‘I’m done with making impossible new year resolutions that I know I can’t keep – but I’ve got a plan that works for me and my clients’, says Karen Geary
New Year Resolution to make no News Year Resolutions. shutterstock
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the ‘new year, new you’ marketing at this time of year. We’re told we don’t need to buy into quick fixes to burn the extra pounds, but are then subject to a long list of things to do. Then the usual suspects of Weight Watchers, detoxes, resets, Whole 30, Keto, Bulletproof, 5:2 diet, Fast 800 and Veganuary (just to name a few), get trotted out as ‘the answer’.
There is then a list of things we need to ‘worry less’ about, as well as the list of things we need to do that are ‘free’.
This years’ list of ‘must do’s’ include things to better manage our mental health, stress levels and anxiety; consideration of which may actually make us feel more anxious.
Just say no
I’m done with lists which make us feel unworthy. It is already well known that most people give up their resolutions by the third week in January. Given the past couple of years we have had, messages that try to exhort us to act while we have a glimmer of positive new year vibes just feel like more pressure. ‘Becoming the best version of ourselves,’ is damaging subliminal messaging and suggests that you are ‘less than’, that somehow you are not good enough and have not done enough. No wonder we feel we have failed before we have even started!
Ensure your success
So give yourself a break from all of that nonsense this year. Success comes from two things;
1. being consistent 2. small, incremental gains And absolutely no massiveoverhauls that cannot be sustained. If you are in business, you will know that one of the best forms of personal development is one where you play to your strengths, rather than trying to do things that you are not cut out for.
People who succeed in business play to their strengths instead of expending major effort on ironing out their weaknesses – it’s why you see leaders who are often idiosyncratic in nature; they to excel in some things very well and they are extremely consistent about practising it. So this year when it comes to health, and in particular nutrition, start with what you already know so you can make small incremental gains that you can apply consistently.
Small is good
When I look at the successes of my clients, the ones who truly excel take small achievable steps that they can stick with. For example: the client who only gave up sugar and lost 10lbs; the client who consistently just added a few more plants into their diet each day to improve gut health; the client who only stopped snacking between meals and turned around their menopausal weight gain. When it comes to weight loss intentions, any plan works in the short term, but for it to be sustainable, it needs to be something that you feel you can do habitually; long past the time when the initial motivation or willpower fades. Weight loss has many layers; behavioural, socio-economic, genetic and environmental. You can read more about it here.
So reflect on that one thing you feel you can do that plays to your strengths and stop putting pressure on yourself. You are already good enough. My one thing this year is to do one extra walk a week.
I hope that the new year is a wonderful year for you.
If you do happen to be participating in Veganuary, then let me help you do it the healthy way by downloading my free meal plan here. It appears in the pop up window!” Karen
by Karen Geary, a Registered Nutritional Therapist DipION, mBANT, CNHC at Amplify
Until relatively recently even consensual homosexual sex was a crime in the UK – and the US viewed homosexuality as ‘an illness’ as late as 1973. The startling history of sexual prejudice against those who express different gender orientations is explained by Dee Swinton of Dorset Mind.
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Anyone can experience a mental health problem. But people that identify as LGBTQI+ are more likely to develop issues such as low self-esteem, depression, social anxiety, eating problems and misuse drugs and alcohol.
They are also more likely to develop suicidal feelings as they battle isolation and difficult experiences coming out. February sees LGBTQI+ History Month, where the UK celebrates and raises awareness of LGBTQ+ history and the many accomplishments of people from their community.
What does Lgbtqi+ stand for? Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) persons face specific obstacles when it comes to accessing many of their rights, including their right to social protection.
But, it’s important to recognise that the fight for equality and respect is far from over. Many LGBTQI+ persons still experience hate crime,
mental illness in their manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). It’s still used to diagnose stigma and discrimination today. Simply for being who they are – and loving who they do. Sadly, the mental health profession has contributed to this stigma through the pathologization of people who are not heterosexual or cisgender (someone who’s gender identity Is the same as their sex assigned at birth). Here’s a potted history of mental health professionals and the LGBTQ+ community.
Being gay is ‘an illness’
Until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) classed homosexuality as a mental illness in their manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). It’s still used to diagnose mental disorders today. The first edition of the DSM characterised homosexuality as a ‘sociopathic personality disorder’. This perspective of homosexuality provided by the influential authority in mental health validated the prejudices of businesses and the government. It gave them excuses to discriminate against and repress LGBTQI+ people.
Even worse, this classification provided medical support for abusive treatments, such as electroshock therapy and lobotomies to ‘treat’ homosexuality. Fortunately, thanks to the tireless work of remarkable LGBTQI+ activists, the APA voted to remove homosexuality from the second edition of the DSM. But the effects of pathologization are still evident in society today.
Mental health today
The fight towards equality is still not over. You might have heard of the phrase ‘conversion therapies’ recently. According to NHS England, conversion therapy – or ‘reparative therapy’ or ‘gay cure therapy’ – tries to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The NHS and other professional bodies have deemed all conversion therapies ‘unethical and potentially harmful.’
Despite acknowledging the devastating traumatic effects of these ‘therapies’, it still takes place today. Recent research by Stonewall indicated that people from the LGBTQI+ community still experience discrimination in healthcare settings. About 14% of those surveyed avoid seeking healthcare due to fear of discrimination from staff. Evidence like this confirms that healthcare has a long way to go to ensure that LGBTQI+ persons can experience the same level of care and respect as everyone else. And particularly with their mental health.
Same-sex marriage became legal in the UK in 2014. Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t cause mental health issues. But some things LGBTIQ+ people go through can affect their mental health, such as discrimination, homophobia or transphobia, social isolation, rejection, and difficult experiences of coming out. image by Dorset Wedding Photographer
Dorset Mind
Dorset Mind charity delivers a safe, confidential and accepting space for LGBTQI+ people experiencing mental health issues.
MindOut is delivered pan-Dorset every other week online. It comprises recovery-based peer and guided support with time to share experiences with others, followed by inclusive workshops.
If you find yourself in a crisis, call 999 – or the Samaritans FREE on 116 123 if you need emotional support – it’s available 24/7. Dorset Connection helpline is also 24/7 and can help FREE on 0800 652 0190 or by dialling 111 and selecting mental health. For additional non-urgent mental health resources, support, and information, visit dorsetmind.uk.
Right, the Editor’s asked me to put something funny in this issue. ‘Our 12,000 subscribers will be a bit down as we plod through January and the excitement of Christmas is over,’ she explained. So here’s a true story. Ages ago my girlfriend, Sarah, went to the gynae. It was a private consultancy and she needed to visit the loo before the inspection. He (why are so many gynaes men?) directed her to the bathroom in his immense town house.
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The loo was spotless and beautifully appointed but lacked loo roll. So Sarah fumbled in her handbag for a loose tissue and gave herself a quick dab. With her legs in the straps in the clinic (what women go through! I’m pretty sure if men had to visit the gynae a more elegant method would immediately be invented) the gynae had a quick gander, looked quizzical, curbed a nascent smile, and reached for some tweezers. He delved into the coal face, removed something, gave an astonished look then delicately popped it in the waste bin. The inspection over, everything tickety boo, he left and after dressing Sarah peeped into the bin to see what he’d removed. I’m sure gynaes see a lot of strange things but this must have been a first for him as when he saw Sarah out he was clearly sweating with the effort to not laugh or mention what he delicately placed in the bin. Which was a first class stamp.
How to tell if you’re aging
We were discussing with friends how to tell when you’re approaching middle age. There are 10 signs that we came up with.
1 You start to use the word ‘pop’ a lot: ‘I’m just popping to the shops,’ or ‘I’ll pop the kettle on.’
2 You start putting the early morning tea mugs, spoons, sweetener etc. out the night before.
Initially you do this just before you go to bed, then it gets earlier until you find yourself doing it straight after washing up that morning’s tea stuff. There’s a word for this: TOMA. It stands for ‘Tray Of Middle Age.’
3 When you watch TV or a film, you cannot help ruining it for everyone else by endlessly saying “Oh she was in that film with that bloke (you can’t remember the bloke’s name, obviously). What was it called? It was set in Hollywood, no not Hollywood… err…” which really infuriated me when I was a kid and my parents did it.
Now I’m doing it.
4 Not only can you remember Angel Delight, you know for a fact that no-one liked the butterscotch flavour which tasted synthetic and looked like cat poo. (So so wrong. Butterscotch is literally everyone else’s favourite flavour, Andy – Ed)
5 You value function over style: for example we pulled up at some red traffic lights and a load of Hell’s Angels revved up ahead of us. They were all on those customised bikes with laid-back seats and long curved handle bars so each rider was shaped like a cross leaning backwards. A few years ago we’d have thought them really cool, but Kae just said “that can’t be good for their backs.”
6 There’s a great blues band playing at a pub five minutes away. Gig starts at 9pm. Not too long ago you’d be there by 8pm getting some pints in, chatting to the band and checking out their guitars and equipment.
Now you stay in and watch Yorkshire Farm on catch-up. (And you still refer to the TV soap Emmerdale as Emmerdale Farm).
7 You’re early for appointments. You’ve got the doctors at 5pm, you arrive at 3.55pm ‘in case there’s a delay on the roads’. You then spend an hour in your beige Fiat Twingo sucking Werther’s Originals and failing to complete the Telegraph crossword.
But you feel it’s worth it.
8 You don’t know why, but somehow you’ve gone from wearing tight black jeans from GAP or Next to elasticated-waist jeans from M&S. You genuinely don’t know when this happened – and even worse, you’re not really shocked by it.
9 You may decide to start a digital magazine. It’s bloody exhausting and terrifying and you quickly realize you lack the skills to succeed and you have the 3am terrors and are convinced you’ve made the most God-awful mistake. But the magazine quickly becomes an enormous success with incredible on-line stats (even though your DeputyEd consistently fails to learn that online is now a real word and never hyphenated – Ed). And when people you love, and who love you, tell you how brave and brilliant you are while simultaneously (and affectionately) taking the piss out of you every single day, you don’t believe them. (I thought you were being nice to me so I left this in. But I just realised it’s no.9 in a ‘you’re aging’ list so you basically just told me I’m old now – Ed)
10 You are pathetically grateful on a day that your tiny village is flooded by torrential rain and you mail your editor to say ‘we need wine and we can’t get out of the village. Courtenay’s got a huge 4×4, what are you going to do?’ And an hour later C arrives with provisions. Totally not me, by the way.
The Audi Crap
Laura, the Editor, made me laugh when she mentioned that in the 80s a brewer was about to launch an ‘Irish Red Ale.’
They’d spent tens of thousands in product development, testing, branding consultation, marketing etc. Then a newcomer to the team questioned whether a beer called IRA was a good idea.
I responded by telling her that I was rather matey with a bloke who used to be the marketing director of one of the UK’s most famous and luxurious car marques.
They had developed a new model and spent a fortune with a brand consultancy to get exactly the right name for the new super luxury motor– a name which reflected style, glamour, an air of mystique and exclusiveness.
The consultancy came up with Mist. Sounds good, eh? Everyone was delighted. ‘It’s perfect, you’ve earned your fee.’ The print and TV advertising agents started working – and invoicing. The invoices were not small.
Germany was one of the brand’s biggest markets. But the main German franchisee was less than impressed when he was consulted.
He told the car-maker that the word Mist in his language could be translated as slang for ‘crap.’ Can you image the hilarity if a top German car brand launched, for example, ‘the Audi Crap?’ I can picture the ad tag line, ‘Don’t go through the motions, have a Crap. Buy Audi.’ ‘Did you pay the consultancy their fee,’ I asked. He gave me an old-fashioned look shaking his head. Lesson there – always question the ‘experts’.
Goats on the line
‘The 7.15 to Charing Cross is delayed. There are goats on the line.’ I was in a queue at the ticket office at Wadhurst station when I heard this and we all collapsed with laughter. Being English we all become instant friends.
A lady ahead of me announced that she was at a country station in Wales and a train was delayed due to a refrigerated lorry carrying tons of soft cheese got stuck on a level crossing. The refrigeration failed, the cheese melted and ran out of the lorry onto the tracks. A team were called to clean the tracks of thick greasy substance. Big laugh.
I said (and my life’s gone downhill since) ‘did they put up a sign for motorists saying Drive Caerphilly.’ Back in the queue at Wadhurst that got a big laugh. But I got a bigger one when I truthfully added, ‘You don’t know how long I’ve waited to use that.’
A piece of music, scientifically established as the most relaxing ever written, reducing heart-rate, and inducing sleep to the extent that it is not advisable to listen to it while driving, is chosen by the head teacher of Sherborne school, Dr Dominic Luckett.
Dr Luckett, headteacher of Sherborne School, is our first ‘Dorset Island Discs’ guest, choosing the eight pieces of music he could not live without.
One of the joys of working at Sherborne is the sheer quality of the music. The school has an outstanding musical reputation and we are triply blessed by having a wonderful team of music teachers, led by our inspirational and utterly fabulous Director of Music, James Henderson; exceptional talent among our boys, who regularly gain grade 8 distinctions, ATCL and LTCL diplomas; and superb performing venues including our own Music School and Chapel, Cheap Street Church and, of course, the surpassingly beautiful Sherborne Abbey. Being cast away on a desert island would be hard in many ways but being starved of live music would be high on the list of deprivations. Music has always been important to me and in my gap year between my undergraduate degree and doctorate, I worked in a (now sadly defunct) specialist classical record shop on London’s Cheapside where the days were mostly spent in conversation with people far more knowledgeable than me who would analyse and debate the relative merits of the latest recordings.
It was a great education and, since then, music has continued to be a central part of my life, whether attending choral evensong whilst at Oxford, concert-going in London or listening to recordings at home and at work (Penny, my long- suffering PA, is immensely tolerant of the constant disturbance). Choosing just eight records is no easy task but, in anticipation of the day when my ship goes down, I have selected the following.
Maurice Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin
Ravel is a much-underrated composer and I could easily choose nothing but his music to while away the long hours on the island. If I had to select just one piece it would be the orchestral version of Le Tombeau de Couperin whichhe adapted from his original piano score. It was written during World War One in memory of friends who had died and is a work that is both poignant and joyful. However many times I listen to it, it is never anything other than fresh and life-affirming. The recording by Pierre Boulez and the New York Philharmonic is especially brilliant.
Ernest Moeran – Serenade in G Major
A neglected genius of English music is Ernest Moeran. Born in 1894, he endured the horrors of World War One and was seriously wounded on the Western Front. After the war, he worked as a composer and was particularly influenced by the English folk-song tradition. Although
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 2
All Mahler’s symphonies are magnificent but none more so than the second. A colossal work, it combines sheer power and force with writing of the most exquisite subtlety and spirituality.
Simon Rattle and the CBSO released an awe-inspiring recording at about the time I started working in the record shop and, when the manager was not around, we would drive customers from the premises by playing the final movement far, far too loud.
J.S. Bach – Goldberg Variations
Whereas Mahler shows what can be done with massive orchestral forces, Bach’s keyboard repertoire reminds us of the elegant perfection that can be coaxed by skilled hands from a single instrument. When in need of a moment of quiet contemplation on my isolated beach, I will listen to Lang Lang playing the Goldbergs. And, for as long as that lasts, all will be well within the narrow horizons of my solitary world.
Miles Davies – Kind of Blue
Considered by many to be the greatest jazz album ever, Kind of Blue is a work of improvisatory genius, and has been the soundtrack to many of the most memorable moments of my life since I first heard it nearly 40 years ago. I would hate to be without it.
Tomasz Stanko Quartet – Soul of Things Where Miles Davis led, the great Polish free jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stanko followed. His work ranges from the lyrical to the more challenging avant- garde. Soul of Things is towards the more accessible end of his spectrum and I defy anyone not to be moved by the haunting poetry of Variation 4.
Marconi Union – Weightless
When life on my island becomes stressful, or when I can’t sleep, I shall listen to Weightless, a piece of ambient music written with the express intention of reducing anxiety.
It has, apparently, been scientifically established as the most relaxing piece of music ever written, reducing heart rate, and inducing sleep to the extent that it is not advisable to listen to it whilst driving. Then, when I need to wake up again, I shall listen to the Mahler …
Herbert Howells – Like as the Hart When planning my wedding (or, at least, those elements of it where my input was permitted), Cara and I spent hours thinking about the music we wanted. We were married in St Etheldreda’s, a little-known medieval gem in central London and England’s oldest Catholic church.
The music was performed by a fabulous choir assembled by musician friends of ours. Being married at Christmas, the service and the music had a suitably festive theme but we also asked for Howell’s setting of Psalm 42. It is not remotely festive, nor particularly suitable for a wedding, but it is beautiful and, whenever I listen to it, it reminds me of my very happy wedding day; of Cara; and of our children, Charlie and Jemima, with whom we were subsequently blessed and all of whom I would miss terribly whilst languishing on my island.
My book
For my book, I would take Some Notes on Lifemanship by Stephen Potter, purely because it is absurd, clever and very funny, and would serve to cheer me up on those days when the sun didn’t shine.
My luxury item
And, finally, for my luxury, I would take my Concept2 rowing machine in the hope that I could stay in reasonable shape until I get rescued and not pile on the pounds after eating too many coconuts.
Click here to listen to Dr Luckett’s entire palylist on YouTube:
The outstanding story of a humble Dorset woman who nursed soldiers in two world wars, and outwitted the Nazis, is told by Roger Guttridge.
Miss Cross inspecting ATS recruits . Images taken from a Scrapbook by Violet Cross, 1942-1946. From the Keep Military Museum Archive
Few, if any, can match the extraordinary record of Hazelbury Bryan’s Violet Cross, a heroine of not one but both world wars.
She twice gave the Germans the slip, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government for her outstanding nursing work at Verdun, the slaughter house, which saw French casualties exceed 400,000.
This was a rare honour for a woman. Violet, a vicar’s daughter who was born and raised at Sturminster Marshall, was 24 in 1916 when she volunteered to help in the field hospitals in France, which were flooded with wounded soldiers. “It seemed to me that here was an opportunity of getting to know another country and of making my own known to them,” she later recalled. “Perhaps there would be fewer wars if we all knew each other better.” She was appointed Matron of a field hospital at Verdun and faced enormous challenges. “We were all understaffed and under-equipped, and during the last big attacks of 1918 we were dealing with 700 arrivals and 700 evacuations a day,” she said. ”I have seen men queued up on stretchers for three day sand three nights waiting for admission to the operating theatres.”
Violet Cross, from the Keep Military Museum Archive
Outstanding heroism
“Many boys, whose limbs were amputated in the morning, offered to go on stretchers on the floor the same evening to give their beds to the newcomers. If that isn’t courage, I don’t know what is,” she wrote. Violet stayed in France for another three years after the First World War, nursing prisoners-of-war who were too sick to return home. Meanwhile, her father, the Rev. James Cross, had retired after 54 years as Vicar of Sturminster Marshall and moved to the Manor House at Hazelbury Bryan. He died six months after moving but Violet never married and continued living there for more than 50 years. She was a churchwarden, a parish, district and county councillor, an ATS officer, a governor of Sturminster Newton High School and a major contributor to village life at Hazelbury. Projects she was involved in included the 1938 restoration of the church’s chancel in memory of her father, construction of the Civic Trust award- winning lychgate at the church entrance, the restoration of several cottages and the conversion of others to become church rooms.
Back to another war
When the Second World War broke out, the French surgeon that Violet had worked under 20 years earlier asked her to return. “I was in France with the Expeditionary Force,” she said.
But after arriving at the hospital site to find an acute shortage of bedding, she immediately returned to Dorset to seek help. “When I finally got back to France after ten days of intensive begging, I had so many bales [of hay to make mattresses] that I had to commandeer a French army lorry to convey them from the docks to the train,” she said.
“I felt it was an example to the French of what warm-hearted British generosity meant. It also benefited many of our own men.” Violet also described the scenes as French refugees poured through the town where she was working. “Bicycles, hand-carts, perambulators and great horse drawn-carts piled high with bedding and household possessions, on top of which old women and little children were perched precariously, began to stream night and day, fleeing the German terror,” she wrote.
“Children were even crammed into hearses and one old lady had been squeezed into an ice-cream cart, her old husband pedalling wearily behind. ‘On, on, on, they knew not where, as long as they were moving.” When Violet herself had to flee the Nazis, she initially tried to get back to England by boat. When that proved impossible, she and a fellow nurse decided to seek help from the colleague’s relatives in Paris.
Outwitting the Hun
Violet feared the worst when a German soldier demanded to see her identity papers, which identified her nationality. Discovery would have made her a prisoner-of-war.
But when the soldier was distracted by an officer, “my hand shot out from under my cloak and the card was back in my pocket whilst I continued to sit meekly in my chair.”
When the soldier returned, he was in a rush and authorised her to pass.
Violet’s memorial plaque isn’t easily seen, being hidden away on the wall behind the organ in Hazelbury Bryan’s St Mary and St James’ Church
After escaping the authorities in Paris a second time, Violet travelled through Spain and Portugal, where she negotiated a seat on a flying boat that was heading for Britain’s seaplane HQ in Poole Harbour. From Poole she walked the 25 miles to Hazelbury. A few weeks after D-Day, Violet returned yet again to the continent, where she helped reunite children with their parents in Belgium and Holland.
She died in 1989, aged 98. A memorial plaque in Hazelbury church includes the inscription: ‘I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.’
Yet another delay to relieve the congested A303 and ‘dual’ the remaining single carriageway sections infuriates local MP Dr Andrew Murrison.
This single-carriageway section of the A303 between Chicklade and Mere is part of the strategic route to the West Country. MP Dr Murrison is frustrated at the further delays to its improvement and the impact on local residents.
SOUTH West Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison has reacted with horror to the announcement by the National Highways Agency “that it intends to long grass (delay) much of its plans for the strategic A303 corridor.”
He plans to tell Transport Secretary Grant Shapps that if the Highways Agency is not going to invest in the A303, it should make it clear that the M4-M5 is the strategic route to the West Country.
For many years, Dr Murrison has been calling for the remaining single carriageway sections, from Chicklade to Mere, to be dualled, to give relief to his constituents. Improvements along this stretch of the A303, including Chicklade Bottom, were in “the pipeline” of what was then Highways England’s long-term strategy.
The MP was informed of the change in a letter from Elliot Shaw, the National Highways’ executive director for strategy and planning. It effectively pushes the planned – and much-needed – improvements to the A303 from Mere to Wylye into the long grass, many years into the future.
Legal challenge to ‘Stonehenge bypass’
While there was no specific start date for the Wiltshire improvements, they were in the official plan to begin after the completion of the A303 Stonehenge bypass, which is currently stalled following a High Court ruling upholding a legal challenge to the tunnel scheme.
Dr Murrison says: “It’s now clear that any improvement locally will be several years away at best.
“It’s all looking like a bit of a mess. I will be writing to the Transport Secretary to point out his department and agency can’t shunt more and more traffic down a spindly single carriageway whilst pretending it’s a strategic route. “There is an alternative if you’re not going to invest in the A303 which is to confirm the M4/M5 as the strategic route into the South West and push traffic, especially the heavy stuff, along the motorway network.”
Small scale upgrades
The new timetable for the trunk road schemes, outlined by Mr Shaw, gives priority to a section of the A303 connecting from the South Petherton roundabout to Southfields, (the notorious Ilminster bypass), at the junction with the A358.
Work is already under way on an A303 upgrade and dualling between Sparkford and Podimore. Consultation has now ended on plans to dual the A358 Southfields to Taunton (connecting to the M5), but no start date has been announced for the work.
The South Petherton-Southfields project, as outlined in the National Highways letter, is for initial development work to take place in 2023- 24, after which the government will consider the viability of the scheme.
Mr Shaw writes: “Whilst this will be good news for many of our customers and stakeholders, I recognise that for others the section between Wylye and Mere may have been the preference for this initial development activity. Upgrading the A303/A358 corridor is a significant undertaking, requiring the adoption of a sequential approach which minimises impacts on users of the route and is proportionate to funding available at a national level. Preparation for subsequent corridor improvements will need to await future Road Periods.”
Wessex Internet is accelerating plans to bring fibre broadband to dozens of villages and hamlets across the Blackmore Vale in 2022.
A total of 34 rural communities will be connected to high-speed broadband this year, with fibre direct to the home for the first time.
And the company is planning its first foray into towns, with 8,000 premises in Sturminster Newton and Blandford set to be fibre- connected this year or next. The Milldown area of Blandford is the first target.
“Our rural rollout will continue but the towns are a new area of build,” said managing director Hector Gibson Fleming. “It was always the plan to serve the whole community.”
The company’s ambitions are supported by Dorset Council and Local Enterprise Programme (LEP) funds are available to top up government grants. Residential homes are eligible for a total grant of £2,500, while businesses can receive £6,000.
A moleplough in a rural network build
Free installation
The money goes to Wessex and means there is no installation charge to home and business owners, other than a £49 activation fee and monthly rental fees from £29.
“We can make projects work within that funding,” said Fleming, who plans to double his workforce by the end of 2022 as the Shroton-based company expands. It is also launching an apprenticeship programme. Landowners across the Vale are now queuing up to allow Wessex to run the fibre cables across their land.
Rather than dig up roads, a mole plough cuts a slit across fields and through gardens and buries the fibre 3ft deep. “We work with landowners and build in an efficient way,” said Fleming. Some landowners are not convinced, while bodies such as The National Trust, Church of England and Forestry Commission are resistant. But Wessex has grown adept at finding new routes. “We are more confident we can work around villages,” he added.
The landowner is not paid but gets cut rate, high-speed connection which could prove vital in the growing agri-tech industry, while homeworking becomes more practical for the community.
Faster fibre connection
Download speeds with fibre will be up to 18 times faster than the national average of 54 megabits per second for rural areas – although many parts of the Blackmore Vale have a far lower figure than that at present.
The existing network largely consists of fibre to a junction box, then copper wires to the premises. Half of Wessex Internet’s existing customers also receive their broadband wirelessly, via a network of 150 masts.
Only 20% of properties in Britain currently have full fibre. Wessex’s plan is to eventually get everyone connected to its own fibre network, with speeds from 100- 900 Mbps.
Its target area is a 50km radius of Shroton, which covers south Somerset and Wiltshire, and parts of Hampshire.
The 34 Blackmore Vale communities in line for fibre in 2022 are predominantly those with no connection or the lowest existing download speeds, and/or those who have expressed the most interest in getting connected. Homeowners elsewhere are still encouraged to express an interest via the company’s website. But Fleming added: “These days, we know the communities well enough to know what the demand is likely to be.
“We are trying to build pipelines in a number of areas which can then link off to other communities.”
For example, Wessex is in the final stages of connecting fibre to tiny hamlets like Eccliffe and Bugley near Gillingham – but can then loop off that link to larger villages nearby such as Buckhorn Weston and Kington Magna, which have an average 20 Mbit/s speeds at present.
Moving into Somerset
Wessex is also busy with two publicly funded projects to bring fibre to South Somerset, while connecting community buildings between Blandford and Sherborne:
• Network construction is under way to connect fibre to 3,618 homes and businesses in South Somerset. Work began in Woolston, near North Cadbury, in May and the first homes went live last month, followed by fibre to homes in North and South Barrow, Babcary, Queen Camel and Marston Magna.
• Dorset’s Council and the Local Enterprise Council are funding fibre connection to 60 community buildings between Blandford and Sherborne.
The first connection was made to Durweston Village School.
The 36 Blackmore Vale communities to be connected to fibre in 2022:
Experienced gardener required for large country garden open to the public.
Must be knowledgeable, enthusiastic and well organised.
Pruning techniques, vegetable production, managing herbaceous borders and propagation skills are essential and able to demonstrate evidence of suitable gardening experience. Extensive experience with the use of garden machinery.
Are you aware of the surprising wealth of activities organised by village halls throughout the Blackmore Vale, asks Rachael Rowe.
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Village halls have a reputation for being rather lacklustre; hosting jumble sales and tiresome meetings.
Not so; especially in rural communities. Our village halls are critical in reducing social isolation. It’s Village Halls Week from 24-30 January, when the community spirit of these remarkable buildings is celebrated, especially the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep them open. Although the pandemic has seen many halls unable to open, the positivity in this community space has not gone away. Most are back in action with even more activities and fun to keep Dorset’s rural communities amused and supported. So if you thought your village hall only organised jumble sales, take a look at just a few of the events in north Dorset.
Grab a Coffee at The Mud Pie Cafe Okeford Fitzpaine’s village hall is transformed into a vibrant pop-up cafe on most Saturday mornings. It’s a meeting point for people iving alone, newcomers to the village and for finding out the latest news and gossip. Organiser Sue Finklaire described the atmosphere. “The Mud Pie Cafe is a brilliant weekly event that brings the whole community together and is run by volunteers.
The Mud Pie Cafe in full swing – most Saturday mornings in Okeford Fitzpaine. Image Rachael Rowe
“Villagers love our home-made bacon rolls, cakes and freshly filtered coffee. It’s definitely the first place to head for if you’re new to the village and want to quickly settle in. And if you’re keen to find out about local issues and make new friends, the Mud Pie Cafe can help with it all.”
Learn a new craft!
Village halls are also creative spaces, with many hosting classes. Bishops Caundle Village Hall hosts many engaging workshops and classes, from an embellishing group to quilters and a craft group. Colin West, the management committee secretary and treasurer says, “My wife set up the quilters group which has really taken off. Proof that if there’s a gap in the community, it just takes one person to come forward and start up a successful community activity.” And over at Winterborne Whitechurch they have a community library in an old storeroom. There’s also ‘Crafty Natter’, which is an informal get- together on Fridays. And now they’ve introduced ‘new age kurling’ – a contemporary fun activity where the modest fees generates funds to help maintain the building.
New Age Kurling at Winterborne Whitchurch. Image Rachael Rowe
If you, like me, always associate curling with ice, kurling is different and can be played indoors by most people, including wheelchair users. The group invited me to have a go, and I can assure you it is harder than it looks (my excuse for not hitting the target) but definitely fun. In Winterborne Whitchurch there’s also puppy training and other fitness activities.
’Our fish & chip quizzes are over-subscribed’ Mappowder boasts perhaps the least glamorous village hall in the Vale, but it hosts cracking events including a superb annual quiz which is always over-subscribed. “For just a tenner, villagers enjoy a really great evening and the price includes an excellent supper, such as a generous plate of fish ‘n chips or a choice of curries,” says ex-village hall committee chair Kae Palmer. “We’re packed with happy people and lots of laughter.”
For the anniversary of VE Day the hall hosted a party where villagers were invited to bring and share authentic dishes from the war – although one eccentric villager brought along a big dish of sauerkraut and German sausage. “This was served during the war,” he explained, “just not to English people.”
Winterborne Whitchurch’s community library, making use of an old unused store room in the village hall. Image Rachael Rowe
Imaginative fitness classes
Perhaps gym fees have put you off exercising, or you fancy trying out a new activity. In that case, there’s probably something within walking distance at your village hall. Popular activities include yoga, keep fit, short mat bowls and badminton. Colin West says Bishops Caundle Parish Council acquired spin exercise bikes for the community. There’s now a regular spinning class in the village hall.
Over at Hinton St Mary, the village hall doubles as a clubhouse for the cricket club with the green just outside.
Be part of something good!
Most village halls are run by volunteers; sometimes also trustees of charitable organisations set up as part of the governance.
Volunteers or trustees organise events and manage bookings, and fundraise to keep the buildings viable. Some help with maintenance and cleaning, as well as events. Winterborne Whitechurch Chair Teresa Goddard summed it up: “We have an excellent committee – and a good committee makes all the difference.” If you want to get involved to keep these valuable community assets safe for future generations, volunteer a little time to help out. Also, simply support your village hall activities to keep the spirit of these unique places alive.
