Richard Hunt is looking to employ a person at Templecombe to work with an experienced team.
Hedge cutting, field tractor work as well as muck spreading and young stock and relief milking.
Please Contact Mike on: 07720 871629
or email [email protected]
Full Time Classroom Teacher MPS + 1 SEN
Fairmead School transforms the lives of young people aged between 4 and 19 years with additional learning needs (MLD and ASD).
We are seeking to appoint enthusiastic and dynamic Classroom Teachers who have the flexibility to teach a range of curriculum subjects across the school. Successful candidates will be self-motivated, creative, fun and inspirational teachers who have a desire to build meaningful and positive relationships with all the young people they encounter. They will need to approach curriculum subjects in a purposeful, age appropriate and exciting way, engaging young people through first hand experiences. They will have high aspirations for our students and will be committed to, and passionate about, preparing them for successful, independent and happy futures in adulthood.
Fairmead School has undergone a significant extension to the school building, officially opened by the Princess Royal in the autumn term. As we approach the end of our first year in residence, we find ourselves building momentum as we embed and enhance our revised curriculum. The successful candidates will join our committed, passionate and dedicated staff team and play an integral role in building an exhilarating future for our school community.
We welcome applications from teachers with all levels of experience and from a range of education backgrounds in both mainstream and special sectors.
To obtain an application pack please contact [email protected] or visit http://dasjobs.co.uk/job/classroom-teacher-9/
Prospective candidates are warmly invited to visit our school; this can be arranged by contacting Mrs Berryman on 01935 421295 (appointments will be made for after 3.30pm).
Closing Date: Friday 10th June Interview Date: Monday 13th June
NB: Fairmead School is committed to safeguarding the school community. All job applications must contain the disclosure of any spent convictions and cautions. The school will carry out pre-employment vetting procedures, which include the successful outcome of an enhanced DBS.
Audrey Burch smiles as she describes the arrival of her Ukrainian guests from Kirvog Rog, west of Dnipro. It took 15 hours for them to travel between Dnipro and Lviv, and then on to Slovakia. From there they got a flight to Luton, where Audrey’s husband met them.
“And it took four hours of us working on WhatsApp to fill out the visa application!”
After the arduous journey, Katya and her two sons are settling into the Burch home in Milton Abbas. Katya’s husband has remained in Ukraine as he works in a steelworks, which is critical to the war effort.
A Syrian family
The Ukrainian family aren’t the first refugees Audrey has helped. She is working with the Blandford
Welcome Group, a committee established to support one family as part of the government’s Community Sponsorship Scheme for refugees. Taking one family at a time, they help them to resettle and build a
future in the town.
“We must raise £20,000 through fundraising, and we must also have a suitable property. Our guest family is classed as highly vulnerable and selected by the Home Office from a United Nations security camp (UNHCR). We have a three-bedroomed house in Blandford. Everything is vetted by the Home Office. We
receive a family, welcome them as a community and help them to be independent. Blandford School
has been fantastic.
“We had a Syrian family who stayed for 18 months – now the father has a job in Bournemouth and is settling there. ”
Polish Refugee past
I asked Audrey what it is about refugee work that interests her.
“We hear so much about people who have been pushed away from their homes. To me, a refugee hasn’t got a chance. So many of the problems in this country have been about economic migrants whose own governments have failed them.
“During the war, my father was a refugee from Poland. He came to this country. My grandfather was killed by the Germans. When the Red Army arrived, my father had to leave Poland. So when I hear the news, there are echoes of what my father went through in 1939. And it’s not the Russian language but the language of
Communism at fault.”
A rural community
Unlike refugees from the Middle East and Afghanistan, who have settled mainly in urban areas, many Ukrainians are requesting to go to rural counties.
According to Government statistics Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall are some of the most popular areas in England where people from Ukraine are choosing to live. They also have some of the highest numbers of hosts offering accommodation in the country – more than 700 people are expected in Dorset
in the coming weeks. Audrey’s one of several families hosting Ukrainian refugees in North Dorset. She describes how the whole community is helping:
“We looked for a school for the eldest boy, age 15. Do you know, Milton Abbey scooped him up.
They gave him a uniform and laptop and he has been there for two weeks. He is being looked
after by them and has two tutors. But, of course, they have small classes, which makes a difference.
He speaks English and translates for his mother. And the youngest boy (age seven) goes to school
in Winterborne Kingston. It is important he settles. Children in Ukraine start school at a later age
than we do in England.
“In Winterborne Stickland, they had a flag-raising ceremony. There are three families there. One
of the refugees, a woman, has already set up her own business.”
The fundraising continues with Audrey organising a raffle of paintings. “We have 100 paintings,
and people can spend £10 on a ticket. So they will either get a terrific painting, or they might get
a bloody awful one.”
To find out more about the Blandford Welcome Group, visit their website at blandfordwelcome.group
By Rachael Rowe
Kingston Maurward College (KMC) was celebrating last week, winning a Silver Gilt medal at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Their garden The Space Within was entered in the Sanctuary category and was designed to provide a nurturing and calming space in which to relax and unwind.
College Principal Luke Rake said: “This is the second Silver Gilt that the college has won for a garden, something no other college has ever achieved. It’s the second highest possible award and is a fabulous outcome for everyone here – and for Dorset.”
KMC is one of the UK’s few land-based colleges, providing education and training in agriculture, land and animal sciences– the skills needed for rural economies. The garden was designed by ex-KMC graduate Michelle Brown.
It was completed as a team effort by staff and students, said Luke Rake: “More than 100 people were involved in the creation, from welding and blacksmithing to countryside and horticulture specialists,
all pulling together to create something magical.
“I’m so proud of them, it’s a genuinely world-class performance and it was a real privilege to be able to see the garden in situ after all the hard work.”
The Space Within
The garden contains a contemporary arch providing an entrance to a secret jungle of foliage planting inspired by the sub-tropical gardens of the Mediterranean and punctuated by specimen architectural
plants and trees.
Elevated pathways lead to a daybed platform where the visitor can rest, totally immersed in plants. The
asymmetric social platform and seating is inspired by childhood den-making and entices the visitor with its playful shape. The sanctuary boundaries are created as wildlife habitats, using fallen trees and waste
timber to enclose the space.
If you’d like a glimpse inside the garden, it was on the BBC’s Chelsea show – click play HERE and skip
forward exactly 30 minutes.
Natasha Solomons is the author of five novels, including Mr Rosenblum’s List (set in Dorset) and The Novel in the Viola, which was chosen for the Richard & Judy Book Club. Her latest book, I, Mona Lisa, is just out in paperback
“After university I completed an MPhil in 18th century literature and then began a doctorate researching Women’s Romantic Poetry and the Domestic Muse. Unfortunately, I became un-stuck on a chapter on Verse Letters and so began writing my first novel as a way of avoiding correcting the footnotes. My entire career to date has been an extremely elaborate form of avoiding that tricky chapter …”
1. What’s your relationship with the Blackmore Vale (the loose North Dorset area, not us!)?
My grandparents bought a house here in the 70s with restitution money from Germany. I came here as a child for weekends and holidays, though I went to school in London. I moved here as soon as I could – it was the place in my heart. My first novel was set here and this is the place I feel centred, the place I always come back to. The Blackmore Vale is where I love to come home to.
2. What was the last song you sang out loud in your car?
I’m not allowed to sing out loud in the car. The second I do, my children tell me to stop that awful noise. My daughter complains if I sing she might actually die. Even when I’m alone, their voices are in my head, stopping me.
I used to sing in choirs and probably would have tried singing something like Sumer Is Icumen In to torment them on the 1st May and that would have elicited that response.
3. What was the last movie you watched? Would you recommend it?
After two and a half years of not going to the cinema, the last movie I watched was Sonic the Hedgehog. No. I want those hours of my life back. I ate a lot of pick ‘n’ mix, just for something to do, so that my tongue went blue. No. I wish I had ended my cinema drought with something else.
4. Your favourite quote? Movie, book or inspirational – we won’t judge, but would like to know why.
I don’t have one. It’s not really my thing. I … maybe it’s the Douglas Adams one:
‘I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.’
But … I mean I like it. It’s one I like. But saying it’s my favourite would suggest that I like it more than a line from Jane Austen. I don’t. I like it, it’s funny and true. But how can I like it more than Jane Austen? And how can I like one line from Jane Austen over and above another?
No. I have no favourites. It’s too anxiety-inducing to choose. The pressure’s too much.
5. It’s Friday night – you have the house to yourself, and no work is allowed. What are you going to do?
Run a bath. Read a book. Pour a glass of something to drink in the bath while reading the book. And try really hard not to dip the book in the bath.
6. What is your comfort meal?
Corned beef hash and a big green salad.
And failing that, if I need a lot more comfort, wine.
7. What would you like to tell 15 year old you?
Oh, I need something that 15 year old me will understand, but no one else will …
*Thinks*
“It’ll be okay in the end. And nobody knows anything.”
8. What shop can you never pass by?
The Hambledon Gallery in Blandford. I can NEVER pass it. I love it.
9. What book did you read last year that stayed with you? What made you love it?
Can I cheat and have two? I’ll make it one fiction, one non … Stay with me.
My favourite piece of fiction was by Gabriel Tallent – My Absolute Darling. The subject matter is quite shocking, but that’s not why I loved it. I loved it for its evocation of rural and coastal California. The way he writes about the natural world and the main characters’ relationship with nature, in a place I didn’t know at all, was like nothing else. Lots of people were very uncomfortable with a man writing about a female character, but I find it’s very strange that we’ve got to a place where, as writers, we have to limit our imagination. I found his depiction of a young woman totally convincing.
His descriptions of the storms and the sea, I just loved that part of the book. Parts of it were shocking and disturbing and difficult to read, but I … like books that disturb and challenge me. Some found it too much, but I … didn’t.
My other book is Consent: A Memoir of Stolen Adolescence by Vanessa Springora. She’s an editor in France and she wrote a memoir about her relationship with a famous French writer when she was 14 and he was in his late 40s/early 50s. Essentially he was a serial paedophile. Various women over the years tried to expose this writer for what he was, but the French establishment and police wouldn’t listen – he was so well known he was entirely protected.
Until finally, this very well-known editor in France wrote this book. And now France is beginning to wake up and have its Me Too movement.
But it’s taken 40 years.
It’s remarkable for her strength and courage, but also because it’s an astonishing piece of literature – a sort of anti-Lolita where she writes about his erasure of her self. He not only takes her girlhood and innocence but he steals her voice. He turns her into a character in several of his novels, steals her name, and turns her into ‘his’ character, which is a warped version of herself.
This fictionalised version chases her through her life. She pleads with him and his publishers to remove her from the books, but neither he nor they will. He uses a photograph of her as a child and refuses to stop using it. He doesn’t just take her body, he steals and publishes her voice. And so this unbelievably well-written book is a reckoning, where she says “Here I am” and settles the account. It’s written with such acidity and beauty. Utterly brilliant.
10. Favourite crisps flavour?
*unhesitatingly swift* Salt and vineger. So vinegary they make your cheeks pucker.
11. Cats or dogs?
DOGS. *glances happily at Mr Bingley currently loafing handsomely under the table*
12. What are your top three most-visited, favourite websites (excluding social media and BBC News!)?
How to get your dog to stop barking
The British Library
Authentic Shakespearean insults. I do go there a lot.
Oh and a high runner-up would be an unceasing search for holidays in Italy.
13. What’s the best biscuit for dunking?
I don’t like to dunk biscuits.
Who wants floaters in their tea?
I just don’t like soggy biscuits. Sorry.
Actually, I’m not.
14. What’s your most annoying trait?
Er … I’ve got quite a lot? How do I pick one? I worry about everything. Super anxious. Super self-critical. Nothing’s ever good enough.
I’m also disorganised and forgetful. If left to my own devices, I will forget everything. I’ll casually throw away really important stuff.
We could be here a while … do you need more?
15. Tell us about one of the best evenings you’ve ever had?
Can I cheat with an afternoon instead? We had a really great afternoon in Bath with my children about a month ago to celebrate my most recent book being out. It was so special. We went to an Italian restaurant (obviously – the book’s set in Italy). It was just one of those times. I got tiddly on some prosecco, and we ate so much that my daughter said “she felt like an overstuffed pillowcase”. Then we toddled round Bath, and I signed hundreds of books, and we went to the Baths, and it was just really fun. Low key, just a good day. Being with happy children, having happy times.
Oh, and then in Milan last week, in the Leonardo3 museum, that was really lovely. The photo opposite is of me on the balcony – I was so happy. That was a great evening.
*checks under the table*
Mr Bingley’s is that time he got a sausage for dinner.
16. What was the last gift you gave someone?
Genuinely the most recent? A sausage. For my husband. It was much appreciated.
17. What’s your secret superpower?
I have two. First is the Maternal Object Echo Location Service. It’s a widespread phenomenon, found in most mothers, actually. It’s an ability to find objects that hitherto have been lost, and searched for to no avail for some time up to this point. Socks, toys, pants, shoes, bags … I can find these objects even when I’m not in the room. Even over the phone I have been known to locate them.
My second is every writer’s superpower – an empathic ability to imagine yourself as someone else, in another time, in another situation.
18. What in life is frankly a mystery to you?
*plaintive voice* Most of it. I just thud from one corner to the next, mostly wondering how I got here.
19. You have the power to pass one law tomorrow, uncontested. What would you do?
Stop dunking. Is that too controversial? It’s just too much power. My daughter always wishes for wings. It’s not very practical, but it’s an excellent wish. I think she’d have wings made legal, so I’m going to go with hers.
Natasha wrote a fascinating and very personal essay for the Observer, about her journey to becoming a writer, and what brought her to share the quiet, strong voice of Mona Lisa.
“Listen to my history. My adventures are worth hearing. I have lived many lifetimes and been loved by emperors, kings and thieves. I have survived kidnap and assault. Revolution and two world wars. But this is also a love story. And the story of what we will do for those we love.”
In Leonardo da Vinci’s studio, bursting with genius imagination, towering commissions and needling patrons, as well as discontented muses, friends and rivals, sits the painting of the Mona Lisa. For five hundred tumultuous years, amid a whirlwind of power, money, intrigue, the portrait of Lisa del Gioconda is sought after and stolen. Over the centuries, few could hear her voice, but now she is ready to tell her own story, in her own words – a tale of rivalry, murder and heartbreak. Weaving through the years, she takes us from the dazzling world of Florentine studios to the French courts at Fontainebleau and Versailles, and into the Twentieth Century.
I, Mona Lisa is a deliciously vivid and illuminating story about the lost and forgotten women throughout history.
Well folks, we said farewell to astronomical darkness at the end of May, so it will soon be time to turn our attention to the planets in our solar system to explore through our telescopes.
Exciting update; I have now acquired some additional equipment including a planetary imaging camera so hopefully I might be able to start capturing some planetary, solar and close- up lunar surface images myself.
Watch this space (yes, that pun was unintentional)!
This month I was planning to share the M13 Globular Cluster, but unfortunately the image I tried to capture didn’t quite cut the mustard. So instead I’m going to share with you this rather impressive supernova
remnant captured a couple of months ago.
Last month I shared an image of a brand new supernova just starting to occur. However IC443, also known as the Jellyfish Nebula, shows what a supernova looks like after thousands of years, with this stunning blast
wave of gas and dust. IC443 is around 70 light years across and 5000 light years from Earth.
This image was captured using my bigger Sky-watcher Newtonian Reflector Telescope and Cooled Astro Camera.
The night sky, June 2022 – Rob’s guide for your stargazing this month:
Inevitably, this being the UK, those of us who got up super-early to try to watch the total lunar eclipse in May were thwarted. Mother Nature naturally decided to obscure our view with clouds and rain.
However in June we do at least have a chance to see the second supermoon of 2022, which is only one per
cent smaller than the biggest supermoon event coming up in July. A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time it is full.
On the 14th of June, the supermoon will hopefully reveal itself, so grab those binoculars or a telescope and
have an explore of the detailed lunar surface across the entire visible face of this full moon.
Summer solstice
The planets aren’t currently visible in the evening skies, but do wake up early to see a beautiful procession of the planets before dawn.
On the 21st June, the bright ‘star’ seen nearest to the Moon will be Jupiter. Also on the 21st of June at 10:13am we witness the Summer Solstice. The sun will reach its northerly-most point in the sky, marking the
Midsummer’s Day, with the longest period of daylight and shortest night. On the 22nd June, before dawn, look to the right of the Moon to see Jupiter, with Mars flanking from the left.
On the 23rd June, also before dawn, Mars will switch positions and be visible to the right of the Moon. On the 26th June, Venus alongside the crescent moon make a picture-perfect arrangement with the Pleiades
visible above if observing with binoculars. Mercury will also appear, completing the arrangement to the lower left. Wake up early again on the 27th June (it’s clearly a month of early starts) to reveal a very thin crescent Moon, with Venus visible to the right, and Mercury below.
Summer Solstice
The summer solstice, also known as estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth’s poles has its
maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For each hemisphere, the summer solstice is when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky (for areas outside of the tropics) and is the day with the longest period of daylight. Within the Arctic circle (for the northern hemisphere) or Antarctic circle (for the southern hemisphere), there is continuous daylight around the summer solstice. Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. Traditionally, in many temperate regions (especially Europe), the summer solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as “midsummer”.
by Rob Nolan – Find RPN Photography on Facebook here
The Jubilee celebrations happen to coincide with Sturminster’s Big Weekend, which started on Thursday 2nd June with a Teddy Bear’s Picnic at the Mill, Evensong at the church culminating at 9.45pm with a Beacon lighting in the Railway Gardens. From today (Friday 3rd June) through to Sunday there is an Ale and Cider Festival taking place at The Exchange. Saturday in Sturminster is a big day for shoppers, with a Plant Sale being held by the Rotary Club in the Railway Gardens, the Anonymous Travelling Market is coming to town and there is also a Craft Fair being held in the Exchange.
On Saturday morning the monthly Car Enthusiasts meet-up is on, but thanks to its swiftly rising popularity it will now be held at the Rec. Over 100 vehicles of all eras from vintage to modern supercars came to the event last time. Anyone is welcome to wander round the vehicles and talk to the owners, who are only too happy to tell you about them.
On Sunday St Mary’s Church welcomes you to a Civic Service at 11am ,and then from 12pm – 3pm, the Rotary are holding the Jubilee Big Lunch in the Railway Gardens. The WI are also serving tea and cakes in the Bow room at the Exchange.
Open all weekend
The Emporium and The Boutique will be open throughout the Jubilee celebrations, so why not come in and look at what’s on offer – perfect for that regal outfit. Margaret Ann’s Art Gallery has many lovely, donated paintings and pictures which are displayed for sale in a dedicated space in the Emporium.
1855
Work continues to progress on the proposed 1855 shopping experience in the former Nat West building. If you are interested in a customer-faced selling space for your business let The Emporium staff know or email [email protected]
Library friends
And some good news – the Friends of the Library are finally back in business!
Sturminster Library Coffee Mornings are back on the first Thursday morning of each month (except 9th June), plus there will be children’s crafts and the Summer Reading Challenge is back. Volunteers are always welcome and much-needed to help with extra opening hours, or with the craft or other activities. Please contact [email protected] if you think you can help.
For full details of all the Jubilee activities on offer please see the poster opposite, and find out more on the Town Councils website and its Facebook page.
As we talk, Sophia is creating a beautiful willow coffin for a man whose photo is propped nearby – families send pictures of loved ones so she gets an idea of the character for whom she’s creating a coffin. ‘Cradle to grave’ has never felt more apt – the design is an adult Moses basket. Unlike the dread that fills me from a traditional coffin, I’m happy to run my hands over the smooth weave, finding it comforting to the touch. Rustic hemp ropes replace cold metallic handles. There’s understated cotton lining inside – no gaudy satin in sight! The weave is so tight you can’t see through the willow and these fragile-looking coffins will hold up to 23 stone. Sophia’s business was born out of bereavement. She’d begun weaving willow when she was
nursing her dying mother, who died when Sophia was 22. She continued weaving, finding ‘great bereavement therapy’ and began to sell baskets as a sideline.
Then life threw her joy and tragedy. Eight weeks after the birth of her first child, Ava, Sophia’s 26 year old
sister, Anna, was killed in action in Syria.
“I had this incredible experience of my life being thrown up into the air – becoming a mum and losing another family member. It took me a while to percolate my emotions, but I came away with a better awareness of the preciousness and the sheer transience of life, prompting me to reset my goals.”
With ten-month Ava in a sling on her back, Sophia mastered willow coffin making and launched Woven Farewell four years ago. Now her second child, one-year old son Idris, sits on her back as she works.
True sustainability
Sophia’s environmental ethos is impressive. This is no ‘greenwashing’ but a true commitment to a greener
footprint in an industry that is highly polluting. The willow is grown just down the road in Somerset, wood for the base slats comes from Bridport’s Eggardon Saw Mill and biodegradable plastic or organic cotton is used
for the lining. All coffins are biodegradable, releasing no harmful gases during cremation.
Sophia even donates five per cent of her business profits to the Woodland Trust. She says:
“I’m genuine in my sustainability policy. My philosophy is very much that life and death are simply part of the same coin.’’
Added to this is what Sophia describes as “a twin funnelling of a cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis. Funerals are neither cheap nor ‘green’. “In America, rental coffins are a lot more mainstream. There’s a panel at the end of the coffin which folds down and the coffin liner slides in and out, so it’s very hygienic. The deceased doesn’t touch the sides of the rental coffin at all.
“We don’t have this culture in the UK. It requires a mind-shift on a taboo subject, as well as greater awareness of hygiene standards and how the aesthetics work – so people feel they can trust something new. “
Willow coffins are made with one continuous panel so can’t be reused … yet! Sophia is designing one with a collapsible willow foot panel that she aims to test with local funeral businesses – probably the first of its kind in the world. She’s also working on a willow canopy to go over a cardboard coffin so that it can be lifted off and reused many times.
A cathartic process
Sophia welcomes bereaved families to her workshop and they can even get involved in the making of the willow coffin. “Giving people the opportunity to see the coffin before the funeral and, if they wish, take part in making it, can be cathartic and an important part of the bereavement process. I’ve even had someone help me weave their own coffin.”
Sophia is already a national award-winner – silver in Best Businesswomen Awards 2021 – but she is modest about her achievements. “There is a definite mind-shift towards more sustainable, family-centric funerals. I feel like a very small peg in the loom of a bigger momentum. I’ve never had a livelihood like this – every order feels like an absolute honour.”
Quick-fire questions with Sophia:
A-list dinner party guests past or present?
My mum and sister.
Gandhi.
Books on your bedside?
A mixture of inspirational and factual – meditation, women’s sexual health and an autobiography of a cancer
survivor.
How do you relax?
I love gardening and flowers. I’m also one of those crazy cold water swimmers.
by Tracie Beardsley
This spring saw Ukrainian families begin to arrive in large numbers to the UK, fleeing from their war-torn country, and adding a new and unfolding chapter to the history of our county. A family of three – grandmother Liliia is 59, Iryna is 32 and her son Damir is 10 – have been living with us since April. Every day that passes sees new accomplishments, as they establish their lives here in North Dorset.
They are gaining increased mastery of English, making progress at Durweston School and weaving through the byzantine bureaucracy that was never designed with ease of use and swiftness of effective action in mind.
There is the shared support network of a dozen host families and their respective dozen Ukrainian families who manage get-togethers in the district every week. Somehow, nothing really matters compared with packing a bag at an hour’s notice with just three changes of clothes, leaving everything else in your life behind. In response to the Ukrainian crisis, so many people across our villages are stepping up to host
a family, simply because it’s the right thing to do.
Day-to-day practicalities
Some things have worked out well, such as playing cards together, and trips to Poole Quay, Weymouth and the Jurassic Coast. All are relaxing ways of simply getting to know each other.
Google Translate was brilliant at the start, though now we are encouraging them all to use it less and try to converse in spoken English more. English lessons are also helping so much.
Experiences of war
There are harsh realities in their experiences. Some mothers got out of Ukraine with their children on the day the invasion began, determined that their children should never see or experience atrocities which would scar them mentally for life. They were so wise. Weeks later, women now crossing into Romania are describing their single worst shared reality – the rape of mothers, daughters and even young sons.
They are so traumatised.
It’s no holiday
Our own Ukrainian family announced as soon as they arrived that they were not here for a holiday. They need to work, to earn money and send it back to Ukraine for Liliia’s husband and his brother. Her husband was a manager at a brick factory. The factory has been destroyed, the company ceased to exist, and his job,
income and prospects have vanished. Instead, his skills are put to use organising military logistics. Serving as volunteers, both men receive only €15 a month while the cost of food has doubled (that’s if it is available), and they are eating canned dog food to feed themselves.
Every day that they manage to speak, they know their loved ones are still alive. Our Ukrainian family did not
wish to come to England under such circumstances. They are decent and hard-working people. Like them, we are living each day at a time. That’s all any of us can do.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
1. Support the Blandford Welcome Group (BWG), whose latest initiative is their “Fundraising with Art Event”. See the website: www.blandfordwelcome.group
2. Buy a raffle ticket in the Fundraising with Art Event, with a special exhibition in September when everyone gets to take a piece of art home. Contact Chrissie Anderson on [email protected], or Marie Fisher on [email protected]
3. As an artist, pledge to create a work of art for the Fundraising with Art Event. Then create it by 15 July 2022. Again, please contact Chrissie Anderson or Marie Fisher.
4. Offer to host a Ukrainian family. See the website: www.ukrainedorset.org
5. Order copies of “Blue and Yellow – Hope for Ukraine” colouring book; to sell through your organisation (minimum batch one carton), to enable free copies to be distributed to Ukrainian refugees in
Eastern Europe. Contact Adrian Fisher on [email protected]
6. Donations are always welcome, to provide more help for refugees.
7. Generosity in kind is also most effective – from a donated kid’s bike or unused computer to smart women’s clothes. Typically each refugee only arrived with one suitcase.
Please ask!
© Bluebean Publishing Ltd
