Cann Mill in Shaftesbury, for over 100 years. Steve still makes bread with just the basic four ingredients – flour, salt, water and yeast.
What’s an average day like at Oxford’s Bakery? “Since the pandemic, this bakery works 22 hours a day. The night bakers set the doughs using a traditional sponge and dough method. They use pre-ferments made 24 hours earlier. Night bakers bake all the goods. The day bakers set the doughs
for the night bakers. At 6am there is another set of people such as the pastry chef They also do a lot of prepping for the next day.” So you have three shifts? “There are essentially three shifts. We spread out the staff, which avoids all of us having to isolate at once. We started this system in the pandemic.”
Image by Rachael Rowe
The impact of lockdown
I saw a look in Steve’s eyes as he recalled the early days of the pandemic. “Before they even started talking about furlough and lockdown we knew we’d keep going. Rather than shut down I put out a video on social media that said we would keep baking. This oven never stops – apart from Christmas Day. I said we will provide bread to whoever needs it. We delivered it for free. Sixty five thousand people saw that video. “We went from having five shops and a bakery to being a Dorset-wide call centre. We got supplies of local eggs and cheese as all the delis were shut. Butter was scarce. We ran a delivery service using local taxi drivers and even students. And on the day after the prime minister made his lockdown speech I had 521 messages on my phone. It was the only time I cried after work. It was the adrenaline and a sense of relief. “I recall going into Sturminster Newton with a load of bread for the bakery.
The people of Stur were queued up outside all masked up. And they all cheered and clapped. I’m so humbled by the people of Sturminster Newton and how they have supported us. It makes getting up in the morning worthwhile.
In the pandemic, people changed their shopping habits. They took an interest in local producers. We now have more people just buying a loaf of bread from us.”
Image by Rachael Rowe
When is your busiest time?
Well Christmas is our third busiest time of year. The busiest is the summer holidays. We have shops in places like Canford Cliffs and Dorchester that get lots of tourists. And festivals are important to us and a big part of our business. I could go from selling a Dorset lardy cake at the Steam Fair to an oat milk latte and vegan sausage roll at Larmer Tree.”
What one item from your range at Oxford’s Bakery would you recommend?
“Without a doubt an Oxford’s sourdough (in our Random 19 feature, Masterchef winner and local chef Mat Follas named Oxford’s as the shop he can’t pass without going in,purely for the sourdough – Ed). And that’s down to Dave the Bread, our excellent head baker. If I was on a desert island, I’d go for the Eccles cake and a Dorset lardy cake.”
What would you advise anyone wanting to come into the bakery industry? “Lots of people want to come into the business – they see it is really busy. But you always need to be on top of the quality. If you put an effort into the ingredients you source, it shines through into your products. There’s an old saying: ‘Happy Baker – happy bread’
If you could change the Bake Off, what would you do? (Steve gives me a look). “I don’t really watch it! But a real baker would need to be able to produce those creations 300 days a year and be consistent. The key to being a professional baker is consistency. I wouldn’t really change that programme. What I would do is get some really knowledgeable people with years of experience to share their knowledge with the public. It’s the difference between a personal brand and skills.”
Image by Rachael Rowe
What has been the highlight of your career? “Oh Man, I’ve done a few things! I have baked the world’s largest Victoria sponge. I have also been to Darjeeling and Nepal, teaching local hotels how to make a traditional English afternoon tea. However… without a doubt the highlight has been being able to work with my family. And to work with the people I love.”
If you’re interested in gifting one of Steve’s courses for Christmas, or are keen to book one for yourself, at time of publishing Steve promised he was ‘just about to’ update the website with new 2022 dates: https://www.oxfordsbakery.co.uk/
‘Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.’ So began the greatest occasion in Sherborne’s literary history, and there is no doubt whatever about that either.
The date was December 21, 1854, and the man reading the opening line of A Christmas Carol to an enraptured audience was none other than Charles Dickens himself. What’s more, this was only the second time that Dickens had read his famous Christmas ghost story in public, which makes the occasion even more historic.
Dickens didn’t love Sherborne
Whether the great man was entirely happy to be there is open to question. According to Vickie Macintosh, of Macintosh Antiques in Newland, where the reading took place, Dickens complained to William Macready, who organised the event: ‘Must I come? The place smells of cowshit.’
Macready, a Shakespearean actor and manager of London’s Covent
Garden Theatre, was a great friend of Dickens, who dedicated his third novel, Nicholas Nickelby, to him. So the cow-poo comment was probably made at least half in jest. But perhaps only half, for Dickens had visited Sherborne before and sampled its aromas with his own nostrils. ‘A public health report in 1852 tells us there was raw sewage running down the walls of Greenhill and that the stench in Half Moon Street was unbearable,’ Sherborne historian Katherine Barker tells me. ‘At the bottom of town, the boys used to block the sewers.’
Sherborne Literary and Scientific Institution Macready had become a major figure in Sherborne since retiring from the London stage in 1851 and moving his family to Sherborne House in Newland, which he rented from Lord Digby. Within months of his arrival he agreed to become president of the Sherborne Literary and Scientific Institution. In June 1854 the Institution moved its headquarters from Cheap Street to the former stable block next to Sherborne House, where it hosted classes and lectures and maintained a fast- growing library. Proceeds from Dickens’ reading would be used to add to the library but preparations for his visit did not go smoothly. The original plan was to hold the reading in the then Town Hall in Half Moon Street, which could accommodate a larger audience. But some townsfolk expressed their ‘dissatisfaction’ with the admission price of five shillings. (25p – worth about £15 today). It didn’t help that the reading was fixed for 2pm on December 21, which clashed with Sherborne’s last market before Christmas.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A public convenience
Six days before Dickens was due to appear, ticket sales were so slow that the Institution decided to switch the event to their Newland premises.
They even commissioned construction of a toilet block, which Vickie says was Sherborne’s first public loo. Rachel Hassall, Sherborne School’s senior archivist, writes that the change of venue ‘originated in the sensitive desire to compliment Mr Dickens with a full house’.
Macready was outraged. He felt that five shillings was not an unreasonable charge and that Sherborne was snubbing his illustrious chum.
‘A crown, what is it?’ he lamented. ‘The cost of a bottle of bad wine swallowed at a public dinner? The price of a local ball ticket? A sum so often squandered and frittered away when we cannot tell where the money goes?
‘But for a definite and intellectual and laudable object, 5 shillings was found to be a very large sum of money indeed, and it soon became evident that to avoid “the beggarly account of empty boxes” that would have insulted Mr Dickens and disgraced the locality, fresh arrangements must be made.’
According to the Sherborne Mercury, Dickens passed through Yeovil on the afternoon of December 20 on his way to Sherborne. It’s assumed that he travelled by train to Frome and thence by carriage, although passenger trains now reached Yeovil following the opening of Hendford station the previous year.
Twenty-four hours later he stood on the stairs at the present-day Macintosh Antiques building to deliver his reading in a ‘quiet, unaffected tone’.
‘The room was crowded to excess, and many were unable to obtain admission,’ reported the Mercury. ‘The reading occupied nearly three hours, to the great delight of the audience.’ The reading raised £22 for the library fund, equivalent to about £1,300 today.
The money was spent on many great works of English literature including a ‘cheap edition’ of Dickens’ own books. Macready remained in Sherborne until 1860, by which time his wife and at least three of his children had died, among godson, Henry. Sherborne House now held too many unhappy memories and the former actor moved his family members to Cheltenham. In 2003 the Friends of Sherborne House hosted an in-costume re- enactment of the Dickens reading at the original venue with John Flint in the starring role.
Macintosh antiques by Roger Guttridge
To buy a copy of Katherine Barker’s £5 booklet on Macready, Dickens and the Sherborne Literary Institution, email: [email protected]
