Pets and their diet

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14 August 2021

Diet and the right nutrition has come a long way in the pet industry over the last few years and getting it right can often be mind boggling, particularly when you’re a first time pet-owner.

Firstly, you need to establish your pet’s ‘life stage’. In other words do you have a puppy or kitten, an adult dog or cat, or a more senior furry friend?

What we call ‘life stage’ diets are tailored to your pet’s needs and will provide more of what is needed nutritionally during each stage of their life. For instance, feeding your new pup on specific puppy food will give them a diet specially formulated to meet the nutritional needs for their normal development. Puppies need to eat more in the way of protein (including higher concentrations of specific amino acids), fat, and certain minerals than adult dogs. Growth and development take a lot of energy, so puppies need to take in more calories than adult dogs, even for those of a similar size

Secondly, look at the ingredients. If you’re a bit confused, take a look at another food. The ingredients’ list shouldn’t be too confusing and you should be able to work out exactly what’s in the food. Food ingredients will be listed in quantity, so the first ingredient on the list, say it says chicken, will be what it contains the most of.

Feeding guidelines for all stages of your pet’s life can be a bit confusing and we always recommend having a conversation with the veterinary nurse at your registered vets. They will be able to help and guide you throughout your pet’s life in the diet changes that need to be made. Most vet nurses also run what we call ‘weight clinics’ and can help if you think your dog or cat has perhaps put on little bit of excess that needs to be got under control.

It’s important to establish your pet’s ‘body condition score’. Body condition scoring is a management tool designed to assess body reserves or fat accumulation of an animal. Your vet nurse will use this as a method of examining the nutritional status of your pet and guide you appropriately.

As we said, it can be a bit overwhelming, but discussing your pet’s diet and any specific needs is always recommended.

Guest post by: www.vetsmiths.co.uk

01202 119988

Fired Up with Dorset potter Jonathan Garratt

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Editorial team

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14 August 2021

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Meet the Dorset potter who moved 25,000 bricks to rebuild his kiln and start a new life near Shaftesbury.

When Dorset potter Jonathan Garratt relocated from Cranborne to near Shaftesbury, he moved lock, stock, and many pots, as well as dismantling a 25,000 brick kiln and painstakingly rebuilding his renowned pottery business at Jolliffe’s Cottage in the village of Stour Row.

Seven years on, Jonathan has converted a car port to house his beloved kiln and a former kindergarten has become his pottery studio. Here, this sprightly 67 year-old works to a choice of eclectic music, surrounded by his beautiful creations made from Cranborne clay, and all exclusively fired with wood.

Wood-fired flower pots in hot oranges, blue and greens, bird houses and “garden punctuation” – interesting artefacts framed in clay and wood – are artistically displayed outside his studio. Inside are vases, jugs, mugs and plates, some inventively decorated using anything from mascara brushes to a domestic sponges.

He has no website or social media presence, but hopes his studio has the “atmosphere of a bygone smithy” where passers-by feel they can just pop in to browse. Those that do will be pleasantly surprised by the reasonable prices, with an elegant glazed pot available for under £10. Many of his stunning designs are also guaranteed frost-proof.

Jonathan is the first to admit that he had an extremely privileged upbringing – educated at Eton College where he studied ceramics and then on to Clare College, Cambridge where he gained a BA degree in Archaeology.

Jonanthan’s gallery at Jolliffes cottage nr Shaftesbury is open to visitors. **Image by Courtenay Hitchcock**

“At Eton, I’d pretend to go for a run but sneak off to the art centre where I had a chance to indulge my love for photography, sculpture and finally pottery. I travelled through all the materials to find my direction,” he says.

He’s indebted to his parents for allowing him the freedom to choose a creative path in life, unlike many of his peers who were forced into “respectable” banking or legal professions. A glance at his impressive CV shows it was definitely the right career path.

Lots more to see and buy in the outdoors Gallery – **Image by Courtenay Hitchcock Blackmore Vale**

His many credits include exhibiting at London’s V&A Museum and the Royal College of Art. In the dead of night, he’s climbed trees in Canary Wharf to hang ceramic discs as part of ‘The Shape of the Century 100 Years of Sculpture in Britain’ exhibition. He’s also appeared at numerous exhibitions across Dorset and Hampshire.

He’s a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)- an award granted to exceptional individuals judged by the Royal Society of Arts to have made significant contributions relating to the Arts and is only awarded to those who demonstrate their support for social change.

Joanathan’s firing room with his stacks of blanks and the self-built kiln to the rear. He has been selling his pieces to Fiona Atkins, an experienced trader – now at Townhouse Spitalfields – for thirty five years. **Image by Courtenay Hitchcock**

Talking passionately about people having the right to express their talents, whatever background they may come from, Jonathan has written to the Prime Minister about the ‘open prisons’ many people are living in, with little or no outdoor space and the resulting ‘untapped fuel of creativity being supressed in humans.’

Jonathan may not be able to claim to have reinvented the wheel but he has certainly recycled it! Who else would see an old plastic dog bed at a dump and envisage it as part of a potter’s wheel? Along with an upside down washing up bowl, turned wood and some scrap metal, his home-made wheel has notched up 40 years of service and is still turning strong.

Inspirations for his wonderful designs come from books and other artists. “We’re all thieves, drawing on ideas that others have already had,” he says honestly. He also believes he’s only 50 per cent of the artistic contract. “I make a pot – but what someone does with it, where they put it, what they put in it – that makes up the other crucial 50% of the finished effect.”

And sometimes his beloved kiln can take on a creative bent he never imagined. “My kiln becomes an artist too – sometimes firing the clay in a way I didn’t anticipate and the results can be extraordinary.”

Clearly, this is a man who loves what he does, describing the sensation of “being airborne” when he’s at his wheel, a huge high as he and the clay create together. And, unlike many of his fellow Etonians, “no boring meetings to sit through and no need to wear a tie to work.”

Jonathan welcomes visitors to his studio at Jolliffe’s Cottage, Stour Row, near Shaftesbury SP7 0QW

Tel: 01747 858697 or 07549 020454
email: [email protected]

By: Tracie Beardsley

Local Farm is helping young people feel needed, wanted and valued.

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Editorial team

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13 August 2021

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A Dorset youth farming project was featured on BBC Countryfile in July. ‘Future Roots’ – based at Rylands Farm, a 30 acre smallholding near Sherborne – is the brainchild of social worker Julie Plumley.

Having grown up on a farm herself, Julie wondered what potential there might be for kids struggling in the school system if they had the freedom of the farming environment.

Click to play the Countryfile episode – Skip to 9.55 for the start of the Future Roots Segment

“I just thought about my dad. Farmers have to be a plumber, an electrician, do woodwork, fencing, animal care, veterinary… kids can be here all day with zero emphasis on their Maths and

English ability. Farming allows them to see a different side to themselves.”

The kids, aged between 8 and 18, come with a myriad of issues. “They could be involved in drugs and scared, but then they come here and they have hope, and a future, and people respecting them.” Julie has helped over a thousand youngsters turn their lives around since Future Roots opened its gates in 2008.

Everything is focused on learning by experience. This year in particular they have benefitted from being able to touch and hug the animals. Animal therapy helps them to build a relationship of trust which has a knock on effect with their human relationships too. Julie says, ‘Young people respond to being needed, wanted and valued.’

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The Random 19 with renowned journalist, author and broadcaster Kate Adie.

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Laura

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13 August 2021

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Renowned war correspondent Kate Adie CBE DL is an English journalist, author & broadcaster. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she became a familiar household name, reporting from war zones around the world.

Kate has lived in Dorset since leaving west London for her country cottage in the county in 2012. She fell in love with Dorset when working on farming programmes at BBC Bristol.

“I love lumpy countryside, hills and water, and unexpected views, which is what I loved about Dorset.”

1. What’s your relationship with the Blackmore Vale (the area, not us!)?

It’s my lovely neighbour, with intriguing names like Hammoon and Child Okeford I’m very much attached to the Cerne, Sydling and Piddle Valleys.

2. What was the last song you sang out loud in your car?

Only my little dog had to hear it, thank goodness. He’s not telling.

3. Last movie you watched? Would you recommend it?

I feel like I must be the only person in the world who hadn’t seen Casablanca, so I found myself watching it on some obscure ancient movie channel the other evening.

Humphrey Bogart et al, in a nightclub full of spies and foreigners and men with guns…

It reminded me of a similar place on the border of Armenia and Turkey: full of suspicious-looking heavy drinkers waving bottles, deafening music, a brawl going on in the corner, and a nice man who insisted on introducing us to the large hairy bloke waving a Kalashnikov –

“Please meet our local MP…”

6. What would you like to tell 15yr old you?

That, more than any of us appreciate at 15, your childhood has been lucky and loving, and will lead to a magical and fascinating life.

4. It’s Friday night – you have the house to yourself, and no work is allowed. What are you going to do?

Watch terrible telly (so I can better appreciate the stuff that’s meant to be good), and eat a pomegranate (impossible to eat publicly).

5. Who’s your celebrity crush?

I once interviewed Anthony Hopkins, and was so breathlessly smitten that I failed to notice his fellow actor next to him. When challenged about this back in the newsroom, I said Who?

Mel Gibson, they said.

7. Chip Shop Chips or Homebaked Cake?

Cake please.

8. If you were sent to an island for a year and could only bring three things, what would you bring?

(the island is already equipped with a magical power source and a laptop)

A bath.

A trailer – full of gardening kit, with seeds and fruit tree saplings.

A Welsh harp (of course I can’t play one. But given a year, and no listeners…)

9. What book did you read last year that stayed with you?

War Doctor, by David Nott. Extraordinary – and such a humane man.

10. What’s your secret superpower?

An ability to read the paper, do needlepoint, throw toys for the dog, use the ipad – all while appearing utterly engrossed in a live Zoom.

11. What shop can you not pass without going in?

Fudge.

(and yes, I queried this with Kate. This isn’t a shop called Fudge. It’s literally “any shop that sells fudge…” Ed)

12. Favourite quote? Movie, book or inspirational – we won’t judge.

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’
(John Stuart Mill, 1867)

13. What’s the best evening you’ve ever had?

When after a particularly close call involving a bullet, I realised that every next evening – and day – was a bonus.

14. A penguin just walked in the door wearing a panama hat. Why is he here?

There are two possibilities:

• People will do anything to get on TV.

• I thought I’d only had two glasses of wine…

15. Your top three most-visited favourite websites (excluding social media!)?

My browing history is mostly panic enquiries;

“How much mini-lego can a puppy eat?”

“Can you microwave a very frozen thing at the back of the freezer when surprise guests arrive?”

16. Favourite crisp flavour?

Sea salt and black pepper.

17. The best biscuit for dunking?

Chocolate digestives are not for dunking.

18. What in life is frankly a mystery to you?

Lots – so I got a job asking questions…

19. You have the power to pass one law tomorrow, uncontested. What would you do?

Universal Credit. No one should go hungry.

“I panicked when a police car pulled up”

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Editorial team

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13 August 2021

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HEALTH AND VEG FOR ALL

When a police car drove up to the Big Yellow Bus Garden Project (BYBG), alongside the North Dorset Trailway between Blandford and Sturminster Newton, project co-ordinator Paul Williams panicked. It was lockdown. His community space was allowed to be open but could he find his letter of authority? The uniformed officer got out. “I’m on a break. I just need time out for myself,” he explained. With that, he rolled up his sleeves and spent 20 minutes happily weeding.

Image by: **Courtenay Hitchcock Blackmore Vale**

Paul Williams recalls: “With the added pressures of Covid on top of his daily duties, he just needed something to take his mind off work. This sums up the value of this project perfectly.”

BYBG covers four acres of land split into three areas. The formal landscape garden offers a chance to wander and relax under beautiful crab apple trees or by the pond. One acre is given over to a communal growing space. Rather than individual allotments, anyone can grab a spade and help grow fruit and veg. Whether or not you’ve worked the area, everyone can take advantage of the produce. “We put excess produce on the trailway to give away,” Paul Williams explains, “and also dispatch it to five sites locally for people to help themselves.” Flower fans enjoy the large cut flower area. Secateurs are on site so you can cut your own bouquet of flowers – again free of charge.

The last acre is a wildflower meadow, with four beehives to help pollinate and produce honey with plans for this to be sold locally with profits being reinvested into the project. “As well as the community benefitting from BYBG, we’re giving nature a hand too,” says Paul Williams. “We’re pesticide-free and have a wildlife pond, bird boxes and hedgehog houses – you name it we’re doing it.”

The project grew out of Paul Williams’ hugely successful education mentoring service in Sturminster Newton, supporting young people at risk of becoming NEETS (not in education, employment or training). He rescued an old yellow bus and converted it into a classroom, offering the chance to learn skills in catering, car mechanics, forestry, construction and horticulture. Paul Williams noticed the young people who migrated towards horticulture were of a more nervous disposition and faced mental health challenges including self-harming and suicidal tendencies.

When funding for the project stopped (and the bus rusted away), the opportunity to take over the abandoned site was too good to miss. Paul Williams: “I thought, why not open it up as a health and well-being space for the wider community so everyone can benefit?”

Suzie Rancourt joined BYBG during the third lockdown. “Already a keen, albeit, novice gardener, I was attracted by learning more as well as an activity to share with my twelve year-old daughter,” she says.

“It has been an unequivocal life saver. As a single parent and key worker, circumstances have not been easy. The BYBG has been a genuine solace from the outside world. It has been so validating to watch not only the change in what we’re helping to create, but also the positive effect it has on those that visit it. ‘’

Looking at the site now, it’s hard to believe that just two years ago it was an overgrown mass of weeds and brambles. Paul Williams and dedicated volunteers waded through knee high thistles and hawthorn. Today you’ll see people enjoying the space and volunteers of all ages working together. These include the troubled youngsters that Paul supports in his “real job” in association with Dorset Council.

“Some young people, challenged by their mental health, come here to work with me. When you’re planting lettuces alongside someone, it’s far easier for them to open up and talk without the formality of sitting in a room staring uncomfortably at each other.”

He adds: “It’s scientifically proven that if you get somebody to nurture something – it nurtures them back. When you get a young person to plant a seed, water it and see it grow, this has a knock-on effect for their own self-esteem.”

He also points out the intergenerational benefits of adult volunteers working alongside these youngsters. “Without forcing the issue, you’ve got someone in their 60’s chatting to someone who is fifteen and passing on their wisdom.”

Future plans for BYBG include a garden room/classroom on site and support for dementia sufferers, the elderly and lonely. There’s also two pop up Yoga events coming in August and a Picnic by the Pond’ on Saturday 21^st August, where families can come with a picnic and enjoy free entertainment provided by local musicians

Paul Williams: “I’m so grateful for the support we’ve already received from local businesses but more funding is always needed and we welcome more volunteers.”

Email: [email protected] or call him on 07850036117 or visit BYGB on Facebook
The Big Yellow Bus Garden Project | Facebook

By: Tracie Beardsley

VACANCY FOR CLERK AND RESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL OFFICER | OKEFORD FITZPAINE PARISH COUNCIL

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Editorial team

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13 August 2021

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We are a Parish Council with a population of around 1000 and a Precept of £26,000 situated in North Dorset. A vacancy for Parish Clerk has arisen and we are looking for an enthusiastic individual to take on this part time role (8 hrs per week). There is some flexibility around the start date, and this would be subject to negotiation between the successful candidate and the Parish Council.

A job specification can be obtained by contacting the Council at: [email protected]

Closing date for expressions of interest is 26 August 2021

100 years of the Royal British Legion in Sturminster Newton

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Editorial team

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12 August 2021

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The end of WW1 in 1918 saw millions of ex soldiers returning to civilian life, many of them bearing physical and mental wounds after four cruel years of industrialised slaughter not just in Flanders but in war theatres around the world and at sea.

It would be inaccurate to say that they were ‘the lucky ones,’ but of six million men and women mobilised during the conflict, 886,000 were killed and approximately three times that figure were wounded.

A range of charitable organisations sprang up during and after the war seeking to help the ex-service personnel, many shocked by their experiences, cope with ‘ordinary life.’

In Sturminster Newton The ‘Old Comrades Association’ was formed in 1919 by Colonel William Whatman and this became a founding branch of the British Legion on July 28, 1921 when the many institutions were amalgamated under a common name.

The building was a wooden hut which Col Whatman arranged to be brought from Blandford Camp. It was placed where today’s Royal British Legion stands, on Bath Road just north of the town centre, on land donated by the Pitt-Rivers estate.

The ‘hut’ as it was known, was a popular destination for local people; not just ex-servicemen and women, as it was used as a cinema when mobile movies came to town. Its popularity increased in the 1960s when a dance hall was added, although this was disused in 2016 due to the high cost of refurbishment needed.

When it was first opened, the ‘hut’ was looked after by Mr Robert (Bob) Hatcher MM.

Bob was a local war hero, having been awarded the Military Medal during the First World War. Bob was appointed Steward in 1919 – a post he kept until he took over the Red Lion public house in the mid 1940s.

This pocket of local history, our Royal British Legion, celebrated its centenary last month with an evening paying tribute to the work of the RBL, and to the various local organisations who have supported the Legion over the 100 years of its existence in the town.
The presentations were followed by a buffet supper and a magnificent birthday cake created by Portia at Stur of the Moment, a surprise donation by the Club Chairman, Andy Conduit.

It is not widely known that anyone can become a member of the RBL and help support generations of the armed forces community. Find Sturminster’s RBL on Facebook here.

Image courtesy of the Barry Cuff Collection

1921 – a snapshot of England

Only men over 21 could vote (and women over 30 who met certain property-owning qualifications. It wasn’t until 1928 that women could vote equally with men.)

There were 1.1 million domestic servants in England, earning way below the national salary average due to no minimum wage levels and deductions for bed and board.

The average life expectancy for women and men was 60 and 56 respectively.

The average house price £320

The average salary was £178 for men. For women it was £99.

The average average car price was £270 – two thirds the cost of a house

A litre of fuel, however, was only £0.03

A Pint of beer? That would be the same as the petrol – thruppence.

By: Andy Palmer

Patient Services Team Member – Part time | Blackmore Vale Partnership

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Editorial team

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12 August 2021

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Patient Services Team Member – Part time

We are looking for a new patient service team member to join our dedicated team to work across our busy GP practice

For information about the role and to apply, please click on the link below.

https://www.blackmorevalesurgery.co.uk/vacancies

Or for more information please contact Laura Grant on [email protected] or call 01258 474513

Illyria – HMS Pinafore

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Editorial team

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12 August 2021

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The family-favourite outdoor theatre company Illyria will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and they will be playing Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore at Castle Gardens in Sherborne on Wednesday 25th August. You can always rely on Illyria for fantastical sets, memorable performances and plenty of laughs along the way for children and grown-ups alike.

These shows will be staged beneath the summer sky, so please remember your picnics, blankets, seating and warm clothes, so you can make the most of an evening of fast and furious madcap comedy in the walled garden.

Doors will open at 6.30pm each night, with performances

starting at 7.30pm.

Tickets are now on sale from Castle Gardens and online via illyria.co.uk. Tickets cost £15 per adult, £12.50 for concessions and £5.00 per child (0-16).