Dorset Mind volunteer Annabel Goddard takes a minute to appreciate how furry friends enhance our lives and affect our mental health
August is an animal lover’s dream – we celebrate both International Cat Day on the 8th and International Dog Day on 26th. While most of us need no excuse to give our furry friends an extra treat or cuddle, it’s worth reflecting on why we love our pets so much – and the importance of their company in aiding our mental health.
Routine It doesn’t matter if you’re a cat or a dog person, or even a rabbit or fish person – our pets need, and often demand, attention. Dogs need to be walked, fed, sometimes groomed and definitely loved daily, for example. By having to attend to our pets we find ourselves unconsciously in a regular routine and getting outside and active – which benefits humans too! We often work our lives around theirs, in the best way possible. But by looking after your pet, you are in fact looking after yourself too.
Connection Our pets love us back. Companionship from animals can be a massive tool in reducing loneliness, and even helps ease grief and depression. Service animals play a huge role in many lives, especially for those who may not be able to get by without them – for example guide dogs for the visually impaired or anxiety dogs in schools.
Support Dogs have been “man’s best friend” for centuries – having one is almost guaranteed to help you get through difficult times. Many pet owners, me included, often feel as though their pets understand their moods better than humans do. Support from a pet can feel less emotionally demanding, especially if you don’t want to talk about your feelings. Pets care for you in their own silent ways and intuitively know when to comfort you. There for you Many of our childhood pets have taught us amazing things about love and loyalty. It’s true to say that you never forget your first pet – they are simply cherished family members. My first cat, Nicholas, would lie on my lap when I was only four years old, and I have remained a cat person ever since. Cats are particularly helpful with anxiety – if you’re lucky enough to have a cat that loves to sit on your lap, I guarantee you often take a moment just to listen to their purr and feel their warmth. They can be very calming when they want to be!
Giving a pet a home If you’re considering getting a pet, you don’t have to buy a puppy or kitten. Sadly, there are plenty of unwanted animals, and adopting a rescued animal is a great idea – but do your research and make sure you find a reputable charity or organisation. Initially it can be difficult to navigate their needs, which, like ours, can be physical or emotional – being able to see your pet grow towards you and settle in can be so rewarding. It will feel amazing to be the one who gives an animal a second chance at life, and your new pet will love you for it. Our pets play a crucial role in our well-being. They provide us with routine, connection and unwavering support. The lessons of love and loyalty they teach us are invaluable, and the bond we share with them is irreplaceable. And let’s not forget the simple joy and fulfilment that comes from living with an animal. By giving a pet a home, we not only improve their lives but also enrich our own in countless ways. Celebrate this month by showing your pets extra love, and perhaps opening your heart and home to a new furry friend in need.
Support for you: First steps towards support should be to speak to someone – a trusted friend, family member, professional or your GP Visit Dorset Mind for local mental health support and helpful advice The Samaritans are there to listen 24/7, call them free on 116 123 Call Dorset’s mental health helpline Connection for support on 0800 652 0190
If you’ve never watched an Art Race, you’ve been missing out! During July the Stour Hall at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton became a challenge arena – twelve artists with very different styles each set out to create a picture in just 20 minutes, watched by an audience free to stroll around and see the works develop. The viewing was helped along by music, a bar, fresh-cooked pizzas and the chance to chat and compare opinions with the rest of the audience. The observers voted for their favourite work, and the four top scorers competed again in a Grand Final. Finally, a well deserved winner was chosen – Claire Gillies will now have an exhibition of her work in the Bibbern Gallery at The Exchange. The remaining three runners-up will share an exhibition at the same venue, which is also the well-used café as well as the bar for all evening shows at The Exchange. It was a real challenge for the artists, fascinating for the audience, and a great social night out, with the chance to buy all the art created during the evening as well. The event was held to raise funds for The Exchange, and there will be another Art Race on Friday 28th February next year.
The winning work by Clare Gillies
Coming soon Meanwhile the next fundraiser for The Exchange is on 25th September, when three-time Olympic medal winner William Fox-Pitt, who has just coached the Japanese Olympic team to a first equestrian medal, getting Bronze in Paris, will be talking about his remarkable career in eventing and his decision to retire from 5* level events.
George Hosford looks at how his experiments in bi-cropping and mob grazing have been working, and sees the impact of ‘making room’ for nature
‘We haven’t seen grass like this for a very long time on this field – something to do with being flooded four or five times over the winter perhaps, borrowing fertility from upstream?’
Some weeks ago our experimental area of bi-cropped wheat with crimson clover looked like the image below. The clover, sown at the same time as the wheat last autumn, had become rather dominant. A week later it rained heavily, and pretty much the whole lot laid over. Once the clover finished flowering and started to die back, some of the wheat managed to stand up again. However, the early clover dominance will have depressed the potential yield of the wheat – which is the part we get paid for – and it is far too late now for the wheat to throw up more tillers to fill in the gaps. The difficulty with minority interest cropping like this is that there is not much guidance available for seed rates etc, so there is quite a lot of guesswork. The wheat/clover bi-crop last year went the other way: we used a less vigorous white clover which ended up so lacking in vigour that there was barely any there at all by spring. The reason for bi-cropping is to see if we can move away from traditional mono-cropping, which can have poor outcomes for soil and environmental health. We are growing the wheat for Wildfarmed, a new company dedicated to growing and baking healthy food which does not degrade the environment, and making it widely available on the high street – their bread is available in Waitrose and M&S. The wheat has no chemicals and limited nitrogen, plus it always has a crop partner. Diverse families of roots in the soil foster a broader range of mycorrhizal and other organic activity. One way of doing this is to keep an under-storey going through several seasons – it keeps the soil shielded from hot sun and heavy rain, the clover fixes its own nitrogen, some of which can become available to the following crop as the clover dies and regrows. A good under-storey can also shade out weeds. Diversity is one of the five guiding principles of soil-focussed regenerative farming, which, thanks to the great god Gabe Brown from North Dakota, can be summarised as follows:
Minimise soil disturbance. Minimising physical and chemical disturbance to the soil prevents damage to the micro-flora and fauna that form the soil ecosystem
Keep the soil covered
Maintain living roots in the soil
Maximise plant diversity
Reintroduce livestock
Gabe has recently added a sixth important element, that of context – by which he means that when you apply these principles to your land, you should also consider the context: your soil type, location, altitude, aspect etc. Gabe’s book ‘Dirt to Soil’ is considered by many to be the regenerative bible – it’s a great story, and full of useful guidance.
The bi-crop of clover looked wonderful when in flower, but its dominance has depressed the yield of the wheat – which is the profitable part of the crop
Theo living his best life Out here in the herbal ley fields, the cows are happily munching away in their mobs – mob grazing is short duration, high density grazing with a long grass recovery period. You move the cattle every day, and then leave the grass to recover for up to 100 days, depending on the time of year. The cows have got very used to being moved on to fresh grazing every day, and don’t hesitate to let the world know if we are late! This year’s rainy spring has led to vigorous grass growth everywhere – a very early hay cut was taken in places, and even parts of the river meadows have been mob grazed this year to force the animals to graze it properly. The system is working well, with the lightweight Kiwi-designed electric fence easy to move, and a network of water pipes across the fields with quick release push-fit fittings so that it is straightforward to empty and move the troughs daily. There are a number of advantages from mob grazing. We see fewer flies bothering the animals, as fresh grazing every day moves the cattle off yesterday’s dung pats, where the flies congregate. Fresh grazing also reduces the pressure from intestinal worms, as a 50-day cycle between the grazing of any single part of the field helps to break the worm life cycle. This means less wormer is needed, the chemicals in which, when present in the dung pats, can kill the flies and beetles on which many species like the rare greater horseshoe bat thrive. Also, some of the herbs which the animals are grazing have a natural anthelmintic effect (discouraging or killing intestinal worms). Mob grazing, which leaves around a third of the pasture behind, allows the plants to regrow far more quickly than traditional grazing which takes nearly all the herbage, because enough leaf remains to enable plenty of photosynthesis. As plants are grazed down, their roots also die back, and therefore they take even longer to recover and regrow, both under and above the soil. As you can see from the picture below, Theo the bull enjoyed his favourite six weeks of the year with a mob of cows and their calves. The pretty one in the foreground is one of his daughters from last year, out of cows with a certain amount of Belgian Blue in their genes. The pairings gave us two calves this year with freckles and a white line along the spine, a little reminiscent of the rare breed Gloucester cattle.
Theo the bull enjoying his favourite six weeks of the year with a mob of cows
We need to be smarter A fascinating seminar with local grain merchant Bartholomews, held at the Hall and Woodhouse brewery, not only fed a group of farmers with a very fine cooked breakfast, but also provided vital intelligence on the current grain markets. An essential event in the farming year, this meeting, presented by grain trader Edd Britton, gave us much useful information which will help us to navigate the minefield that is the world wheat market for the next few months. The weather in the US and Russia (both major world wheat producers) has been a very influential factor recently, with quite violent up and down swings in grain price over a short period of time, making rational sales decisions very tricky. His graph (below) shows how the balance between import and export of wheat in and out of the UK has altered over the last ten years. Since 2012 we have overwhelmingly been a net importer, for several reasons. Firstly the good old (un)reliable British weather, followed closely by the bioethanol and starch plants up north which take a great deal of grain, sucking it in from a wide area and helping keep the market buoyant. However, if prices rise too far, these plants will close for a while until things calm down.
how the balance between import and export of wheat in and out of the UK has altered over the last ten years.
Then there are the generally lower levels of production as farmers commit more land to environmental schemes: taking (usually poorer) land out of production in exchange for payments of public money for public goods like wild flower headlands and wild bird food. Housebuilding also has some effect, taking land out of food production for ever, and then there is the contentious issue of organisations like the Dorset Wildlife Trust, in conjunction with Natural England, purchasing land with Nutrient Neutrality money, paid by housing developers in exchange for planning permission. Please see my blog here for a full account of my day out with the DWT as they celebrated the revolutionary purchase of Lyscombe Farm, which, by reverting it to 100 per cent nature with no food production, will somehow unlock the building of 3,700 new homes in the Poole Harbour catchment, in which the farm sits. As you will see, I am not convinced: either by the wisdom of this in terms of value for money, or whether any actual improvement will occur in Poole Harbour as a result of this purchase. Is this where I should be banging on about the importance of looking after our home-grown food supply? There has to be room for food production to thrive, we have a growing population and some of the best soils and weather climates for food production anywhere in the world. But without care for soils and nature, healthy food production will become increasingly difficult. Weeds and insects become resistant to chemicals, which all too often wreak collateral and unintended damage elsewhere … so we must learn to be cleverer.
A common spotted orchid found in a wildflower margin miles from any other orchids
Life finds a way On the left is a common spotted orchid found in a brand new site – on a wildflower margin miles from any other orchids. It is approximately 14 years since Traveller’s Rest was intensively farmed, and we are seeing some interesting plants showing up on our oldest margins. I am reliably informed that the tiny orchid seeds, almost dust-like, will have sat in the soil for decades, waiting for the right conditions to return to enable germination. They then need the right mycorrhizal conditions to develop, to connect the seeds with the right nutrients in the soil. They have endured so many years asleep, through generations of evolving human activity, only to return to life when government schemes pay farmers to rein back a bit on the intensive farming. We have to make room for nature in and around our main food production, and this little flower shows it can work.
L-R: Dave McRobbie, Anthony Woodhouse and David Lakins
Hall & Woodhouse (H&W) has invested in Holidaymaker to enhance its guest engagement technology for the hospitality industry. Dorset firm Holidaymaker launched its guest experience app in 2020, aiming to help hospitality brands increase revenue, boost brand loyalty, and encourage repeat business. With H&W’s investment, the company is poised to revolutionise guest interaction in the sector. Anthony Woodhouse, Chairman of Hall & Woodhouse, says: ‘We feel strongly about backing Dorset-based winners and enabling entrepreneurs to unlock their full potential. ‘Holidaymaker was an obvious investment for us due to its work in the hospitality sector. ‘It is an exciting time to be working closely with Holidaymaker, as it looks to grow and push the boundaries of what can be achieved in the sector. ‘We are eager to see what learnings we can apply to our own business through this partnership.’
With H&W’s support, Holidaymaker has evolved from a guest experience app to a comprehensive software platform, allowing parks to market directly to their guests and owners. Anthony Woodhouse also serves on the Holidaymaker board in an advisory role. Holidaymaker CEO David Lakins says: ‘Having Hall & Woodhouse’s backing has provided us with the foundation to take the next steps to grow the business and expand our offering. ‘We are incredibly excited to have Anthony’s great insight, experience and guidance on the board, and his company is the perfect match, sharing innovation, passion and culture.’ ‘Holidaymaker is currently developing a new app for H&W,’ co-founder Dave Mc Robbie added. ‘It will offer personalised communication, providing information on menus, dining offers and local attractions. Guests will also be able to book tables, accommodation, and browse other pubs in H&W’s estate across the south.’ Anthony added: ‘Holidaymaker has a really interesting product with a strong management team. We believe in the team’s vision to provide technology that delivers innovative solutions for the hospitality sector. We feel fortunate to be part of the team’s journey to achieve this ambition.’
The RiversMeet swimming pool is heated by air source heat pumps
In the middle of Gillingham there is a shining light of environmental excellence: the leisure centre known to all as RiversMeet, where investment in green technology has been all-embracing. The pool and changing rooms are heated by air source heat pumps, roof mounted solar panels generate almost all of the building’s electrical energy requirements and all of the lighting is modern and low consumption. The management team has created a culture of sustainability that is wholly admirable. In the past two years, energy consumption has been cut by 50 per cent and carbon emissions by no less than 92 per cent. RiversMeet has just been certified with a category A property energy rating – the whole of North Dorset can be proud of the example being set. What is more remarkable is that RiversMeet is owned by the community, operated on a not-for-profit basis by a team of professionals overseen by a board of volunteer Trustees drawn from the community.
A unique asset The main centre on Hardings Lane, RiversMeet Active, was created on the back of strong community support and District Council funding in a rebuild programme from 2008 to 2010. In 2023, RiversMeet Performance was added as a new high-performance training and fitness centre located on the Brickfields Industrial Estate – perhaps more well known locally as ‘the old Legends nightclub’! This facility was enabled by considerable support from Dextra and lies alongside the centre’s gymnastics and soft play centre. RiversMeet is a unique community asset – there are no other wholly community owned-and-operated facilities of this kind in Dorset, and very few nationally. To succeed in these tough times, a health and leisure centre operating as a charity – with the many constraints that brings – has to be extraordinary and a valuable asset to its community. RiversMeet provides a great deal for its members: High performance training, gymnastic and broad range of fitness facilities A range of health and wellbeing resources A well-managed swimming pool for year-round use Flexible spaces for events and recreational activities A trained, professional team to support and enable a range of activities A place just to meet, enjoy a coffee and relax
The town’s growing RiversMeet’s business model is also based on delivering considerable value back to the community through: Physical education, rehabilitation and stimulation for those whose health demands it Affordable access for all ages and abilities through a flexible, no-contract membership plan Employment and advancement opportunities for young people in the town and volunteering opportunities for those with the time and skills to help take RiversMeet forward As a welcoming space for all manner of community, group and individual interests As a facility offering membership deals, advertising and sponsorship opportunities for local businesses, large and small Gillingham town is set to grow fast through the developments already under way and others in the offing. Demand for amenities like RiversMeet will grow too as we realise more and more just how important exercise and recreation is for our health and wellness. To keep up, RiversMeet needs to do three things – improve the resilience of some of its core systems, to modernise and upgrade its facilities and equipment, and it needs to build capacity both in the extent of its offering and the capability of its people. There are plans in hand for renewal and growth, and they now depend on the successful pursuit of grants, financial support and local fundraising. RiversMeet is the centre of the community of Gillingham. It is a vital asset and a provider of essential services. Frankly, RiversMeet is amazing.
Mike Chapman, Trustee The Gillingham Community and Leisure Trust Ltd
It’s the first time that Atkinson Action Horses will be performing in Dorset
If you’ve ever marvelled at the incredible horses featured in TV favourites like Poldark, Victoria or Peaky Blinders, you’ll be wanting to grab yourself some tickets for Dorset county Show. For the first time ever, the UK’s premier equestrian performance team, Atkinson Action Horses, will be coming to Dorset, thrilling spectators in the main ring on both days. Under the expert leadership of Ben Atkinson, the team promises to deliver an unforgettable display of high-energy, breath-taking and death-defying equestrianism – it’s guaranteed to impress. Ben Atkinson’s journey into the world of equestrian stunts began when his father moved from dairy farming into equestrian and never looking back. Ben rode in his first display as an 11-year-old and has been performing internationally since he was 16. The synergy between the horses and their riders is nothing short of spectacular, promising an unforgettable experience for all at this year’s County Show. James Cox, the Show Organiser, shares his excitement: ‘Atkinson Action Horses are unlike anything you have ever seen when it comes to equine displays. Prepare to be stunned – we certainly have been! This isn’t just the first time Atkinson Action Horses have attended the County Show – it’s the first time they’ve ever appeared in the county. We cannot wait: it’s set to be an absolute show stopper.’
Not all horse play In addition to the Action Horses, the County Show is delighted to welcome the IMPs Motorcycle Display Team to the main ring on both days, plus Tomahawk Throwing and Alpaca Competitions! The exciting acts will be entertaining the crowds along with the more traditional features of a county show – livestock exhibitions, food and drink marquees, showjumping, the Heavy Horse Village, Axemen displays and a vintage Steam Section.
Pawsome news! New this year is the County Show’s first ever ‘Fun Dog Show’. Kindly organised by St Giles Animal Welfare, there will be a class for everybody’s best four-legged friend: loveliest lady, waggiest tail, best biscuit catcher, the most appealing eyes and the best talent. Being an agri show, DCS know just how important the young handlers are, so there’s also a special ‘under 16s’ class to show off their winning handling skills.
7th and 8th September Dorchester, DT2 7SD Car parking is free at the Showground, walk from Dorchester or catch the FREE Shuttle Buses
Community Land Trusts offer hope for Dorset’s housing crisis, creating lasting, affordable homes in protected landscape, says Rupert Hardy
The CLT development at Timber Hill in Lyme Regis in 2017 – almost finished
Housing was a major campaign issue for all political parties at the election, not least for Labour, so Dorset CPRE’s June conference, ‘Dorset’s Affordable Housing Crisis’ was timely. We covered some of the main issues in July’s Rural Matters column, but I would like to take a deeper look at Community Land Trusts (CLTs). They are often put forward as one solution to the seemingly intractable problem of buying an affordable house in Dorset, where annual wages average only £35,000 but average house prices are around £400,000 – one of the highest ratios in the country. Alison Ward is a director of Middlemarch, an organisation offering technical support to community-led housing groups. During the conference she provided an overview of CLTs and their benefits, and showed some local examples.
What is a CLT?
A democratic, non-profit organisation that owns and develops land and its assets for the benefit of the community.
Typically provides affordable homes, a CLT might also become involved in all types of community projects such as civic buildings, pubs, shops, shared workspaces, energy schemes and conservation landscapes.
They are organisations set up by the community, a landowner, developer or council and run by ordinary folk to make a difference to their community, putting control of assets into the hands of local people.
A CLT ensures that homes are permanently and genuinely affordable. They act as long-term stewards of land and assets, ensuring they remain for the benefit of the local community, for every future occupier.
Planning and building process The initial task of any CLT is to establish local need – this is done by conducting a Housing Needs Survey in conjunction with the council. Once a need is established, the task of finding a suitable site follows, often helped by altruistic landowners with Rural Exception Sites*. These are usually small sites – under two acres – which are unsuitable for conventional housing development but located on the edge of existing rural settlements. CLTs can facilitate the provision of affordable homes for local residents, while ensuring the preservation of the character of the community. Normally the CLT will work with a housing association, rather than become a registered social landlord, which also gives easier access to finance. However, establishing and delivering a CLT is a long-term process.
Powerstock and Lyme Regis A good example of a CLT at work in Dorset is in Powerstock, where the first eight affordable houses were completed by Hastoe Housing Association in 2019. Forge Orchard, which was visited by the then Prince of Wales (now King Charles) in May that year, was much praised. The Powerstock and District CLT had selected the site, gained the landowner’s support and commissioned the architect before selecting Hastoe to develop and manage the development. Alison Ward says: ‘It is a real example of how a community group would pick a site that nobody else would pick in a million years … the site had sitting tenants on it and it was overlooked by a National Landscape**’. Lyme Regis CLT is also in the protected National Landscape. Restrictions on available land and building mean that any plots which do become available command high prices, and planning consent is notoriously hard to win. Like many other pretty seaside towns, housing for local people has become increasingly expensive, with young people finding it hard to get accommodation. Lyme Regis CLT was set up to create affordable housing for local people. Having identified a potential site at Timber Hill for 17 homes with affordable rent, the CLT was able to gain agreement with the landowner. A developer wouldn’t have been allowed to build market value homes, but the CLT would be creating affordable housing as a rural exception. The community was engaged right from the start and proved essential to gaining full planning consent. When the planning application went before the council, officers recommended it be turned down. However, a delegation of supporters from the community, the partner housing association Yarlington, the architects Boon Brown, the town council and Wessex CLT Project all spoke in favour. The proven support from the community and partners was persuasive, and the committee unanimously agreed to accept the plans. The first residents moved there in 2018. In North Dorset there are CLTs in Sherborne, Bishop’s Caundle and Bradford Abbas.
Forge Orchard was developed in partnership with Powerstock and District CLT and rural housing specialists Hastoe Housing Association
Inspired by US Civil Rights There are now more than 500 CLTs in England and Wales, and the movement is growing rapidly. Currently, 1,100 houses have been completed and 7,100 more are in the pipeline. The CLT model first emerged in the USA during the Civil Rights Movement, when a number of influential figures including Slater King (cousin of Martin Luther King Jr) wanted to create long-term opportunities for economic and residential independence for African Americans in the rural South. A CLT, where land is held by the community in trust, could do just that. In the early 2000s, this served as an inspiration for a number of academics and housing development professionals in the UK. A national CLT Demonstration Programme supported a number of pilot projects. The last Labour government in 2008 initiated a consultation paper on Community Land Trusts, so there is hope they will go further this time.
Dorset Middlemarch has been involved in CLTs throughout Devon, Somerset and Dorset, with 200 completed homes and 500 in the pipeline. Interestingly, 69 per cent are in protected landscapes or Green Belts, where it is hard to develop conventional housing. Most are Rural Exception Sites, and three quarters are for social rent (usually 50 to 60 per cent of market rent), and the rest are affordable housing (80 per cent of market rate). There are more than ten trusts in Dorset with completed housing projects or ones in the pipeline, and another 15 at earlier stages. However, with only 100 or so completed CLT homes in Dorset there is a long way to go to meet the county’s housing needs. Those interested in supporting or establishing one should visit communitylandtrusts.org.uk *Rural Exception Sites – small sites on the edge of existing rural settlements which may be provided below market value for development if used to build affordable housing for local people. **Previously known as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Dorset author Lorraine Gibson takes a Memphis journey as she explores Elvis Presley’s life through his iconic – and shocking – fashion
Lorraine Gibson in Lansky Bros., Memphis with Hal Lansky and a replica of the pink and black outfit Elvis wore to rehearsals for the Milton Berle TV show, 1956. Image: Steve Gibson
A really comprehensive delve into the sartorial life of The King has taken Dorset writer Lorraine Gibson almost 4,300 miles (as flown by the crow) from home to Memphis, Tennessee, so she could walk in his famed Blue Suede Shoes. Lorraine’s first book, Baden Powell: A Biography, was published in 2022, by which time she had already started on writing Elvis: The King of Fashion, a view of the life of the great rock’n’roller seen through the lens of fashion. And it wasn’t long before she decided she had to go to Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis lived from the age of 13, and where clothier Bernard Lansky had been selling clothes since 1946. Now based in the historic Peabody Hotel, Lansky Bros has trademarked itself as Clothier to the King. ‘I grew up with Elvis,’ says Lorraine. ‘My parents played his records, I watched his films during school holidays, and his colourful outfits grabbed my attention – who needed Barbie when you had Elvis? I’ve been fascinated by his style ever since.’
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Lorraine already had the framework for the book in mind when spoke to Bernard Lansky’s son Hal on the phone. Bernard had dressed Elvis for more than 30 years, and Hal’s information convinced her she would need to visit Memphis to immerse herself in the world of Elvis. ‘I travelled to the Peabody Hotel, where Elvis attended his prom night, and later signed his life-changing RCE contract. ‘Hal, who advised on actor Austin Butler’s wardrobe for the 2022 movie Elvis, and has written the book’s foreword, answered some important questions. ‘I knew what Elvis wore, but I wanted the colours, details, fabrics. He really did wear pink and black outfits – shocking in conservative 1950s America. Ditto lace and satin blouses, and those blue suede shoes. I even discovered why he wore his belt buckle to the side. ‘At Graceland, the displays were inspiring and moving, especially the dance-worn white shoes and the exquisite beadwork on the Mexican Sundial jumpsuit that Elvis wore for his final concert before he died. ‘At Sun Studio, I held the original recording mic and stood where Elvis did when he cut That’s All Right (mama).’ The welfare-funded flat where he lived as a teenager, the Arcade Restaurant where he had his own booth and the Overton Park Shell, where he played his first live professional gig, were just some of the places Lorraine went. ‘As a child, I never dreamed that the American boy in the cheesy films would inspire such an adventure. I came back to Dorset understanding Elvis even better. Back in the UK, at an exhibition at Arches London Bridge I held some of the Elvis items I’d been writing about, including his famous gold belt. That really did leave me all shook up!’
Inspired by legendary coach Pierre Villepreux, Clayesmore coaches return from France with a fresh approach to rugby – Sam Peters reports
Team Clayesmore from left: Tom Griffiths, Robbie Winearls, Chris Middle, journalist Sam Peters, Richard Dixon and Frank Thomson
On a mission to improve rugby safety and promote a less confrontational playing style, staff from a Dorset school have returned from an inspirational trip to France, led by one of the world’s greatest coaches. Five rugby coaches from Clayesmore School, led by former Bergerac No.8 and current maths teacher Richard Dixon, attended a week-long camp in Lubersac, near Limoges, where they were trained in ‘Le Plaisir du Mouvement’ (LPM – translated as the pleasure of movement), a playing style originated by legendary former Toulouse coach Pierre Villepreux. Having developed LPM in the early 1980s, 81-year-old Villepreux was inducted into World Rugby’s Hall of Fame in 2018 and is widely regarded as one of the most influential coaches of all time. He was present throughout the seven-day camp, leading a one-and-a-half hour session on the first day, and on hand throughout to coach nearly 130 French children. Villepreux’s coaching principles are based on evasion, minimising contact, going forward and relentless support. Richard Dixon was first introduced to LPM in the early 2000s by former Oxford University coach Lyn Evans, and has been a disciple of the Villepreux method ever since. A regular attendee at the camps, he is one of only a handful of English coaches entrusted with coaching LPM. ‘It takes many years to learn this method and having Pierre on hand to help develop the aspiring coaches is inspiring,’ he said. ‘We are trying to teach children there is a different way to play, not based on collisions, set-piece dominance and other awful clichés that have crept into English rugby and turned so many people off. Rugby should be about skills and having fun.’ Since Villepreux first introduced his methods when coaching at Toulouse, the team has gone on to be the most successful club side in rugby’s history, winning 16 French titles and six European Cups in the last 44 years. ‘Every Toulouse team plays this way – it’s non-negotiable,’ says Toulouse academy coach Sam Lacombe, who also attended the camp, along with legendary French flanker Olivier Magne and other top coaches. Clayesmore’s delegation included head of rugby Tom Griffiths, head of PE Chris Middle, head of science Robbie Winearls and Frank Thomson, husband of head teacher Joanna Thomson, who commissioned the trip. Staff from Kingham School in Oxfordshire also attended. ‘You hear a lot of talk on television about rugby being a collision game,’ says Tom Griffiths. ‘But it’s an evasion game. We want to emphasise that to our students and stress the safety element of reducing direct collisions, where concussions are more likely.’ The trip follows a visit from Toulouse’s coaching staff to Clayesmore in January, initiated by Richard Dixon, when New Zealand’s double World Cup winning flanker Jerome Kaino led a coaching session.
