Save the Children patron HRH The Princess Royal comes to Sherborne – Jenny Devitt speaks to organiser Anne Dearle about her 30th concert

Friday 13th is not usually considered an auspicious date, but this September it turned out to be the best of days for Anne Dearle and her Save the Children volunteer colleagues. By special invitation, the Princess Royal visited – her third engagement in a busy day – to hear a concert of beautiful choral music performed by the Gentlemen of St John’s College, Cambridge in Sherborne’s Cheap Street Church. The occasion? To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the annual concert organised by Anne Dearle to raise funds for Save the Children.
This year’s concert raised more than £11,000 – more than any of the previous concerts, helping Save the Children to respond within hours of emergencies, whenever and wherever disaster strikes.
Dorset’s new Lord Lieutenant Michael Dooley greeted Princess Anne outside Sherborne Boys’ School and presented her to High Sheriff Anthony Woodhouse (dressed in the eye-catching traditional Court Dress worn by all High Sheriffs since the mid-1700s), then to Dorset Council’s chair, Councillor Stella Jones, Sherborne Mayor Robin Legg and his fiancée (now Mrs. Legg – they married the next day!), West Dorset MP Edward Morello and Anne Dearle. The Princess Royal then joined a packed Cheap Street Church congregation, who were treated to a concert of choral music ranging from Orlando Gibbons to traditional folk songs and barber shop melodies. Pupils from Leweston School accompanied the first piece, after an afternoon workshop with the choir of St John’s.

A final chorus
This was not just the 30th Sherborne concert for Save the Children, it was also the last Anne Dearle organised. A former Hanford School teacher, Anne remembers the chance invitation to a Save the Children concert at Port Regis School that marked the beginning of her involvement. In 1994 the singers came from world-famous King’s College, Cambridge, and Anne was told by the charity’s Shaftesbury branch that the cost meant it would be a one-off. She suggested it could be held at Hanford School, and organised by the relatively new Blandford branch of Save the Children. A year later the event moved to Bryanston School and word spread about the quality of the concert and singers. It soon became an eagerly anticipated annual event at Bryanston, even after Anne retired and moved to Sherborne in 2006.
“Her” singers now came not from King’s, but the equally-excellent Cambridge choir of St. John’s, which has built up an affectionate relationship with their Dorset host.
As so often happens in recent years, COVID changed everything. Anne says: ‘It was obvious that a new plan was necessary. Reluctantly, we rejected the idea of commandeering a coach (to ferry Sherborne’s music lovers to Bryanston) and so we had to leave the generous hospitality of Bryanston. Instead, we decided to hold the concert at Cheap Street Church in Sherborne, where we have been since 2021, with the enthusiastic support of Leweston School.
‘I had no idea, 30 years ago, that the modest £124 we raised that first evening would be the start of three decades of successful fundraising – and of immense pleasure for appreciative audiences.
‘Miracles do happen.’
The attendance of Princess Anne, former president and now patron of Save the Children, was a fitting end for the hard-working former teacher who has organised the concerts for three decades.

Supporters hope it isn’t the end for the beloved Stalbridge arts centre and its legacy as a creative hub for the area – Rachael Rowe reports

People in Stalbridge and across North Dorset have a soft spot for Guggleton Arts Farm – known locally as the Gugg – which has been a centre of creativity for more than 25 years. So when it was recently announced that the Gugg’s farm buildings and premises were being sold, residents quickly took to social media to share their thoughts on its future, while acknowledging the reasons for its sale.
‘This place has brought a little bit of me out of myself this year, and I can’t thank them enough,’ said one message. Another called it ‘the lungs of Stalbridge,’ while others expressed that ‘it changed my life’ and described it as ‘such a special place,’ revealing the deep affection for The Gugg.
Isabel de Pelet set up Guggleton Arts Farm in 1995, converting the buildings in Station Road, Stalbridge, into galleries and artists’ workshops. She is well-known for promoting local artists and championing the creative arts in Dorset. Many young people and artists have benefitted from her inspirational leadership at The Gugg and gone on to develop careers in the creative arts world. She received the Order of the British Empire Medal in 2015 in the New Year’s Honours list, for her services to artists in Dorset. Following her retirement, the premises are being sold.
Deanne Tremlett manages The Gugg today and is currently considering options for the future of the arts centre.

Interest Company (CIC) in 2020: its guiding principle is to offer opportunities to everyone to explore their own creativity within its spaces.
‘I got involved because I needed a studio,’ Deanne says. ‘I attended the Slade School and then Wimbledon as a postgraduate. I fetched up in Stalbridge one day to see Isabel, as I remembered she had studios. She said: ‘Do you want the whole place eventually?’ We both saw eye to eye on artistic things and how the Gugg promotes well-being and a sense of community.
‘Isabel said to me: “Will you run the Gugg for me in exchange for a studio?” – I accepted, set up a CIC and a team of volunteers.
‘What’s special about the Gugg is that it’s a very non-judgemental place. We also look to collaborate with others, and we’re very experimental. We look at what can be done rather than try to fit everything into a box.’

Young artist programme
If you have never visited the Gugg, or looked at its website, you might be surprised at the astonishing variety of events and exhibitions. There are ceramics workshops, open mic sessions, live music, children’s ‘Guggleheads’ art activities, mixed media art classes, coffee knit and natter, exhibitions, comedy nights, Christmas wreath workshops … and much more. There is literally something for everyone – even if that’s just a place to stop for a cup of coffee and a chat.
Fanny Charles, who was the editor of the original Stalbridge-based Blackmore Vale Magazine for 23 years, remembers the early days of Guggleton Farm (as it was then): ‘I knew Isabel because of our mutual interest in visual arts. After she completed her degree in environmental arts at the University of the West of England, she talked to me about her plans for the farm, which she owned. At the time it was fairly run-down, with slightly dilapidated stone buildings and an old Dutch barn. But it had character – and real promise as an unusual venue.
‘It took a lot of work to get the yard and the buildings ready, but it was so exciting when Isabel was able to start organising exhibitions. She had an amazing eye for talent, and one of the most consistently exciting parts of her programme was the annual young artists show, in late autumn. She showed work by emerging artists and people who were barely out of art school – some of them have gone on to great success.’

The Young Artist exhibition is now in its 19th year, renamed the Isabel de Pelet Young Artist of the Year Competition.

‘The old stone building in the centre of the yard was the gallery from the start, but the project took a big step forward when Isabel was able to have the new floor put in to create a second space.
‘As well as Guggleton, Isabel was a leading figure in the visual arts scene in the region. She used to organise the hanging for the exhibition at the Royal Bath & West Show. One year, she asked me to help her and that was a real eye-opener. Hanging an exhibition is not an easy job. Hanging an exhibition with hundreds of pictures, from spectacular paintings by leading regional artists to little watercolours and family portraits, in a way that allows them all to look their best – that’s a real art. And Isabel was brilliant at it. I hope her legacy can continue and that the current team at the Gugg can find a way to keep going.’

Deanne has lots of happy memories of the Gugg but there’s one that sticks out for her:
‘It was just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We thought, what can we do? So we asked our artists to donate one item of art for an auction. Gordon Brockman from the Antiques Roadshow came and we raised £5,000 for the Disaster Emergency Committee. It was a fantastic night.’
While dealing with the sale of the premises, the team at the Gugg are very supportive of Isabel and her family.
‘We completely understand the need for Isabel’s family to sell the premises for her sake. Isabel has given so much to the community and now she needs the gift back.’

guggletonfarmarts.com