A talented young tenor from Somerset is giving a solo recital of favourite songs and arias at Child Okeford village hall on Friday 18th November at noon. Gregory Steward (22), who was a joint specialist vocal and trumpet scholar at Wells Cathedral School and studied voice with Tim Richards at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, from where he recently graduated with a first class honours degree in music. He won the Taunton Young Singer Competition and was a semi-finalist in both the Somerset Song Prize, a national competition for singers up to the age of 25, and the Two Moors Young Musician competition. He has sung with acclaimed vocal ensemble Tenebrae and the Choir of St John’s College Oxford. He successfully auditioned for the BBC National Chorus of Wales and has performed in Britten’s War Requiem and Handel’s Messiah, both at St David’s Hall. Since graduating, Gregory has been performing many recitals in towns and villages in Somerset and Dorset to launch his solo career. The Child Okeford concert will include songs from South Pacific, Les Miserables and popular romantic arias, including Nessun Dorma. It begins at noon and there will be refreshments.
For tickets for an opportunity to hear a young tenor at the start of his professional career, contact Gregory on 01458 211197 or email [email protected]
Wimborne’s popular independent cookware retailer Salamander Cookshop were celebrating last month, having won a prestigious Excellence in Housewares Award at a glittering ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
Often described as a traditional ‘emporium’, Salamander stocks over 5,000 different cookware products. All have been carefully curated by owners David and Ione Crossley, who took over the shop in 2019. There were seven other finalists in the category of Excellence in Retail Training, including Harrods and John Lewis. ‘We feel proud to be recognised alongside such an impressive range of leading national brands’ said the husband and wife team. ‘This award recognises our focus, our team really knowing the products we sell and us being able to share that knowledge and expertise with customers.’
It’s all in the training David and Ione put the win down to their baked-in commitment to training. David said: ‘We came to the retail sector from education; we ran our own training consultancy helping to develop school leaders and teachers. Quite simply, as lifelong learners ourselves, great training is part of our DNA. With this background, a focus on learning about the cookware industry and its products was natural for us.’ All Salamander staff undergo online training with suppliers and leading cookware specialists, as well as attending workshops at places such as the Le Crueset kitchen in Andover. Ione said: ‘We believe we best serve our customers by offering genuine product knowledge and expertise as well as great customer service. We’ve developed an induction manual and we take every member of staff through the shop in sections so they can really get under the skin of what we sell – how it works, where it comes from, its benefits and features.’ Salamander was also a finalist in the Retail Initiative Category for its innovative approach. The couple have in-store demonstrations for customers, and during COVID held virtual cooking competitions and personal Zoom shopping.
Food walks The couple are always looking for new ways to expand what they do, too. Their cooking events have proved very popular – one of their recent guest experts was Maggie Richardson from last year’s Great British Bake Off. Wimborne Food Walks is another venture which they jointly host with other businesses in the town. Ione said: ‘We’re delighted to partner with Dacombes of Wimborne, who allow us to use their demonstration kitchen. We love the town – the brilliant range of cafe and artisan food shops inspired us to run Food Walks where we showcase other local food businesses, such as East Street Deli, The Malthouse Bakery and Bells Fisheries.’ The cookshop also won Good Retailing Award in 2021 for its accessible website, effective use of IT and its creative newsletter which goes out regularly to over 800 subscribers. salamandercookshop.com
A general election could re-energise the tired parade of the same old faces and develop a national consensus, says North Dorset Lib Dems’ Mike Chapman
Normally, of course, we Liberal Democrats occupy the centre-ground of politics. This last week, though, I admit I took to the high ground. That is to say, a group of us, duly wearing our yellow Lib Dem hi-vis jackets, did a litter-pick on the top of Bulbarrow! It is astonishing how much – and what – rubbish is just chucked out of car windows en passant. Nonetheless, we unashamedly enjoyed the walk, the view and the company. I recommend it. Equally unashamedly, the Liberal Democrats are calling for a general election. It won’t happen because those in power, in Mrs T’s memorable line, are frit. Our concern is that the country is being damaged, people are being hurt and enterprises are going under due to the instability. As the third Tory leader this year, Rishi Sunak has absolutely no mandate from the people and his parliamentary majority is owed to a discredited figure and the car crash of Brexit promises. Worse, they are about to embark on a further period of austerity. Axes will fall at the whim of a few mandarins and special advisers, tweaked by the dogmatic and factional interests of politicians. The people of this land will have absolutely no say. I am very concerned that investment in levelling-up, in radically improving social care and in protecting the environment will evaporate – or be pushed back onto resource-strapped local government.
Ramparts not gateways In the self-induced crisis this government finds itself in, the instant reaction is to reduce risk, back the popular, shore up support in the one-third of the population who voted for you. We used to be a classy sort of nation. We seem increasingly to be one where people and parties look out for number one rather than the national best interest; a nation becoming xenophobic, where borders are ramparts not gateways and where global issues become matters for others because we are too busy. We need to reset and re-energise. That is the real reason we need a general election. It might even lead us to develop a national consensus. For a consensus, policies and plans must be so inclusive that everyone can buy into them, get behind them. Engaging our combined understanding and experience can find a way ahead using the best people, not just the usual suspects. Management. It is how the best organisations work. Currently, however, we are heading for the alternative: action taken in favour of the few. Leading, in a couple of difficult years, to yet more see-saw, zig then zag, fragmentation of the Union and further diminution of our standing as a country. The Lib Dems will always be there to help pick up the pieces.
Roger Guttridge recounts a Sturminster Newton family’s pioneering contribution to Australian history
Puxey Farm in Sturminster Newton Today
Two hundred and thirty years ago this month, a Sturminster Newton family was three months into a voyage into a unique place in history. Thomas and Jane Rose, their four children, their niece Elizabeth Fish and their dairymaid Elizabeth Watts were soon to become the first family of free settlers in Australia – hitherto only transported convicts and their guards had been welcomed. The Rose party was nine of just 15 people who responded to a nationwide appeal for experienced farmers and ‘other right kind of settler’ to become pioneers in Britain’s newest overseas colony. As well as free passage, the British government offered land, tools, two years’ worth of provisions, clothing for a year and availability of convict labour. But this was no trip for the faint-hearted. It involved a five-month voyage across the world’s great oceans, all the challenges of an alien climate and environment and the likelihood that you’d never see your family, friends and home town again. Which is perhaps why only ten adults and five children voluntarily joined the crew and 17 women convicts on the supply ship Bellona as she sailed from Gravesend on 8th August 1792. The voyage was not uneventful. Elizabeth Fish’s one-year-old daughter died just nine days into the voyage due to ‘worm fever and convulsions’. Elizabeth later struck up a relationship with Lancashire farmer and fisherman Edward Powell, one of the other six voluntary settlers, and the couple married soon after the Bellona’s arrival at Sydney Cove on 16th 1793. Romance also blossomed between gardener Thomas Webb and convict Catherine Buckley. They married eight days after arriving. Within two years, Catherine was a widow. Thomas had been fatally speared by Aboriginals and his nephew Joseph had also died.
An artists impression of Rose Cottage as it would have looked in the early 1800s’
Stinking and maggotty Jane Rose arrived at Sydney Cove three months pregnant with the fifth of her seven children. Many of the supplies failed to survive the voyage. Sixty-nine barrels of flour arrived ‘rotten, stinking and maggotty’ due to damp; pork was ‘stinking rotten and unfit to eat’; hundreds of gallons of rum and wine and almost 1,200 gallons of molasses had dribbled away due to leaks; huge quantities of cloth, hammocks and rugs and a case of stationery were rotten and unfit for use due to water damage. Thomas Rose was allocated 120 acres seven miles west of Sydney and a further 70 acres five years later as a reward for his hard work. But the soil quality was poor and the family endured crop failures and water shortages as well as an Aboriginal attack in which Jane was hit by a spear and saved only by her whalebone corset. The family moved to Prospect, where Thomas was put in charge of a government farm, and, in the early 1800s, to a third location on the north bank of the Hawkesbury River at Wilberforce near Sydney. The land here was more fertile but also flood-prone, and the family had crops, livestock and several bark shelters or huts washed away before building a sturdier log cabin on higher ground. Rose Cottage remained in the family until 1961 and is today maintained as a tourist attraction and Australia’s oldest timber house.
Rose Cottage today is a popular tourist attraction
Growing a population The Roses took their duties of populating the colony seriously. By the time Jane died in 1827, she was Australia’s first non-Aboriginal great-grandmother with more than 100 descendants. Thomas died six years later aged 84. By the late 20th century, the number of known descendants of Thomas and Jane had risen to 27,600 although the true number is thought to be more than 60,000. A surviving letter sent to Jane in 1798 by her parents gives us a glimpse of the England they had left behind. Thomas and Mary Topp of Sturminster Newton wrote of a constant fear of invasion by Napoleon, of frequent troop movements as a result, of sky-high prices and of ‘hardly to be borne’ taxes on everything from horses and dogs to hats and gloves to butter and cheese. On 8th August 1992, 200 years to the day after the Bellona set sail, three Australian Rose descendants attended a celebration garden party at Puxey Farm, Sturminster, the family’s home before departure. And in January 1993, hundreds of Rose descendants were among 2,000 people who converged on Sydney Cove to mark the anniversary of the Bellona’s arrival. Descendants of some of the 17 female convicts also took part.
Rose Cottage is a popular Australian tourist attraction
The ringmaster has changed, but it’s the same old Tory circus with a worrying downgrade of climate policies, says Labour’s Pat Osborne
It’s an unconvincing start for Rishi Sunak. His woeful decision to reappoint Suella Braverman just days after she was forced to resign for breaking ministerial rules has already backfired. Whether Braverman’s failure to sign off on measures which could have eased pressure at Manston migrant processing centre were deliberate and callous, or just clumsy and incompetent, remains to be seen. What is clear is that the decision to reappoint a home secretary who was only recently ousted for treading a very murky line between lack of competence and lack of integrity was Sunak’s alone. In attempting to win over the lunatic libertarian wing of the Conservative Party, Sunak has managed to create even more uncertainty at a time the country is crying out for safe and stable hands to guide us safely through an already-painful cost of living crisis. Instead, it would seem that the ringmaster has changed, but it’s the same old Tory circus which seems to feature a cast of clowns, an acrobat with his arm in a sling, and a fire-eater with no eyebrows. Sunak’s decision to snub COP27 while also stopping the King from attending is something that should be of huge concern to us too. Alongside his opposition to onshore wind and support for tax breaks for oil companies, his absence in Egypt signals a worrying political downgrading of the climate crisis. It’s as though he’s unable to make the obvious connection between climate action, energy sovereignty, cheaper fuel bills and economic growth that Labour have spelled out loud and clear in our green prosperity plan and plans for a Great British Energy company.
Sonnaz Nooranvary is a British-Iranian upholsterer who lives near Wimborne, best known as the resident upholstery expert on BBC One’s The Repair Shop.
At the age of 17, Sonnaz Nooranvary became the first female apprentice at Sunseeker Yachts, where she developed her eye for detail and exacting craftsmanship standards. At 25 she started her own business, which has since grown into a bespoke interiors studio and workshop which includes interior design and restoration.
Her new brand ‘House of Sonnaz’ has just launched – she hopes to ‘rewrite what it means to be a manufacturer and purveyor of home products’, creating furniture that will last a lifetime and bring joy, using processes that will not harm the environment.
Sonnaz is passionate about manufacturing in the UK, and, from her own experience, she believes deeply in apprenticeships.
And so, to the questions …
1. What’s your relationship with Dorset?
I came to Dorset because I applied for an apprenticeship at Sunseeker Yachts, and they wouldn’t accept me unless I lived in the area (I lived in Hampshire at the time and I didn’t drive). So I moved to Dorset for that, and have been here ever since! I’ve had the opportunity to move away, but I do love Dorset.
2. What was the last song you sang out loud in your car?
I Am Woman. Who’s the artist? No idea. But it was I Am Woman – what a great song, very empowering!
(I Am Woman by Emmy Meli, not the 1972 Helen Reddy one)
3. The last film you watched? It was The Luckiest Girl Alive. I saw it on Netflix – and I totally recommend it. It was pretty profound, there were lots of twists and turns and I thought the ending was genius.
4. It’s Friday night – you have the house to yourself, and no work is allowed. What are you going to do?
Pretty much every Friday my set routine is to put on a facemask and re-do the nail polish on my toes. But if I was going all out I would run a bath, light some candles, add some music, a glass of wine – red, probably – and a book (maybe not in the bath with the book, that’s for in bed, later). A party for one!
5. What is your comfort meal?
When we were kids we used to have – it’s really terrible actually – we used to have porridge with sugar and butter in it. Terrible. But if I’m feeling like I need a bit of comfort, that’s my go-to. BUT my other comfort food is a Persian meal called ghormeh sabzi. I absolutely love it. It’s loads of herbs made into a stewy sauce, and you have it with rice. It’s a really unusual taste and it’s one of my favourite meals.
6. What would you like to tell 15 year-old you?
What would I tell me … I’m 15, so I am still at school … I may have been head girl by then – my life was looking up! I think I would tell myself that everything is going to be all right.
7. The best crisps flavour?
Obviously it’s prawn cocktail.
8. And the best biscuit for dunking?
Again. Obviously. Custard creams.
9. What book did you read recently that stayed with you?
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I’ve had the book for a long time, but I finally read it and it was heartbreaking. I cried.
It’s a profoundly affecting story about people in Kabul, following their lives through the war in Afghanistan.
It was a difficult, emotional read.
10. What’s your secret superpower?
Maybe despite the fact I have so much going on, I tend to always look like everything’s fi-i-i-ne?!
11. Your most annoying trait?
Well that depends who you ask! I’m sure most people would say I’m too loud. I’m quite direct, that can be annoying. I’m a perfectionist, that’s VERY annoying. Hmmm. There’s quite a few, to be honest …
12. What shop can you not pass without going in?
Oh, I love, I LOVE, a good deli! It’s the homemade hummus, the pesto, the interesting crisps and all the other things you can dip into said hummus. Then there’s the beautiful big fat olives, the sausage rolls – including vegan ones which are usually really good too … Like I said, I love a deli!
13. Your favourite quote?
I often tell myself ‘if it was that easy everyone would be doing it’.
I use it to push myself on when things are hard. Things are not always easy, and I just like to remind myself of that.
14. Tell us about one of the best evenings you’ve ever had?
I should probably say my wedding evening, shouldn’t I? But my girlfriends and I have a thing called ‘Tuesday Night Dinners.’ We all used to go sea swimming on a Tuesday, and then take it in turns to go to each other’s houses. It turned into ‘Tuesday Night Dinners’, even when we didn’t sea swim and it wasn’t a Tuesday. It was a good time in our lives. We were just all girls together. We would share, support, we’re all from really different walks of life, and it was just a really great time. We still do it now, just not every Tuesday. Or even on a Tuesday. I’ve had some amazing evenings with those ladies, too many to pick one.
15. What was the last gift you either gave, or received?
It was for my bookkeeper Louise – I bought her some Dorset handmade soap and one of those things where there’s a nice smelly liquid in a bottle and there’s sticks coming out of it? What are they called? It was from Dorset too, also handmade. Can’t remember what they’re called. (It’s a reed diffuser. You’re welcome – Ed).
I can’t think of anything I’ve received recently. Hmm. I need to do something about that …
16. Your top three most-visited websites?
Oohhh … I love a bit of Pinterest, very good for inspiration. And I love a bit of AirBnB as well for trip inspiration. The other thing I do is look at Positive News a lot.
17. What in life is frankly a mystery to you?
The fact that when you do clothes washing you lose socks to the deep dark depths of the machine and end up with odd ones. It’s bizarre.
And when you have a new tube of toothpaste, it lasts a while, but then when you get to the end, that last bit seems to last as long as the rest of the tube did. I don’t know how that works.
Also light. Travelling from the cosmos. In Swanage they do stargazing events at Durlston Astronomy Centre, and you can go and look at a galaxy that’s like seven billion light years away, it looks like grains of sugar. And the light you’re seeing is seven billion years old. That’s a total mystery to me. Mind bending thoughts.
18. Chip Shop Chips or Home Baked Cake?
Well, both, I would say. Why not have it all?
19. You have the power to pass one law tomorrow, uncontested. What would you do?
I think that it should be law that everyone must have an apprentice – my apprenticeship really changed my life.
But also … maybe that getting renewable energy fitted to your house should be free?
Alarmingly, bird flu is on the rise – new laws apply to backyard poultry keepers too, says NFU county advisor Gemma Harvey
The 2021/22 winter season saw the worst outbreak of avian influenza, more commonly known as bird flu, that the UK has ever experienced, with more than 130 cases across the country. In previous years, cases have gradually subsided as spring approached, with none reported over the summer months, but that was not the case this year. Over the summer and on into the autumn, avian influenza persisted and a steady trickle of cases has continued. In recent weeks the number of confirmed cases has significantly increased.
Backyard chickens Cases are not just confined to the commercial poultry sector – around half of the confirmed cases in winter 2021/22 were in backyard flocks. In response to the rising number of cases, on Monday 17th October a nationwide avian influenza prevention zone came into force, meaning that it is now a legal requirement for all bird keepers in Great Britain to follow strict biosecurity measures to protect their flocks from the threat of infection.
How is bird flu spread? Bird flu is spread by direct contact between birds and through contamination in the environment, for example in bird droppings. This means wild birds carrying the disease can infect domestic poultry, so the best way to reduce the risk of your poultry catching bird flu is to minimise the chance of them coming into contact with wild birds or their droppings, by practising good biosecurity and safety measures. To help prevent the spread of the disease it is important to review the biosecurity measures that are currently in place in your flock. The NFU has produced a helpful poster (opposite) to help you understand key areas to think about when it comes to protecting your birds. This in turn will protect not only your own flock but other backyard farmers – and support British poultry.
Poultry sector under pressure NFU Poultry Board chairman James Mottershead says: ‘The sheer persistence of AI (avian influenza) over the past year, coupled with soaring energy and feed costs, has put the whole British poultry sector under huge emotional and financial pressure.’ To receive the latest news and advice should there be a Bird Flu outbreak, poultry keepers can sign up to the APHA poultry register. The NFU recommends that anyone with poultry or captive birds, no matter how many are in the flock, should register for free by clicking here or do so via the helpline on 03000 200 301.
If you suspect Avian Influenza in your flock, please contact your vet immediately.
Roger Guttridge revisits the hillside site of Shaftesbury Workhouse
The former Shaftesbury Union Workhouse All pictures from Roger Guttridge’s book Shaftesbury Through Time
A century ago, it was one of the dominant buildings on Shaftesbury’s southern slopes, but today you have to look hard even to find a vestige of the Union Workhouse. In fact, the only detectable remains of the Dickensian edifice are the brick entrance splay, which has been filled in, and part of the old nurses’ quarters and washroom, which survive as a single-storey bungalow known as Valley Cottage. The 19th century building in Umbers Hill off Breach Lane was constructed in local stone, some of which was quarried on or near the site. The Union Workhouse succeeded two poorhouses – one at Motcombe, which housed the women, the other at Gillingham, which accommodated men.
The surviving former nurses’ quarters and washroom
It took time to find a suitable site for the workhouse. One negotiation was abandoned after Earl Grosvenor suddenly realised the proposed building might be visible from Motcombe House.
Three young women, a baby and a dog relax in the field now occupied by Shaftesbury Homegrown
The workhouse stigma Once it did open, the typically austere-looking workhouse accepted poor folk not only from Shaftesbury but also Gillingham and many surrounding villages, including the Stours and Fontmell Magna. In Shaftesbury: An Illustrated History, Brenda Innes quotes a couple of touching entries from the 19 volumes of workhouse minutes. One records an offer by Mary Foot and her mother to maintain her brother’s illegitimate child to save it from a workhouse upbringing. Another refers to an old woman’s friends, who ‘refused to let her be taken into the workhouse’. Both these references serve as reminders of the stigma that going into the workhouse involved in Victorian times. So does the story of Shaftesbury’s Doctor Harris, who attended the confinements of gypsy women needing medical attention, to spare them the ordeal of giving birth in the workhouse. The Union Workhouse, also known as Alcester House, was demolished in the early 1950s and replaced by modern houses and bungalows. On the opposite side of Breach Lane, a field has been transformed into Shaftesbury Homegrown, a community farm and allotments.
The workhouse site today as viewed from Shaftesbury Homegrown. Image: Roger Guttridge
It’s time to grab the opportunity and place the environmental agenda back on the top of the To Do list, says North Dorset Green Party’s Ken Huggins
I love rollercoasters, with their mash up of anticipation, exhilaration and anxiety. There’s something about their manic twists and turns, the grindingly slow climbs to a peak followed by the gut-wrenching drop into a trough. Some have a corkscrew, where briefly you don’t know which way is up. An appropriate metaphor for the present state of UK politics perhaps – but I’m also minded of another ride I remember. Called the Black Hole, in near total darkness it plummeted downwards at breakneck speed in a death spiral … After the crashing end to Truss’s brief attempt at government, the hope was that Sunak would be a steadying influence as Prime Minister. That hope was rocked with the announcement of his new cabinet, which included the removal from cabinet meetings of Alok Sharma (the UK’s president of COP26) and climate minister Graham Stuart. In spite of his previous promise to prioritise the environment, Sunak also announced that he would not attend the COP27 summit because of ‘pressing domestic commitments’. And it was confirmed that King Charles would remain effectively banned from attending the summit. This all sent totally the wrong message – that the environmental crisis can wait – when the opposite is true. For decades politicians have delayed taking action to tackle environmental issues, including our reliance on fossil fuels. This is now costing us dearly, especially those who can least afford it. The longer we leave it the more it will cost, in lives and livelihoods as well as finance. Some argue that we can’t afford action, but inaction will cost vastly more. Plus we have a golden opportunity to rebuild the world economy in a truly sustainable way that focuses on quality of life, not on the accumulation of money and stuff. There has now thankfully been another screeching government U-turn, and Sunak will attend COP27 after all. Now the UK needs to lead international cooperation to take the actions needed to urgently address the environmental crisis. It is the most pressing issue of our time, and dealing with it properly can create a better life for us all. Let’s get that rollercoaster heading upwards !
