Gerry Cook
Husband to Caroline, and father to Stephen and Annabel, died at home in Mere on 22 August.
Short service at Salisbury Crematorium at 1300 on 9th September. Please contact Caroline if you wish to attend or view the livestream.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be sent to Salisbury Hospice Charity: Contact them via www.salisburyhospicecharity.org.uk/get-involved/make-a-donation or on 01722 416 353.
Local established business looking to recruit a number of positions. Working from our Dorchester office.
We offer competitive rates of pay, pension scheme, PAYE and friendly working environment, carrying out various projects across the South Coast.
Self-motivated, driven individual with a background of project management, responsible for delivering projects of various sizes and values. Full driving licence essential.
Team player, able to work on own initiative, flexible approach, good customer communication skills. Full driving licence essential.
With experience of installation of water supply and mains water and general ground works. Full driving licence essential.
Motivated individual, willing to learn our trade within the water industry. Must have a can do attitude.
To join our small service team to undertake various service works around the south. Full driving licence essential.
All applications and CV’s to be sent to [email protected]
Hot on the heels of the Dorset crop circle that appeared on Okeford Hill a few weeks ago, a stunning new design has appeared in a field close to the trailway just outside Blandford. We covered Dorset’s Okeford Hill crop circle last month, and the NFU spokesperson told us it caused over £600 of wheat damage.
There is also always the concern for the landowner over ever more costly damage being caused by visitors to the site trespassing and trampling further crops. The Okeford Hill circle was in a quiet location and didn’t draw massive crowds – however this crop circle in Blandford may be of more concern.
Despite there being no public footpath or legal access to the field, it is easily accessible alongside the popular trailway walking and cycling route, and close to a busy road.
Crop circles and their origins have spawned years of debate and speculation, and continue to hold massive interest – no matter your belief in their mysterious creation. Crop circles are innately beautiful and cryptic, and inevitably fascinate people. Some believe that crop circles are used as a message from a foreign species. That perhaps they represent some sort of alien language. Others believe that they are simply a hoax by creative people who wish to scare or stun the people who view them.
But whatever the belief in their source, crop circles have a long and vibrant history with many legends swirling around them. The first appearance of a crop circle was in England 1678; the “Mowing Devil” was the first reported incident of a crop circle, and the farmer who found the circle said that there was ‘a devilish entity that visited his field’.
Doug Bower and Dave Chorley created hundreds of crop circles in the ‘90s, and openly explained how they did it; yet people continued to believe that it was done by aliens.
In the early ‘70s, when the first modernized version of the crop circle appeared, the best way to complete it was with a rope and plank (creating a centre point with a post, then tying a string to it to work out from there to maintain the symmetry and geometry). However, in modern times, GPS is accepted as playing a role in the creation of the circles. Professor Richard Taylor, director of the Materials Science Institute at the University of Oregon, said that advanced technology could be the source for the shapes.
“The modern patterns which involves elaborate geometric shapes suggests that circle makers have upped their equipment from the simple plank and rope to something more technologically sophisticated. GPS systems could help the circle makers cover vast spaces and keep the pattern intact”.
With the easily-available modern technology, it doesn’t seem unlikely that a human could make such a sophisticated design in crops – but crop circle artists aren’t going to give up their secrets any time soon. Whether the creation is supernatural or not, the mystery behind the creation of the circles is still key to holding people’s interest in the beautiful designs.
Milton Abbey are looking to appoint a qualified and enthusiastic School Farm Manager to support the teaching and delivery of co-curricular activities in the Land Based Studies Department. The successful applicant will be responsible for the management and maintenance of the School Farm. A passion for high standards of animal welfare is essential and we are very interested in applicants with equine or shoot management expertise, although this is not essential.
The role is full time and all year round. The successful applicant will have experience of managing farm livestock and maintaining machinery. Qualifications in land-based subjects is an advantage, as is licenses for equipment like RTV and chainsaw.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Specific responsibilities include the following, although this list is by no means exhaustive:
TERMS OF APPOINTMENT:
Click the link below to download the application form:
Further details may be obtained from Milton Abbey on 01258 880484 or email [email protected].
Applications must be submitted on the School’s application form. The closing date for applications is noon on 12:00 noon on Thursday 2nd September 2021.
Milton Abbey School is committed to safe guarding and promoting the welfare of children. The appointment will be the subject of an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Regular monthly Blackmore Vale property commentary column in the Blackmore Vale from Susie and Brad the North Dorset Team at Meyers
The Post-Pandemic Housing Market
The current property market “resembles a supermarket in the early hours of lockdown: the shelves are bare”.
The demand for houses is still very high; we have a huge list of applicants on our books looking for a home – to no avail.
The ratio of sold to available properties is at its lowest ever level since 2002, and it has been a very difficult few months trying to manoeuvre our way through this new market, which simply cannot be maintained long term.
However, a steady return to normality is predicted after September when the final stamp duty relief ends and the market becomes less frenzied. This should encourage more sellers to list their properties for sale and therefore initiate a greater balance to return. This is welcoming news to those in rented, first time buyers and investors.
Until such time, and while the market remains in its current state, we have a few tips to help you secure your next home:
Get an Agreement in Principle from your mortgage advisors so you are ready to go if the perfect house comes on the market.
Ring around your local estate agents and register as an applicant, at the moment, we are often selling our houses to our registered applicant before they even hit internet portals.
Set up portal alerts (on sites such as Rightmove) so that you are notified as soon as a new property within your budget and location comes on the market.
If you are a current homeowner looking to move, ensure your home is either sold or up together on the market ready to be sold as soon as possible.
On another note, we are delighted to announce that Meyers Shaftesbury won The British Property Gold Award 2021 and have been nominated for a number of further national awards!
Please get in touch for any property advice or a free expert valuation on your home:
No, neither had we, but some of the team at Blanchards Bailey are going to find out this August.
The Dorset-based law firm have put together a team of twenty professionals to pull the 35,000kg aeroplane 50 meters in as fast a time as possible. Of course, there is a great reason for this plane pull challenge; the goal is to raise as much money, as possible, for the firm’s charity of the year, The GAP Project run by Dorset Mind.
The GAP Project provides eco-therapy support services to help improve people’s mental health by connecting with others and tending to allotments in Dorchester.
The aim is to get people outside and more active by gardening and maintaining the charity’s allotments. The GAP project has been set up by Meyers Estate Agents and Dorset Mind.
Dorset Mind are independent and responsible for their own funding – so when you donate, you know that your money benefits people who live in Dorset.
Their support groups educate people about the signs and symptoms of mental ill health, and how to develop new coping skills. The charity also run an accredited one-to-one befriending programme, designed to help people regain confidence and social skills.
Ben Jones, Partner at Blanchards Bailey said:
“Mental health awareness is so vital, now more than ever. Our lifestyles have been considerably different over the last eighteen months and the restricted contact we have endured has had a huge impact on people’s mental wellbeing. The GAP Project helps overcome those difficulties by facilitating safe interaction with others in a relaxing outdoor environment which is conducive to positive mental health.
The team at Blanchards Bailey will also be volunteering at the allotments to make sure they are in tip-top condition! What’s more, the GAP project has recently taken on a second premises at Red Cow Farm in Dorchester to form a new eco therapy garden. We’re looking forward to helping the GAP project get the land ready for the next phase of this exciting initiative.”
By: Laura Hitchcock
This article comes off the back of completing one of the most challenging races I have done both mentally and physically.
The weekend of the 17/18th July saw me and a handful of my fellow Dorset Doddlers travel up to the Lake District to tackle the last ever Man Vs Lakes in what was the hottest weekend so far this year with temperatures reaching 28/29°C.
The race started with us crossing the quicksands of Morecombe Bay before heading off into what was a rollercoaster of hills and forests. This included Rat Races infamous ‘vertical kilometre’ as well as the opportunity to take a quick dip in the lakes themselves, which I have to say was quite refreshing in the blistering heat! As always the company of my fellow Dorset Doddlers was without question one of the reasons I completed day 1 of this epic adventure, crossing the finish line in Coniston like the 4 musketeers.
With 28 plus miles already in my legs, waking up and getting ready for the second day was in itself a mental challenge. In the bus on the way to the start line it dawned on me that I may have to face sea to Scarfell on my own. I was the only one crazy enough to upgrade to the second day. Pretty sure there was alcohol being consumed at the time of booking! For those that know me, I’m renowned for getting lost, so with the second day being self-navigating I was immediately a little nervous. I mean, 32 miles is long enough, I didn’t want to make it any longer. Thankfully I found a fellow runner to buddy up with, which was a massive relief for the both of us, keeping each other going through the picturesque views and gruelling climbs.
If you had asked me 5 years ago whether I would ever be running the distances I do now I would have said ‘you must be joking!’. It just goes to show that your body and mind is capable of so much more than you think it is. If you believe you can, you will.
By: Mel Mitchell
The Wingfield Digby family is delighted to announce that Sherborne Castle re-opened it doors on Friday 23 July.
Visitors can walk in the footsteps of royalty & Sir Walter Raleigh, see magnificent staterooms and nationally important collections of art, furniture and porcelain. The key episodes of history come to life through the “Great Stories of the Castle” series.
New for 2021: the recently restored billiard room, plus a new museum showcasing family curios such as
Lord Digby’s false teeth a skull with a bullet that was lodged in the eye socket from the Civil war 17th Century Deed boxes – lined with ‘the last sayings of a mouse, lately starved in a cupboard’
This immersive and interactive experience includes smell boxes to bring the displays to life.
Children can take the Castle Quiz and enjoy the Garden Trail.
Explore acres of ‘Capability Brown’ landscaped garden surrounding a lake – a free-to-download garden audio tour is available to intriduce you to 30 garden features including a cascade, fossil house, orangery, folly and Raleigh’s seat.
And when you’re finished exploring, treat yourself to a West Country cream tea in the tearoom or a chilled glass of their very own Sherborne Castle wine?
The Castle & Gardens are open seven days a week:
Gardens from 10am,
Castle from 12pm
(last admission to Castle 3pm).
Up to four children free under 16 with every paying adult.
There is no need to pre-book.
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