Logging on to horse power

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7 March 2023

It may be 10,000 years old, but Toby Hoad believes the ancient skill of horse logging is vital in shaping and saving our woodlands. Tracie Beardsley reports

Toby Hoad working with his Comtois mares Ettie and Celine
All images: Courtenay Hitchcock

He’s been up since 4.30am on ‘daddy duties’ for his five and seven year-olds. He’s cooked a full English, got his two horses into a truck, driven 20 miles and is now about to walk more than four miles with the horses, each of which can pull up to one and a half times their body weight.
This is the world of Toby Hoad, one of only 12 full-time horse loggers in the country.
As we sit chatting on a pile of logs, looking out on an idyllic ancient woodland with the soundtrack of horses munching hay (no full English for them!) and the tintinnabulation of harnesses, I can see why Toby gets so much job satisfaction.
‘Aside from the travelling’ – he covers Dorset and all the surrounding counties – ’there’s no negatives to what I do,’ he says. ‘It’s physically hard but that’s invigorating. My workforce are the best employees – they never want a pay rise nor demand a pension!’
He’s talking about his three sturdy Comtois – Ettie, Celine and Fleur – French mountain draft horses known for their steady and sociable natures. Their powerful bodies with short, strong legs are perfect for forestry work and, in their native land, ploughing vineyards.

Ettie and Celine wait patiently while Toby uses the forestry machinery

Toby explains: ‘Their stature allows them to work on steep slopes so they can get to where machinery can’t. Comtois are such all-rounders – hard-working as well as hardy. They don’t even need shoes as their feet are tough. Most of the time they have a lovely nature too. I’ll admit that Ettie, the lead mare, can get grumpy, but we all have bad days!’
Toby started Dorset Horse Logging 14 years ago, after exploring many other occupations: sail making, sheep shearing, dry stone walling, green woodworking, making charcoal … ‘I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I never felt pigeon-holed. I just tried lots of different things. I love learning. The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to work outdoors.’

Toby Hoad’s connection with his horses is impossible to miss – they work as a team

Even in a thick forest, working with the horses individually Toby can move whole tree trunks

Sensitive work
Toby tried an experience day with a horse logger and that was it. ‘The moment I started working with his horse, I knew I’d found my direction.’
With a mix of modern machinery – chainsaws, a hydraulic forwarder to stack the timber, a mobile sawmill – combined with his eight legs of horsepower, Toby offers complete project management: felling trees, stacking logs, sawing them and selling them on or using them again in the woodland.
At his present job, the logs are being reincarnated into a bird hide on the estate.
The National Trust employs Toby every summer on heathland for bracken rolling. His horses pull a roller with L-shaped bars which bruise the invasive bracken. The crushed plants then must put energy into recovering rather than growing, so their spread diminishes each year.

Once the trees are felled, and the trunks trimmed, Toby and his horses can move a large number of trunks out of the forest

Without the use of any chemicals, grass will eventually take over and the Trust will be able to graze native cattle back on the heathland.

‘The beauty of using agile horses is I can work on sites of architectural interest which forbid machinery, and in sensitive areas to protect fauna and flora, as there’s less impact.’
He shows me the faint track which is the only trace that has been left by his horses.
‘With its low-impact approach, horse logging definitely has an important role to play in our natural future.’

It’s time to harness up again – he needs to be out of the woods before the nesting birds settle later this month.
His employees are getting twitchy too, though with a few voice commands Ettie and Celine are ready for work again. ‘They’re like me!’ Toby says. ‘If I don’t work for a few weeks, I get restless. I just want to get back into the woods with my horses.’
DorsetHorseLogging.co.uk
You can see Toby and his horses in action at the Turnpike Showground, Motcombe, in the
Spring Countryside Show on 22nd and 23rd April.

It’s not all horse power – Toby uses a mix of modern machinery – chainsaws, a hydraulic forwarder to stack the timber and a mobile sawmill

Quick fire questions:
A-list dinner party guests?
My Grandad, another Toby. He loved woodlands and was a carpenter before being drawn into the family shoe shop business. He’d be interested in what I do now.
Billy Connelly – how could you not have fun if he’s around?
Xavier Rudd – I love his music so he can entertain us.
And my wife, Janine. With young kids we don’t get much chance to party.

Books by your bedside?
I’ve a pile of 20 or so, on topics ranging from spoon carving and timber frame building to smallholdings… I open a page then fall asleep!

It’s a dog’s life at Branscombe

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Editorial team

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6 March 2023

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Peter Sale and his family have been running Branscombe Kennels and Cattery since 2019, and are proud of what’s hiding behind the gates

Ben begins the busy daily routine of looking after his section of the resident dogs.
All images: Courtenay Hitchcock

The unassuming entrance to Branscombe Kennels and Cattery hide a bustling beehive of activity. Sitting in the shelter of the hill below Shaftesbury, the kennels has been under the ownership of Peter Sale and his daughter and son in law, Nadja and Steve Nunn, since 2019.
The small yard opens (through high, secure gates) to a collection of buildings. When we arrived, they were filled with dogs barking, sleeping, bouncing and sitting patiently as their bedrooms were scrubbed.
The individual pens are necessarily uniform and clinical. ‘It’s not like home here,’ says Peter. ‘We try our best to make it as homely as possible, but there are limits to what we can manage.’ Each pen has an inside sleeping area, complete with recently-upgraded new infrared heaters. ‘They’re designed to heat objects, not the ambient air. It feels cooler, but the dogs are cosy and warm, it’s a much better system, so much nicer for the dogs.’
Variously-sized kennels are matched to their occupants, from small, cosier pens for miniature dogs through to giant kennels which can comfortably house a Great Dane. The atmosphere as we walk around is one of organised bustle – the staff are busy with their morning chores, but are constantly stopping for a pat, a chat or a game with a canine resident. All the dogs are referred to by name, and the staff are clearly familiar with their charges. It’s a busy, stimulating environment in which no dog will be bored.

‘The kennels are designed in a certain way to ensure dogs are able to be sociable with other dogs and with the people coming in and out. They’re not sitting behind closed walls all day. And we place dogs where they need to be – do they require a quieter kennel away from the hustle, or do they need to be seeing people all the time? We always try and work with the dog.
‘We keep a special eye on any particularly needy dogs – the very young, the elderly, the dogs who are in kennels for the first time … it can be a stressful environment initially. We like to encourage owners to leave their pets for just a day first. Then, if there’s time, for a single overnight, before they do the proper board. Dogs need to understand that you’re coming back, and what it’s like here.’

The fully enclosed agility arena allows the dogs to run and enjoy enrichment activities

The to-do list
Peter was a deputy headteacher in Kent before he took early retirement. He bought a house overlooking the sea, spent a lot of time walking his dogs – and very quickly got bored! His daughter Nadja taught teenagers with special needs in secondary school, and she and her husband were both looking for a life change. In 2018 the three started searching for an opportunity together – and they found Branscombe.
‘It’s a lifestyle choice – you don’t run a place like this to get rich! You really can only do it if you love it – it’s seven days a week, 365 days a year, and it’s a never-ending project – you’re never done!
‘We’re always working to make it better, there’s constant upgrading and improvement. Right now we’ve got new fencing going in and we’re replacing drains (boring, but surprisingly important!). Over the past year we’ve installed new lighting as well as the infra-red heating, new windows, and we’ve upgraded the cattery block … just keeping the pens fresh with the specific paint we’re allowed to use is a perennial job in itself!’
On the opposite side of the compound is the more peaceful cattery – which had just two residents when we visited. ‘Currently the cattery residents tend to arrive with dog owners who also have a cat – but the cattery provides the same level of care.’

Steve Nunn (far left) with Tiffany the chihuahua, some of the Branscombe team, Peter Sale with his rescue lurcher General Jackson and Nadja (far right) with Oceane the dachshund

A day in the life
Branscombe is set within large grounds which open onto open farmland and the back of Duncliffe Hill. All dogs are walked at least twice a day on the lead in the exercise fields and larger dogs (and those requiring more exercise) get taken into the agility arena to work off-lead. Owners can also book their pets to enjoy daily sessions in the agility arena and during their stay.
‘The animals receive 24 hour-a-day-care – as we live on site, at least one of us (Nadja, Steve or Peter) is always here.
On a typical day, the rest of the staff arrive at 8am. First job is always a quick poo check, then it’s feeding time and the walks begin – a long process, as you can imagine, taking hours each day. Then there is a thorough clean of every pen, and checking in and out as some dogs go home and some arrive. Every kennel is deep cleaned and thoroughly disinfected between guests.
Cats enjoy the same daily routine – the only thing we don’t do with them is the walking, of course, but we substitute the walk with some time spent with their carer.
All dogs are walked in the afternoon, and then it’s feeding time again. At 5pm most of the staff leave, and we do the evening checks ourselves, including any final walks, ensuring heaters are on in colder weather, water bowls are checked, and all the dogs are put to bed.’

Branscombe’s exercise fields allow for plenty of space for a really good walk

Peter and Nadja’s teaching background shows in their staff training programme too: ‘All the staff are constantly training – whatever qualification they have, they’re working on the next one. Some are doing Animal Care Level 2/3 qualifications, and a couple have moved on to the City & Guilds Kennel Management course. Once you have employed the right people, the better trained they are the bigger an asset they become to the business. It just makes sense. And we have such a great team at Branscombe – we don’t have to work hard at being a caring environment. Every single one of us is animal mad.’

branscombekennels.co.uk
Branscombe has recently launched a new ‘Premier Service’ for dogs that includes a daily session in the agility arena and photos sent to the owner during their stay, an extra £10 daily.

The curious gang were keeping an eye on the visitors

Quick-fire questions:

How far ahead should I book?
As soon as you can! Really as soon as you know. Peak times book up fast – the summer holidays, Easter, Christmas and half-terms get very busy.

Will my dogs be together?
Dogs from the same home can share a pen – we never mix dogs from different homes, of course.

Can I bring my pet’s things?
We can’t accommodate everything, but do as much as we can. We prefer to supply beds and bedding because then we know they’re clean and laundered correctly etc.
But we won’t say no – many dogs are very attached to their beds, it’s like a security blanket, so it needs to come. Harnesses, coats and toys are all fine. In terms of food, we have six dry, six wet and six raw foods, including gluten free etc. But if we don’t have yours, you can supply it.

Is my difficult pet an issue?
With caveats, no. The important thing is to be honest, to call us and talk through the issues.
Lots of needs can be handled, but we’re not miracle workers, and we have to consider the safety and comfort of the staff and all the other dogs.
If we can help, we will.

Do you have a groomer?
We have a specialist groomer on site – the grooming salon is available for resident dogs and outside clients, and offers everything from a simple nail trim to a full doggie pamper!

Deepest Wiltshire books support important local charities with more than £30,000

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Editorial team

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6 March 2023

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Three Wiltshire charities have received a total of £11,000 – proceeds of the sale of Deepest Wiltshire, the second in the Deepest Books series by Gay Pirrie-Weir and Fanny Charles.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance and the military charity SSAFA each received £5,000 and there was also a donation of £1,000 to the Salisbury Hospice.
The book is a portrait of the county looking at its history, how and where people work and live, the army, food and farming, the arts and Salisbury Cathedral. These donations follow the £20,000 already given to Wiltshire Community Foundation for the Covid Recovery Fund, bringing the total so far raised by the book to £31,000.

The work being funded
The donation to SSAFA has come at a critical time, says Simon McNeill-Ritchie, the charity’s regional fundraising officer, ‘as we try to fund another casework support officer for Wiltshire. Each case we help, on average, costs about £250, so your contribution will help us to help 20 veterans and their families to turn their lives around.’
It costs £4 million a year to keep Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s lifesaving service operational – that is around £11,000 per day. The charity relies on donations to continue saving lives – like all air ambulance services it receives no regular direct government funding or Lottery grants.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance operates up to 19 hours a day, every day, says Cas Loudon, the senior community engagement and volunteer officer.
On average, it is called to three incidents a day in its helicopter and two critical care cars. In 2022 it undertook 1,061 missions. The air ambulance paramedics are trained in critical care skills and, together with the specialist medical equipment they use, they are able to provide gold standard medical care to patients. The service was further improved in November 2021, when the number of pre-hospital consultant shifts was increased.

Every donation helps
Alex Oram, community fundraiser for Salisbury Hospicecare Trust, says the funds from Deepest Wiltshire will be put to excellent use in helping Salisbury Hospice to provide the specialist palliative care that means so much to so many in our community. ‘Provision of this service is only made possible by the support we receive from generous local people.
Every donation really does go a long way towards helping us plan for the future and of course to continue to support the vital work of the hospice and its community teams.’
One recent event – the collection of Christmas trees – raised more than £24,500, ‘which was fantastic and thanks to the huge support we receive from those in the community, and our wonderful team of volunteers,’ says Alex.

• Deepest Wiltshire is available to order from deepestbooks.co.uk or email [email protected]

ABBA is back!

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Editorial team

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6 March 2023

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21st Century ABBA, the award-winning ABBA tribute band that plays all the best songs from your favourite super Swedes, are live on stage at in Gillingham in March!
21st Century ABBA will have you up dancing, cheering for more and leaving as Dancing Queens! If you love singing your favourite ABBA songs like Mamma Mia or Dancing Queen and want to relive the energetic stage performances of this phenomenal band, come and watch them perform those fabulous hit tunes one after another. You would be forgiven for thinking that it really is ABBA, back on stage again. Get ready for the experience of a lifetime!
Gillingham Methodist Church, 7.30pm on Saturday 11th March. To see this fantastic show book your tickets here. Alternatively, message Music at GMC on Facebook, or call 07817 379006.

JOIN OUR TEAM – Dextra Group Plc

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Editorial team

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6 March 2023

0

Lighting Design Engineer

Monday – Friday, 8.30am – 5.30pm
The Lighting Design department of Dextra Group prepares lighting designs for all of the
Group sales teams and additionally provides telephone support on all aspects of Dextra’s
product range. We now require additional employees to join the team in our new, purpose
built design centre.

ISO / Training Co-ordinator

Part time role, hours to be negotiated
A blended role coordinating compliance and conformance with responsibility for
standards, audits and legislation along with company training and apprenticeship
management.
Please note these roles are office based.

Great rates of pay and benefits package on offer

Further information and other vacancies can be found on our website:
www.dextragroup.co.uk/careers

For more information please email us on [email protected]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. What actually happens to Dorset’s rubbish?

By

Editorial team

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5 March 2023

1

Behind every rubbish lorry is a sophisticated team of experts – Rachael Rowe spoke to Queen of the Bins, Cllr Laura Beddow

You dutifully throw your rubbish in your household bin, and put it out on the kerb on collection day. But have you ever wondered what happens to it? Where it goes once it has been collected? And what happens to all that diligent recycling after you’ve sorted glass from paper and other items? One way to improve your recycling habits is by utilising reusable products, such as reusable period underwear which is becoming a popular alternative to traditional period products.
There has recently been a campaign to encourage people to recycle more, so are we doing as much as we can or should?

How good is Dorset’s recycling?
Cllr Laura Beddow holds the portfolio for rubbish and recycling at Dorset Council. She earned credibility when she took on the role by training and working as a bin loader to see what happens on the front line when the lorries deal with kerbside collections.
‘In Dorset, 60 per cent of rubbish is recycled,’ she says. ‘We are the third-best council in the country, and we have just agreed to set increase our targets to 65 per cent.’
How much rubbish are we talking about? ‘Most people think the job ends with recycling in the green bins. But in Dorset, 50,000 tonnes of black-bagged household rubbish is taken to a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant in Poole each year. Here, the mechanical part separates out some low-quality recycling and the biological stage composts the waste. So there’s a compost-like output, some low grade recycling and refuse derived fuel produced. They sort through the black bag rubbish for anything that can be taken out of landfill, like soft plastics, film and compostable items. A lot of it goes to ‘refuse derived fuel’ and because it’s refuse-derived we can’t call it recycling. But materials such as non-recyclable plastic, which would sit in landfill sites for hundreds of years, can instead be used in a helpful way to generate renewable heat and power. It means that in actual fact 95% of the rubbish avoids going to landfill here in Dorset.’
Does that mean we can just use black bags? ‘No, people still need to recycle! If everyone in Dorset was meticulous about how they recycle, and sorted their own waste properly, we could save a million pounds each year. So please do your best!’
Is it necessary to ensure containers like food packets, cans, bottles and jars are clean when they go into the recycling box?

Give them a quick rinse. They don’t need to be thoroughly cleaned, but ideally, there should be no food in your recycling bin.’
Is that true for any organic matter? What about compostable nappies?
‘That’s a difficult one because some nappy brands do say their products are compostable. They are usually not, and those which technically are will still take decades to break down. So for all sorts of reasons, we can’t recycle nappies. As a parent, I know that we all start with the best of intentions, but if you’re out and about and your baby has a spectacular nappy-related accident, you may well want to reach for a disposable! But it currently costs the council around £600,000 per year to send all used disposable nappies in Dorset for MBT, along with household rubbish.
‘Using reusable nappies is cheaper and better for the planet. One pack of disposable nappies per week for up to two and a half years can cost over £1,000 per child. Alternatively, using washable nappies can make you a saving of over £600 and they can be reused for subsequent children.’

Dorset’s rubbish
What happens to the waste once it has been sorted – how much of it stays in the county?
‘Paper and card are sorted using chemical screening. It gets sent to Shotton Paper Mill on Deeside for reprocessing into paper goods. As for your food bin – all of that is sent to an anaerobic digester plant in Dorchester which breaks down matter without oxygen and turns it into biogas. It is used as electricity for businesses and also as fertiliser for farms.
‘Garden waste is composted and used in parks and farms in Dorset. Just five per cent of waste from Dorset is sent to landfill, and that goes to North Wales.’
So what happens to all the other items that are recycled?
‘Glass gets optically sorted for recycling using lasers. With cans, steel is separated from aluminium using a magnet, and again they get recycled. For plastics we use infrared technology so they can be sorted according to light intensity – they are then turned into pellets to be melted down and recycled.
A lot of strategic thinking goes on at Dorset Council on recycling waste. Laura says: ‘People think the rubbish collection is just the bin lorries, but behind the scenes is an entire team of environmental and climate experts working out how to reduce waste significantly. They are constantly looking at new things to do.
‘Dorset is often presumed to be a sleepy rural county, but we sit at the table with ministers in Westminster, advising them on what will work and what won’t. The government wants more crisp packet recycling at the kerbside, for example, but there are lots of reasons why that’s not practical, such as separating it on the trucks. We want a solution that works for Dorset – perhaps community recycling bins.’
How can people recycle more?
‘I think it’s about just doing your best. It’s surprising how much we can recycle. And it’s about education too. I bought nothing new in 2022, and I was astonished at how some friends were quite snooty about it. I’ve learned it’s about changing the mindset of people. And it’s also about using the waste hierarchy; we all know the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra. We can reduce quite simply by deciding whether we need something in the first place. Then reuse instead of throwing it away – I made fairy lights from tin cans for my wedding and I still have them. And then recycle.
‘As a team, we go to schools, communities, parish councils and housing associations to give talks on how to reduce waste. We are always happy to educate and to advise on any issues.
My husband calls me the Queen of Bins!

More details on which bin to use for what here. To find out more, or to arrange a talk by the team, contact them via the Dorset Council website.

A perfect bake for Mother’s Day?

By

Editorial team

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5 March 2023

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I was reminded of this cake the other day and how many people liked it. It’s wonderfully simple to make but looks brilliantly decadent and tastes amazing!
I love to drizzle extra salted caramel across the top; you can find a locally-made (and Great Taste Award winning) Salted Caramel Sauce by A Jar Of – there is also a vegan version if you are dairy sensitive. Heather x

Salted Caramel Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:
8oz/225g dark brown sugar
8oz/225g butter
4 eggs
8 oz/225g self-raising flour
For the icing:
6oz/170g icing sugar
3oz/85g butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 jar salted caramel sauce

Method

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 5/160º fan. Grease and line two 8” diameter cake tins.
In a stand mixer (or large bowl), beat together the dark, soft brown sugar and butter until the mixture becomes slightly pale and fluffy. Add the eggs into the mixture one at a time, beating well between each addition.
Gently add in the flour and stir to combine.
Tip the mixture evenly between the two cake pans and smooth out the tops so they are flat. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cakes are springy to the touch in the centre and are just beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan. Most ovens cook slightly unevenly so you may need to check the cakes after 20 minutes and rotate in the oven to ensure an even bake.
Leave the cakes to cool completely. Once the cakes are cold, remove them from the tins.
To make the icing, beat together the icing sugar, butter, salt and half of the caramel sauce, gently at first until combined, and then beat well for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is soft and fluffy. If the mixture is too stiff, add a little milk to loosen and beat well. Add a little more icing sugar if it is too runny.
To put the cake together, place one sponge on a cake plate and spoon half of the buttercream over the sponge and smooth out. Then place the second cake on top and repeat with the remaining icing. Drizzle the remaining salted caramel sauce abundantly across the top of the cake, letting it dribble down the sides.

Heather Brown is a food writer,
photographer and stylist. A committee
Member of The Guild of Food Writers, Heather runs Dorset Foodie Feed,
championing Dorset’s food and drink businesses, as well as working one-to-one with clients.

Heathers notes:
I have sometimes added 200g chocolate chunks with the flour for an even more decadent bake
You can also make your own salted caramel sauce – see recipe here

Back to Diddly Squat

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Editorial team

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5 March 2023

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The farming community was unanimous in its praise for the first series of Clarkson’s Farm. Does the second series hold up, asks Andrew Livingston

When he’s not out bashing members of the royal family with the written word, Jeremy Clarkson is able to make funny, engaging, fantastic television.
The eight-episode series of Clarkson’s Farm features all your favourite characters from the hit first series, with the now-celebrity Kaleb Cooper, the farm’s advisor Charlie Ireland and of course Gerald the incomprehensible head of security.
Series two of Clarkson’s Farm spends a little less time on a season-to-season look at farming and instead tackles the big issue that faces all farmers at the moment … diversification.
After Brexit, the UK government announced that our farms would no longer be receiving the EU Basic Payment Scheme, which pays farmers a yearly lump sum based on the land they own.
Instead, farmers will now be paid by the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS). The problem is, the government still hasn’t actually said what this will look like or consist of, and simply keeps bandying the phrase “Public money for public goods.”

Diddly Squat Farm
Clarkson not receiving his Basic Payment is a loss of £82,000 a year to his business. The vast majority of UK farmers won’t lose quite that amount of money – it is increased by the number of hectares of land you own.
However, just like Clarkson, for most farmers that money is the difference between breaking even or running at a loss.
In an attempt to increase his profits, Diddly Squat Farm goes to war with the West Oxfordshire District Council to gain planning permission for a restaurant in order to sell the meat from the farm’s new Shorthorn cattle.
I implore everyone to watch the show – simply to save me describing each funny moment from the series.
I do, however, believe that some of the intrinsic character of the first season wasn’t quite there. Interestingly, the gripes I have with Clarkson’s Farm I also have with his other Amazon Prime show, The Grand Tour. I’m not sure if it comes with his increasing age, but his shows are becoming more and more blatantly scripted.
I’m not an idiot (most of the time). I know the show is scripted. Unusually for a rural-themed TV show, season one was universally popular with the farming community – mostly because Clarkson’s chaotic actions in season one were believable because it felt off the cuff – it resonated, as it showed what being a farmer is really like.

Farming comeback
Jeremy should count himself a lucky man. No matter what your view of the Royals, or where you sit on the everlasting Meghan and Harry debate, what he said in the Sun newspaper wasn’t good.
His career was in tatters.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire didn’t want him and Amazon was looking the same. They did announce that they are to part ways after 2024 – but after the success of the second series of Clarkson’s Farm, don’t be surprised if they renege on that in the future.
Almost 4.3 million people have watched the 62-year-old prat around on his farm, making it the streaming service’s biggest ever original production.
Jeremy might not ever be the greatest farmer – his own show is video evidence to prove it. But you can never deny the passion that he has for the industry. Farming is an under-appreciated world that seems just that little bit more significant with him in it.

The Farming section is sponsored by Trethowans – Law as it should be

Everything Goes – MPO are celebrating 100 years of musical theatre

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Editorial team

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5 March 2023

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Richard Gaunt plays Stan the Man, and Linda Mumford, Edith the tea lady in MPO’s Everything Goes
Images: Paul Gumbrell

Everything Goes is the exciting new show by the award-winning Milborne Port Opera (MPO). It’s a foot-tapping backstage musical about … performing in backstage musicals! A group of actors are rehearsing their next show on stage. The theatre cleaner (who knows nothing) wanders in and demands to know what is going on. The director and the cast obviously explain by performing their show – managing to provide a potted history of musical theatre from Showboat to Chicago (and back again via Hamilton and Les Miserables).
The challenge for MPO is to perform all of the show’s numbers out of context and not in full costume, in order to respect copyright and licensing laws. Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof is suddenly about Tinder dating. A group of men getting ready to go out on the town for the night may just find themselves Putting on a White Tie. Naturally, Oklahoma is the cast’s go-to holiday destination.
The show was devised and written by drama teacher Karen Pankhurst, who also co-directs. She joined MPO in 2019 for their smash hit Anything Goes, playing Bonnie, the gangster’s moll.
Rachel Milestone (Trial by Jury, Anything Goes and Merry Widow) and Allison Gosney are Karem’s co-directors.
Caroline D’Cruz, who joined the company in 2006, continues as musical director.

(L-R) Karen Pankhurst, Allison Gosney and Sukie Read, rehearse Ladies who Lunch from Company

The MPO company has a well-deserved reputation for beautiful choral singing in light opera, often with a modern slant. Over the last decade the company has also staged several Broadway or West End Musicals, culminating in the sell-out Anything Goes which was performed in the round on an arena stage in the village hall in 2019.
MPO is an amateur company. Its members come from all over South Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire and are farmers, teachers, business owners, scientists, students, retirees and many other occupations. It welcomes new performers, particularly younger ones. Enthusiasm, the ability to hold a note, and not knock the scenery over are the only qualifications required. You do not need to be able to read music (although you might find yourself acquiring this useful skill).

Everything Goes plays in the Milborne Port Village Hall 7.30pm 12th to 15th April. Tickets £15 (£10 concessions only on the first night).
Box Office www.mpopera.co.uk. Also from Waynes butchers, Milborne Port