With Easter approaching, it might seem like a great time to buy an ‘Easter Bunny’. While rabbits make lovely pets it is always important to do your research before getting a new animal to care for.
Your main considerations when deciding whether to take on a pet rabbit should be whether you can provide enough space and suitable housing, the right kind of company (rabbits are very social animals and should be kept in pairs/small groups), the correct diet and suitable healthcare. It is always an exciting time to get a new pet but it is important that you can commit to being able to care for them lifelong; the current estimate from the PDSA on the cost of owning a rabbit ranges from £6,500 up to as much as £30,000 for their lifetime and they can live up to 10 years. Choosing the right bunny for you should be well thought through and ideally we would always recommend rehoming from a reputable rescue centre, such as Margaret Green Animal Rescue based in Church Knowle in Dorset. If you are thinking about getting a rabbit check out the PDSA website for more information on caring for them and recommended suitable housing.
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During Easter time the amount of chocolate in your home will most likely be on the rise. This is great for you, however not so great for your dogs!
Chocolate contains an ingredient called theobromine; this is hard for dogs to digest allowing it to build up to toxic levels in their system very quickly.
Different chocolate has different levels of theobromine. Cocoa, cooking chocolate and dark chocolate have the highest levels of theobromine where as white and milk chocolate have the lowest. This is why it is very important to know what type of chocolate your pet has eaten so the vet can assess the toxicity correctly.
The amount that is fatal to your pet depends on its size. For example a St Bernard could eat more chocolate than a Chihuahua before it would become ill whereas the Chihuahua wouldn’t need much at all to make it poorly.
In large doses chocolate can be fatal to dogs. It can cause seizures, irregular heartbeat, internal bleeding and heart attacks.
To try and reduce the risk of your pet getting hold of any chocolate try and keep any chocolate out of reach of your dog, securely stored away from them and sealed.
If your pet has ingested chocolate we advise you call your vet immediately. The usual protocol is to induce vomiting within two hours of the consumption to ensure there is no chocolate left in the dogs system.
The month of March has been very productive at Rawston, with most of the spring planting completed. Spring beans have been sown providing home grown protein for our cattle and hopefully some to sell. Also spring barley has been sown using varieties suitable for beer making. Let’s there will be good demand the summer when we can go to the Pub again ! March is also a busy monthfor us spreading our organic manure produced from cows and calves during the winter months. The manure is mianly straw based and is spread on the land and incorporated into the soil before sowing , providing nutrients for the crop and maintaining soil organic matter .
We have also started grazing our dairy cows who seem to be enjoying the freedom of grazing grass again. Hopefully as we move into april more cattle will be able to go out into the fields again saving a considerable amount of feed, straw and time in looking after them inside. With the large numbers of walkers currently enjoying the countryside at the moment let’s hope that we can all work together using the countryside code to prevent any issuses involving livestock. We have an Aberdeen Angus bull on the farm so I must make sure he is in an appropriate field with other cattle to minimise any risk to the public.
Fred Fudge Rawston’s herdsman in the 1950’s with a twin of friesian calves.
Within the farming community there has been much debate regarding the Red Tractor consultation. Hopefully most consumers understand what the Red Tractor Logo stands for on food produce for sale .This produce would have had to meet certain standards on animal welfare, the growing and storing of the food products in order to be Red Tractor Assured. In order to become assured an assessor will inspect the farm and any associated records on an annual basis. There is currently an consultation to review the standards which many growers feel are adequate as any increase in standards will increase the cost to the producer without necessarily getting an increased return. Perhaps more emphasis should be put on increasing the awareness amongst consumers as to what the Red Tractor stands for. Hopefully consumers will understand the importance of buying Red Tractor Assured food as it would have been produced to a high standard and produced in this country. Currently many food poructs that are imported are not produced to the same standard. Here at Rawston Farm we are promoting the Love Local Trust Local logo to highlight that food with this logo has been produced locally to a high standard and is fully traceable.
Interestingly looking at my families 1921 diary there is no mention of food assursance ! Looking in the diary I see one hundred years ago one of the highlights of april was a fancy dress ball in in Blandford Corn Exchange . Let’s hope that when the current lockdown is over we can look forward to similar events.
Although the gates to Monkey World have been closed for the majority of this past year, the centre has still been bustling with activity!
The animals have given us routine and we have directed all our energies into keeping them fit, well and stimulated in their rehabilitated family groups.
All 260 rescued primates enjoyed natural enrichment, as the gardening team cleared bamboo from the public areas of the park. A-mei, one of our female orangutans, enjoyed making a nest out of it, while Bart’s chimps chewed on this rarely had snack!
The chimps enjoyed Christmas stockings; football socks stuffed with walnuts, oranges and other treats, which provided hours of fun, as the chimps had to balance up high and un-tie the socks from the hoses.
Rescues have also been ongoing, but this year, limited to monkeys trapped in the legal UK pet trade. Through lockdown, humans have realised how hard it is for social beings to be taken from their families, restricted access to the outside and had their natural behaviours curbed – and yet we still find monkeys being bought as pets and kept alone, in small birdcages in living rooms right here in Britain.
Thankfully the team have also been busy working with the government on banning the keeping of primates as pets in England – so we’re hopeful this is coming to an end.
Now spring is upon us and we are looking forward to welcoming in a fresh start – and now real visitors too! To ensure that visitors, staff and primates are safe, we’ve installed many hand sanitiser stations, limited entry numbers and introduced a pre-booking system online. All visitors aged 3+ will be required to wear a face mask, covering or visor. These steps are necessary to protect our vulnerable rescued and endangered primates, who our dedicated staff have worked so hard to protect over the past year and keep healthy and happy!
The park is now open for visitors; Prebooking is essential of course – https://monkeyworld.org/book-tickets/ – and Monkey World ask that everyone in your party has downloaded the NHS Covid-19 app prior to arriving at the park. They’re also always grateful to anyone arriving with old blankets, towels & fresh fruit and veg! If you’d like to support the work they’re doing but can’t make it to the park for a visit, then maybe stop by their Amazon wishlist – both the orangutan team and small monkey team have requests on there currently! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishlist/1FPR1E46E31BS
Featuring assigned and socially distanced seating, Covid-safe steam trains have resumed between Norden, Corfe Castle and Swanage – after the lifting of Government restrictions. Southern Railway 1940s Battle of Britain class Bulleid Pacific No. 34072 ‘257 Squadron’ haul the first steam train out of Swanage since Tuesday, 29 December, 2020. Swanage Railway trustee and passenger services director Trevor Parsons said: “It was wonderful to smell steam in the air and watch the magnificent sight of a steam train, with excited passengers on board, leave Swanage station for the first time in almost four months.
Swanage Railway were Ward Goodman‘s selected charity for their charity pages in our April issue:
The Coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the Swanage Railway and, like many businesses; it was forced to suspend all of its services a year ago when the first lockdown came into effect.
Following Government requirements to keep the public safe, we were subsequently able to operate some services during the peak of last summer and in to the autumn although social distancing regulations significantly reduced capacity on trains. December, 2020, saw the introduction of a new attraction to the Swanage Railway and the Isle of Purbeck, a Covid-safe train of steam and lights which was extremely popular – so much so that it is planned to offer these festive trains again in December, 2021.
Following Government guidelines to keep the public safe, the fund-raising gift shop at Swanage station remained open while the steam trains were running but, sadly, it has been closed since the end of December. Income was very badly affected by the Covid pandemic and had it not been for a successful Save Our Service appeal for donations, support arising from the Government’s Job Retention Scheme and a fund-raising team that successfully bid for a number of grants, the picture could have been very different. It had been hoped to resume services between Swanage and Wareham in 2020 but this was not possible and, indeed, this is unlikely to be possible until 2022.
Despite the on-going difficulties of living with coronavirus – and following Government requirements and guidelines to keep people safe – volunteers and other staff have not been idle during the winter and have been carrying out essential maintenance work; work that can’t be carried out when trains are running. Major repairs were undertaken at the New Barn bridge – two miles from Swanage – which involved repairs to the structure and the track. The Swanage Railway is responsible for a number of bridges that pass over roads and safety is of paramount importance. Essential work has also been undertaken to maintain the signalling systems but one of the largest pieces of work undertaken was to replace to boiler on 1920s Southern Railway U Class locomotive 31806 with a refurbished boiler. The work took three months, in sometimes inclement weather conditions, and the quality of the work produced is a credit to the team of skilled locomotive fitters.
With spring in the air, our dedicated staff and volunteers are now preparing for the Swanage Railway to re-open, in a Covid-safe manner with assigned socially distanced seating on the trains, on Monday, 12 April, 2021. Steam locomotives have been cleaned, fuelled and lubricated prior to being tested. In order to ensure the competency of operational staff after long break, test trains – carrying no passengers –are now operating daily. It is not just locomotive crews that need to be refreshed but also signalmen, guards and those who staff the booking offices, the shop and hopefully catering facilities – including the Wessex Belle train. The optimism is tangible. We hope that passengers will return this summer and allow us to return to normality, reminding people of what steam locomotives were really like while also helping to enhance the local economy. More details of train services can be found by visiting our website at www.swanagerailway.co.uk. We look forward to welcoming you to the Swanage Railway.
Andrew Moore,
Finance Director.
29 March 2021.
Every month, Ward Goodman provide space in the magazine for a local charity to shout about their cause, raise awareness of activities, call for help or simply let people know they are there.
There is currently a ban on Bailiffs and High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs) enforcing Possession Orders at residential properties except in the most serious of cases such as for extreme antisocial behaviour and where there are more than 6 months of rent arrears. However Landlords are not prevented from serving Notices on Tenants and bringing possession claims in the County Court if the Tenants do not leave. The courts are granting Possession Orders ordering Tenants to leave. The difficulty in getting your property back arises if the Tenant refuses to leave the property on the date ordered by the court.
The ban on enforcement is currently in place until 31 May 2021 which means that eviction appointments cannot take place earlier than 14 June 2021 as Bailiffs and HCEOs need to give the Tenants at least 14 days’ notice of their eviction date.
The starting point to getting your property back is by serving a Notice on the Tenant. The current notice periods are: Section 21 – 6 months. Section 8 for rent arrears of under 6 months – 6 months.
Section 8 for rent arrears of over 6 months – 4 weeks. Section 8 Notices for antisocial behaviour – a claim may be brought the same day.
If the Tenants do not vacate the property after the Notice expires then a claim must be brought in the County Court to obtain a Possession Order.
Electrical Safety in Residential Properties – For all new tenancies created from 1 July 2020 it has been a legal requirement to have an electrical safety inspection carried out by a qualified person and a copy of the report given to the Tenant before they move in. For tenancies that existed before 1 July 2020, Landlords must now ensure that an electrical safety inspection is carried out and the report given to the Tenant no later than 1 April 2021. The inspection must comply with the safety standards set out in the 2018 edition of the
IET Wiring Regulations. This must be repeated every 5 years and the reports provided to the Tenant each time. A new tenancy should not begin until this has been complied with. There are hefty penalties that may be imposed on Landlords by their Council for failing to do this.
Breathing Space – On 4 May 2021 the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space) will come into force. puts a hold on all debt chasing and will be open to people in debt who want to try and come up with a payment plan without the pressure of creditors chasing them. This will include landlords pursuing Tenants in a Breathing Space. Landlords will not be allowed to contact Tenants direct to discuss or demand rent arrears or take any enforcement action to recover the debt, including possession. The Breathing Space will provide the debtor with a 2 month moratorium in order to try and resolve their debt issues. They are being encouraged to pay rent in this time.
There will also be a mental health crisis breathing space which will be only available to people who are receiving mental health crisis treatment and who are in debt. This Breathing Space has some stronger protections than the standard one and it lasts for as long as the debtor’s mental health crisis treatment does, plus 30 days.
Where there is a joint tenancy, if one of the Tenants enters into a Breathing Space, then that will place a moratorium on the debts for all of the tenants. Section 21 Notices may continue to be served on someone in a Breathing Space and Section 8 Notices may continue to be served as long as they are not in relation to rent arrears. Where there is a Guarantor on a tenancy, you are not prevented from contacting them while a Tenant is in a Breathing Space.
For more information contact Jacqui Swann on 01935 846254 or [email protected]
Pub manager Jamie Clark didn’t believe in ghosts – until the day he moved into the historic King’s Arms Hotel at Blandford in January last year.
By the following morning he not only believed but had accepted the town’s most famous spook ‘into the family’, as he puts it.
‘I’d been telling the builders that I didn’t mind ghosts – that they didn’t bother me,’ said Jamie.
Kings Arms today
‘That night the wind was howling, the bedroom window burst open and I couldn’t get it to close.
‘It was a bit windy outside but not overly so. This was completely different to wind. It was like a vortex in the room.’
The disturbance continued throughout the night and the ghost even strayed into Jamie’s dreams.
‘I think she has some sort of power where she can enter your dreams,’ he said.
‘There are definitely some eerie things around the pub. I’ve never again said that ghosts don’t bother me. I don’t want to upset her.’
The King’s Arms stands at the corner of Bryanston Street and Whitecliff Mill Street on the site of the tallow chandler’s shop where the Great Fire of Blandford began in 1731.
The present pub was built in 1790 and from 1874 was run by John Lewis Marsh, who took over from relative John Lewis and developed a brewery next door that flourished until 1938.
The ghost is said to be that of Amelia – known as Emily – who died in the 1731 fire.
‘Nobody knows exactly where she died but the ghost lives in room 9,’ said Jamie.
‘It doesn’t put off our guests. The previous landlord told me that many actually asked to stay in room 9.
‘One of my customers, who worked here for many years, said she saw the figure of a young girl in the middle of the room.’
The Great Fire of June 4, 1731, was vividly described by the Rev Malachi Blake, a dissenting minister, who lost his home and his church’s meeting house in a disaster that destroyed most of pre-Georgian Blandford.
‘About two of the clock in the afternoon a dismal cry of fire was heard in our streets,’ he wrote.
‘The inhabitants of the place were all soon alarmed; some were called from their business; some, possibly, from their pleasures; some, perhaps, from their cups.
‘The fire first kindled on the outside of a soap-boiler’s house, occasioned (as he conjectures) by sparks that fell from a chimney upon the thatch.
Manager Jamie Clark (left) and his partner Blake Fox with the board recalling the site’s eventful history
‘Some think differently, but all agree [that] it was entirely accidental.’
Blandford’s fire appliances went to work but proved hopelessly inadequate and within half-an-hour were themselves ‘all burnt or rendered unfit for service’.
The changeable north-westerly wind carried the flames in all directions and soon all the adjoining streets were ablaze.
‘The fire spread itself with such speed and fury that everything was soon devoured before it,’ wrote Blake.
‘Not a piece of timber but what was burnt to a coal. The pewter in many houses was not only melted but reduced to ashes by the fervent heat.’
Blandford’s parish registers were lost in the fire but the replacement register lists 12 people as having been ‘burnt and interred’ on June 4.
A later memorial puts the number who perished at 14 but there may have been many more who died as an indirect result of the fire.
Another 37 burials are listed between June 5 and July 13, significantly more than usual for this length of time.
Some may have died of smallpox, which was also raging at the time.
Public buildings lost in the fire included the parish church, the town hall, the schoolhouse, the fire engine house and market house, and the old church almshouses.
All but a dozen of Blandford’s houses and businesses were also engulfed along with parts of nearby Bryanston and Blandford St Mary.
Damage was estimated at £90,000. More than 520 financial ‘sufferers’ are listed with losses ranging from 1 guinea for Mary Flewell to £4,000 for the church.
Donations towards the rebuilding costs flooded in including £1,000 from King George II, £200 from Queen Caroline and £100 from the Prince of Wales.
A typical fire appliance of the mid-18th century
The rebuild was planned and largely carried out by the Bastard family, already a reputable firm of architects, builders and joiners and themselves the greatest private losers to the fire.
The work included 60 temporary homes at the top of Damory Street to accommodate the homeless.
But the main rebuild created the model Georgian twon centre that we know today.
In 1760 John Bastard erected a monument and water pump in the Market Place to commemorate the fire and the raising of the town ‘like the Phoenix from its ashes to its present beautiful and flourishing state’.
Jamie Clark manages the King’s Arms for his brother, Matt, who also runs the White Hart at Sturminster Newton.
They plan to reopen after the latest lockdown on April 12, initially serving drinks in the beer garden.
A planned new housing development on the outskirts of Sturminster Newton is to be called Corallian Heights.
The 9.5-acre site, located off North Fields and bordering Sturminster Newton United Football Club’s pitch.
Contracts for the land, which has outline planning permission for 114 homes, were exchanged last month.
The land deal with Bellway Wessex is for a 9.5-acre site, located off North Fields and bordering Sturminster Newton United Football Club’s pitch.
Dorset Council approved outline plans in April last year, and Bellway is now preparing to submit a reserved matters application in the coming weeks.
Subject to planning approval, the new development will feature 85 two, three and four-bedroom homes for private sale, alongside 29 affordable one and two-bedroom apartments, and two and three-bedroom houses available for local people through rent or shared ownership.
Shaun Petitt
The 114-home scheme will deliver new housing as part of The Artisan Collection, a bespoke range of house types by Bellway which combine traditional craftsmanship with modern construction techniques.
The housebuilder says it will make significant financial investment in local infrastructure and facilities as part of the plans.
Bellway intends to call the development Corallian Heights, with the name derived to pay homage to the limestone geology from the Jurassic period, which is synonymous with Dorset.
Shaun Pettitt, Managing Director, Bellway Wessex, said: “We are planning to deliver a wide selection of different home styles and sizes to meet the needs of house-hunters in this part of Dorset, including families and first time buyers.
“The design of the new homes at the development will reflect the local vernacular of the area, and we will also be providing public open space to complement the existing wooded surrounds to the east of the site.
“This is a sustainable location for new housing, with a range of local facilities within walking distance including Sturminster Leisure Centre close by, as well as schools, shops and services.
“We intend to submit detailed plans in the coming weeks and hope these will be approved so we can begin work later this year.”
