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The weight of accusation

7 February 2023

Farmer James Cossins looks back at the strain of the last month – caused almost entirely by a complaint about his animal care

As I write this in the middle of January, once again the weather has been the main topic of conversation on the farm. In the last four weeks we have received nearly a third of this year’s annual rainfall, with rain nearly every day. The Tarrant is now flowing strongly, with parts of the meadows flooded – it’s difficult to believe that, right up to the beginning of October, parts of the Tarrant were barely flowing at all on the farm. With the recent record of extreme weather, it will be interesting to see what weather patterns 2023 decides to throw at us.
Apart from the heavy rain over the Christmas period, the plan for everyone on the farm having some time off worked well, with a timetable in place to ensure everyone took their turn for the cows to be milked and the feeding and bedding up duties to be carried out. We had no major breakdowns, but it was interesting to see over the festive period which carried on in a small way and which shutdown completely; most of our agricultural suppliers continued in some form or another.

Animal welfare at Rawston
The farm did have some disturbing news – which we only discovered via social media – of perceived animal welfare issues on the farm.
The first call we received was from the NFU, reporting that they thought our cattle had been videoed apparently showing them in a poor state (although the NFU agreed this appeared not to be the case). Then our local vets called to warn me the farm had been targeted with complaints to them – but again they could see no issue with the cattle. Next our milk buyer called and advised me that their farm liaison officer would come and visit us; he arrived the next day and again could see no problems, but suggested that we should have a full Arla farm audit within the next seven days to give us a clean bill of health.
Ordinarily this would have been fine, but during that seven day period I was due to have a hip operation (just to add to all the stress…). The audit was scheduled for the day after I returned from hospital. Still hobbling on crutches, I delegated to my son and the whole farm team got involved in showing the auditor around the cattle and the buildings. The cattle were given a clean bill of health with no issues. The final visit I had was from an officer of the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency; we were once again inspected, and once again no issues found. This particular visit did save us from a subsequent visit from the RSPCA as there was nothing to report.
Whoever put up the original social media post could perhaps have saved a considerable amount of anxiety by just calling into the local vets for a chat rather than putting an ill-informed opinion out into the world and hiding behind its potentially damaging effects.

James Cossins assessing the harvest at Rawston

The strain
This single social media post has obviously caused me, my family and the entire farm team a considerable amount of mental stress. With a hip operation in the middle of it, I had the added pleasure of a large amount of physical stress too, and I was beginning to feel I was heading for a dark place – who was going to contact me next?
Thankfully I have my family, close farming colleagues and the whole farm team, who have all been incredibly supportive.
But the experience has made me look at what mental health support there is for others in such circumstances, feeling as though there is unbearable pressure from external sources.
I know that agriculture as an industry is not alone in having mental health pressures as an industry, but it is a growing concern in the community. Farmers are working alone, dealing with huge outside-their-control issues such as the weather, animal diseases like Bovine TB and bird flu, the constant financial pressures and often even the stress of working as a family – and those are just off the top of my head!
The NFU provides good support for members through the group secretary network and also The Farming Community Network, the RABI (the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution is a national charity providing local support to the farming community) and YANA (You are not alone, a rural mental health charity) to name but a few other sources of help.
Sadly, agriculture has one of the highest suicide rates of most industries and at long last it is now being recognised as a problem, so help is out there. Please use it.
As I look out of the window the sun is shining, which makes us all feel better. Before long it will be spring again – all us farmers and growers will be out in the fields and smiling once more!

Sponsored by Trethowans Law as it should be

Tales of a Blandford blizzard | Then & Now

Editorial team

7 February 2023

Roger Guttridge recalls a Victorian snowstorm that cut the town off – and the local newspaper publisher who abhorred the evils of drink

The Blandford Express office in 1891 (or possibly 1881). Image from the Barry Cuff Collection

A light dusting of snow on my lawn today prompted me to dig out this Victorian picture as a reminder of what a serious dose of the white stuff can look like.
The eminently recognisable location, of course, is the point in Blandford where Salisbury Street divides and Whitecliff Mill Street peels off to the left.
The horse-drawn cart appears to be loaded up not with the latest issue of the Blandford Express that was printed in the building behind it but with snow, shovelled from the streets outside.
Whether the boys lined up outside the office window were waiting for copies to deliver or just posing for the camera, we will probably never know.
Printer J. A. Bartlett launched the Blandford Express in 1869 (some sources say 1859) and it continued to roll off the press until its closure in 1894.
Bartlett was a devout Christian, and he used his professional situation to further the campaign against alcohol abuse that was ruining so many lives in Victorian Britain. His newspapers also included the Dorset Abstainer and the enticingly-entitled Dorset County Temperance Advocate.
Bartlett lived at The Plocks and died in 1900 aged 73.
At some point the Blandford Express building’s original attic area was extended with the addition of three gable windows and, in keeping with Bartlett’s views on the evils of drink, became a coffee house and temperance hotel.
The date of the photograph is disputed. Most sources date it to 9 March, 1891, when a blizzard produced 10ft snow drifts and cut off the town from the outside world.
The Blandford Express’s competitor the Dorset County Chronicle reported: ‘The snow storm made its appearance on Monday afternoon and continued with increased severity until just after 11pm Tuesday.’
The railways and the postal service ground to a halt – so no change there then.
Dissenters from the 1891 date are Mark Ching and Ian Currie, authors of The Dorset Weather Book, published in 1997. They claim – unconvincingly in my view – that the picture dates from 18-19 January, 1881, when a ‘furious blizzard’ swept Dorset, claiming three lives. Henry Hawker was fatally entombed in a snowdrift within sight of his home at Thorncombe and two children suffered a similar fate while trying to walk from Hamworthy to Morden.

A similar view today minus the snow. Note the addition of the second-floor gable windows.
Image: Roger Guttridge

The perennial struggle of local media
The Blandford Express did well to survive as long as it did. Its other rivals included the Blandford Weekly News, which published from 1885 to 1892; the Blandford, Wimborne and Poole Telegram, which appeared from 1874 to 1886; and the Blandford Gazette and Three Shires Advertiser, which survived barely five months from August to December 1903.
Throughout this period the Blandford papers also had to compete with the Dorset County Chronicle and two big regionals, the Western Gazette and the Salisbury and Winchester Journal, both of which survive to this day.
More than 130 years later, the former Blandford Express building is now a hairdresser’s.

Businesses we want you! North Dorset Schools Careers Day

Editorial team

7 February 2023

Calling all Dorset employers.

Exhibit for free at the North Dorset Schools Career Day. Showcase your key roles, apprenticeships, and career progression. Meet and engage with young people from years 8 to 11 from five Dorset Council area schools – your potential future employees. The twilight session is open to other schools, year groups and parents.

When – Thur 9 March 10am – 6pm

Where – The Exchange, Sturminster Newton

Wanted: Umbrellas for hymn singers (and cash for a new roof)

Editorial team

7 February 2023

The village of Shillingstone is rolling up its sleeves – a huge community effort is required to save the village church

The roof of Shillingstone’s church has a 20ft hole

Worshippers in Shillingstone could soon be looking for umbrellas and buckets; the roof of their parish church of the Holy Rood is in a worrying condition. Where tiles have slipped there is already a 20ft hole in part of it which has had to be covered with tarpaulin to protect the church’s north aisle.
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has called in architects and other experts to assess the damage and risks. Their verdict is the need for a complete re-roofing of this ancient grade 1 listed building dating back to the 12th century.
The estimated bill the village faces?
In the region of £340,000.
Major fundraising efforts are now under way to enable the first phase of works, which is estimated to cost some £140,000 and must go ahead as a matter of urgency.
Phase two, the main part of the roof, is expected to require the additional £200,000.

The parish church of The Holy Rood, Shillingstone

A place for a thousand years
An appeal has been launched, grants are being sought, and fundraising events are being planned. Appeal leaflets have gone to every household in Shillingstone and to as many people as can be found who have had connections with the parish in the past; perhaps through the former girls school, Croft House, the village school, those with family links, and former villagers who have moved away.
PCC treasurer Anne Powell says: ‘It’s a daunting prospect, but I am optimistic that the money can be raised to hold the weather at bay for another 100 years or more.’
PCC member Ray Suter said in a message appealing for villager’s help – in cash or kind: ‘Our Parish Church has served as a vital meeting place for a thousand years. Not just for worship but for a millennia of Shillingstone’s weddings, baptisms and funerals as well as national celebrations.
‘During war and peace it has served as a place for private prayer and thanksgiving. The church bells have rung out across the village to celebrate notable events down the ages. Our ancestors are buried around our church and their graves are a precious reminder of how much they contributed to the village we now call home. It must be unthinkable that we could lose this precious, historic building which has been loved and preserved by so many.’
Before any work can begin on the church roof, however, the small matter of the bats has to be resolved! Experts have said there are, quite rarely, at least four different varieties of these protected mammals present, all of which have called Shillingstone church their home for years.

Countdown to the big night

Editorial team

7 February 2023

As the Love Local Trust Local Awards night approaches, founder Barbara Cossins looks back at where it all began – and why

When the Love Local Trust Local (LLTL) journey began in 2018, it was because I was so fed up with hearing visitors at our Open Farm Sunday say they wanted to support the British farmer – but didn’t know who to trust any more.
This was the time of some food mislabelling scandals, alongside the story that fake farms were appearing on ‘own brand’ products on supermarkets shelves. Some supermarkets have faced legal challenges over the practice.
Cheap imported meats were – and still are – coming into our country labelled with the Union flag because the item has been re-packaged or processed in the UK, not grown or reared here.
It’s all so misleading.
We British farmers need to stand up, get ourselves heard and explain the important facts about farming and food production to the general public and the people eating these foods.

Hairy Bikers
The new series of The Hairy Bikers Go Local has become an unexpected ambassador for everything our LLTL food label and movement stands for. The series is all about what is grown and produced locally in each county around the UK, helping viewers understand what comes from which part of the UK and at what time of year. This is something LLTL have talked about before.
The series is also highlighting the importance of trusting local businesses producing excellent food and drink close to where you live.
Music to our ears!
One of the key objectives of LLTL has always been to help tell the stories of local Dorset food and drink businesses, letting people know where they are and how to buy their products. Social media has been terrific for spreading the word of what our hardworking Dorset producers are doing.

Roll on awards night!
During the 2022 judging, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing so many wonderful stories. I’m still meeting fantastic new producers and learning from them. We will be celebrating their achievements on
Thursday 9th February
with a gala dinner at
Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester.
I would like to thank all our sponsors – especially Laura and Courtenay at The BV, who have been supporting LLTL from the very beginning.
Next month we will be showcasing the award winners and in the months to come we are delighted to be sharing their stories.

Three Oxford blues for Clayesmore

Editorial team

7 February 2023

Three students at Clayesmore School are celebrating after they all received Oxbridge offers.
Seth, who now has a place to read German at St Hilda’s College, was quick to say that none of the friends felt confident in their applications: ‘We were all expecting to be rejected. Reaching the Christmas holiday was a relief, but then it was a very long wait!’

From L-R: Tasmin J (Chemistry at Hertford, Evie A (English at Balliol) and Seth C (German at St Hilda’s)

‘It was a really long, hard process, and you have to do it on top of your already-packed A level studies’ says Tamsin, who was offered a place to read Chemistry at Hertford College.
‘By the time we had done everything we could and it was out of our hands, we were shattered!’ agrees Evie, who is thrilled with a place to read English at Balliol College.
So what made them stand out from thousands of applicants?
‘It’s not as predictable as you’d think’ says Tamsin ‘another Chemistry student in my year got the same predicted grades as me, does as much extra-curricular activity as I do, and yet they weren’t offered a place.’
‘I think it’s a lot to do with you as a person, how you come across in an interview’ agreed Evie ‘most students should have the same level of subject knowledge and the part of the personal statement that allows for describing your extra-curricular activity is tiny. It never even came up in my interview.’
‘Nor mine’ agrees Seth, ‘but I think that all my extra activities and my job in Tescos have built me as a person, and that’s what shines through. I was originally applying for a different college, and it was suggested I’d fit better at St Hildas – it was more of a personality fit, and it was absolutely the right decision.’
Tamsin added ‘I don’t think they’re looking for specifics so much as an inquisitive and can-do attitude. I actually said in my interview – which was filled with impossibly hard maths – that 2×1 equals two, so they’re obviously not looking too hard at the interview specifics!‘

Thank you Mr Carpenter
Do the teenagers all have a firm career plan mapped out?
‘Journalism, or perhaps a documentary maker’ says Evie. Tamsin added, ‘You’ll end up in politics, you’ll be great!’
Seth is aiming for a probable career as an academic, following a traditional Masters-PhD-lecturer route, though he acknowledges he’s also drawn to education as a career.
Tamsin cheerfully admits she’s open to what the future holds ‘Chemistry often leads to law or politics, as it aligns with the analytical thinking, but I’ve no fixed ideas yet.’
Were the Clayesmore staff keen to push the teenagers on to the Oxbridge route from the start?
‘Not in the least – we had to ask for it!’ says Evie
‘The school have been amazing.’ agrees Seth. ‘Absolutely no pressure, but once we decided it was the right plan they just scooped us up and supported us the whole way.’
‘We couldn’t have managed without their amazing support’ says Tamsin. ‘I’m not even an English student, but Mr Carpenter (senior deputy head and English teacher) gave me so much time and help. He even let me take over his office to practice in the week running up to my interview.’
‘Mr Carpenter was amazing!’ Seth and Evie exclaim simultaneously in agreement.
Clayesmore are proud to be a school that doesn’t focus on a traditional academic route, but instead ‘celebrates future thinkers, makers and creators’. Other student’s have offers from Durham, Warwick, Exeter, Nottingham and the Royal Agricultural University, to name but a few, with an excitingly diverse range of courses including History, Nursing, Architecture, International Festival and Events Management, Journalism, Fashion Marketing and Management and Global Sustainable Development.
Jo Thomson, head of Clayesmore, says, ‘As ever, I’m incredibly proud of all our pupils. Their success is a direct result of their hard work and commitment, and their teachers’ unwavering belief in every single student’s potential.’

Free entry to Snowdrops at Springhead

Editorial team

6 February 2023

Visit Springhead’s first open gardens of the year – as well as having the chance to wander around the lakeside gardens you will be able to see some of the many named varieties held at Springhead as you enjoy the beautiful drifts of snowdrops.

The gardens will be open from Monday 6th until Sunday 12th February from 11am to 3pm.
In addition, the gardens will be open on Saturday 18th February from 1 pm until 4.30 pm as part of Shaftesbury’s annual snowdrop celebrations (times are of course weather dependent).
Entry to the gardens will be free but donations would be appreciated. Light Refreshments will be available throughout the day on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th provided by, and in aid of, St Andrew’s Primary School, Fontmell Magna.
Dogs on leads are welcome and there is assisted wheelchair access.
6th-12th February, 11am to 3pm and 18th February 1 to 4pm
For more information email [email protected] or call 01747 811853.

There’s been a complaint …

Editorial team

6 February 2023

With our national newly-sanitised view of ‘Countryfile-d’ farming, complaints about animal welfare are on the increase, reports Andrew Livingston

John Hoskins keeps sheep on Maiden Castle, and gets 50,000 visitors a year across his land (image shutterstcok)

British winter is synonymous with sideways rain, muddy fields and non-existent grass. We humans may hate it, but the livestock across Dorset doesn’t really notice the inclement weather. For millennia, animals have lived on the picturesque pastures of our county all year round.
Unfortunately, for a lot of the public, winter farming in the UK doesn’t match the glossy Countryfile version of farming they like. Because of this, bodies such as the RSPCA, the APHA (Animal Plant Health Agency) and Trading Standards get a seasonal influx of complaints.
‘Things just don’t look very good when it’s constantly raining and the fields are muddy,’ says Neil, manager of the Animal Health and Welfare team for Dorset Council Trading Standards.
‘Most calls that we get from members of the public are well meaning, but entirely unfounded – the welfare of the animals is fine. It just doesn’t look particularly pretty.’
With the high volume of complaints Neil and his team can receive, they have to trust their judgement with a lot of the local farmers.
‘We do probably visit the vast majority of them, but it’s a kind of risk assessment basis. If we know the farmer and we’ve been going there for a long time, we can deal with it via a phone call initially, just to see if there is a problem? Are they aware of it? Quite often that can resolve it.
‘To give you one example, we had a complaint about sheep in a field where a number of them were lame. It was a good sheep farmer that we’ve known for many years and we don’t have any welfare concerns with the farm, so rather than waste limited resources going out for a visit, we phoned him and he freely admitted, “Yes, I know that they are lame. I’m desperate to do something about it but at the moment the ground is too wet to get the handling system out there to get them in the crush to sort the feet out.”

Well cared-for livestock is able to withstand an average British winter (image shutterstock)

Mistakes have been made
Neil has been with Trading Standards for 30 years but isn’t from a farming background. He was moved ‘kicking and screaming’ into animal health because the previous manager wanted to go back to mainstream trading standards work.
‘While I haven’t got a farming background myself, the people who are in the team that actually go out and do the visits understand farming and farmers, who are very different from the usual business owners that I had was experienced in dealing with.
‘I freely admit I’ve made mistakes before – I’ve been out in the field with cows in the pouring rain. They looked bedraggled and miserable and thin. So I got a vet out to look at them with me the following day. Of course, by then it was bright and sunny, and the cows looked completely different!’
Neil has had to deal with a vast number of complaints about one farm in particular – Maiden Castle Farm. The farm includes the Maiden Castle hill fort, and although it is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, it is John Hoskins who is the tenant farmer with his wife and son.
‘We have Maiden Castle hill fort within the farm itself,’ John explains. ‘And with it we get some 50,000 visitors a year. As well as tourists, we get all the general public from Dorchester coming to walk their dogs. And we get all sorts of complaints at this time of the year.
‘We have cattle grazing behind an electric fence with stubble turnips and feeders with hay and straw in. But of course it’s wet and muddy, and all [the public] think is that the animals should all be living indoors.’
John is quick to make the point clear that even though their downland farm is open to the elements, their cattle are hardy and have managed to live outdoors for 5,000 years.

Aberdeen Angus and Devon Ruby Red Cattle Grazing in a Muddy Field in Rural Devon, England, UK

Oh no, it’s definitely dead
With the constant footfall over his land, John and his family have had to deal with complaints either to Trading Standards or direct to their face.
‘A year or two back we had a cow calving. We keep an eye on them all the time when they are calving and this lady stormed up to my wife and said “you’ve got a cow with its body all coming out”.
‘‘I suspect it’s calving,” my wife said. “Oh no, it’s definitely dead. There’s steam coming out”.
When my wife got there, a calf was born, struggling to get up but alive and well. And my wife said: “Look, what you saw was the pre birth coming out”. But the woman would not have it.’
John is grateful to Neil and the Trading Standards team who act as gatekeepers. He says: ‘They know where we are. And [Trading Standards] actually come out, not on a complaint, just to see what we have on stubble turnips, or what cattle we have grazing.
‘And if somebody rings them, say two days in a row, saying, ‘John has got a sheep with a bad foot’. If on the second day we haven’t done anything, Trading Standards will call me and say, “John can you go and see about that sheep? It’s on the Castle” and we respond.’
It’s a well-trodden path to talk about how farming is portrayed in the media. Unfortunately, what the general public sees is either unrealistic ‘Countryfile farming’ or alarmist hidden camera footage on the news or social media showing the one per cent of farmers who mistreat their animals..
Neil has for the last six years been on the board of management for the Dorset County Show. He is a believer that educating the next generation is key.
‘The show has got a separate charity called Fabulous Food and Farming and its purpose is to promote agriculture. One way we do that is to invite school groups out to farms. We provide them with visits and we also provide funding for the transport to get them out there.
‘Good farmers are very keen to show off farming and the importance of what they’re doing. It’s difficult to get the public out and interested, but we can do that through things like the agricultural shows.’

Dorset County Show’s Fabulous Food and Farming charity funds school trips to help educate children about farming. Image: George Hosford

The odd rogue
Maiden Castle Farm hosts a local school throughout the year to try and help educate children. They have even converted a calf house into a classroom.
John Hoskins says: ‘We have a local school here once or twice a year just to show them what’s happening on the farm.
‘Everybody’s looking over our shoulder to see that we do things correctly and 99 per cent of farmers do that or more. But there’s always the odd rogue farmer that lets us down.’
There was a recent case of one of these ‘rogue’ farmers in the county, who ended up being prosecuted (Dorset farm fined £52,000 for causing unnecessary suffering– The BV, Nov 22) – and this is why Neil doesn’t want to discourage the public from picking up the phone if they are worried about the welfare of any livestock they see.
‘It is incredibly rare that we have to go as far as court action. On a complaint visit, we always try and work with farmers to improve things. It’s a collaborative process that involves visiting, advising, giving an improvement notice if necessary and making sure that’s complied with.’
The local ‘rogue’ farmer in question had been having visits from Trading Standards for ten years and he was found to be doing the bare minimum.
‘We regard court action as the very last resort. We will always try to work with the farmer and their vets to make improvements. But ultimately, if things are ignored or things get to an unacceptable level, then we will be forced to take action.’
John Hoskins felt that the farmer in question was let off lightly.
‘It was disgusting. I can tell you, every farmer who knew about that wished he’d had a heavier sentence. Every single farmer you spoke to said he was a disgrace to our industry.’
But Neil has dealt with a lot of these cases of poor animal management and he understands that causing harm is rarely anyone’s intention.
He says: ‘In most of these cases I would say there’s an element of the farmer having mental health issues that, in turn, result in their animals suffering.
‘We’re always mindful of that. And again, if we’re aware that the farmer’s struggling himself, we try and get him support through charities like the Farming Community Network.’

If you see an animal you believe to be in distress, please contact the correct authority. For agricultural animals such as pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and poultry contact Dorset Trading Standards.

If you have concerns about the welfare of domestic animals such as cats and dogs please
contact the RSPCA

The truth behind the rumours

Editorial team

6 February 2023

Following a local outcry based on inaccurate information, BV editor Laura spoke to Luke Rake, principal of Kingston Maurward college about the rumours

News that Kingston Maurward College has removed apprenticeships from its course offerings, with immediate effect, recently reached local media. This caused a number of inaccuracies to be shared locally. The BV spoke to the college principal Luke Rake to discover the truth behind the potentially harmful rumours that were causing his phone to ring.
‘Apprenticeships at the college have been in decline for some time.’ Luke says. ‘The numbers are down partly because the numbers of young people in the county as a whole are going down, but also because more and more students are choosing full time education. Simultaneously, our full time agriculture student numbers are growing.
‘We have also seen a reduction in the number of employers offering to take on apprentices, mostly due to the way the government made changes to the systems. It has basically become more onerous for smaller employers and so the numbers went down.
The other major factor is the funding itself. We got to a point where the college was losing a huge amount of money running apprenticeships.
‘The funding has been reduced significantly over recent years. For example, in the farming sector, there were government-imposed changes a few years ago. Previously we received £10,000 a year for a farmworkers apprenticeship; this was moved to a stockpersons apprenticeship. It’s basically the same course, but now we get just £5,000 for it.
‘In addition to which, 20 per cent of that funding isn’t operational money during the course of the provision – we only get it if they pass, when they complete the course, which could be 18 months after they start.
‘Financially, it just doesn’t work. The land-based sector nationally was furious over the changes, and land based colleges across the country for a while refused to run the new farm-oriented apprenticeships because of the change in funding. In the end, they decided (quite rightly): “It is needed in our area, we can manage to run it, we’ll just have to do it at a loss”.

Kingston Maurward College, near Dorchester

Rural challenges
‘So now, unless you’re doing apprenticeships at real scale – hundreds of them, and we weren’t, we had 65 apprentices when we made this decision – it just doesn’t work.
‘We were effectively having to subsidise every apprenticeship we took on from other parts of the college. Had we continued, in the next 12 months we would have lost roughly £150,000. That’s money which could have been spent on, for example, staff pay – we haven’t made a cost of living award to our staff for two years, purely because we can’t afford to. The college, like almost all further education colleges in England, is in a difficult financial position, and our first duty is always to the survival of the whole. Therefore, as a loss-making entity, we had to let apprenticeships go.
‘This is also a specifically rural challenge. If you have an apprentice working for Rolls Royce, you probably have 40, 60 maybe 100 apprentices all in one place – which means you can teach them all in one place and assess them all in one place.
Here, we might have one apprentice working on a farm near Sturminster Newton, one the other side of Gillingham, one at Evershot, one near Dorchester … and they all need visiting regularly, they all need assessing individually. So the sheer mileage costs and practicality involved was a major challenge.
‘It’s not unique to us, it’s a challenge for any rural provider – every local family knows that rural people struggle because of the additional cost of living in a sparsely populated area.

No one left behind
What happens now to the young people currently mid-apprenticeship? Are they simply left to start again?
‘Not in the least. Those who are close to the end of their course will be finishing off with us. ‘Those who are at an earlier stage in their apprenticeships are still employed, that doesn’t change, but the provider responsible for their training will either be Bicton College if they are in the west of Dorset, or Sparsholt College if they are in the east and north of the county. Both are high-quality land-based colleges, and every single student has had meetings with staff and employers. We have worked very hard with both colleges to ensure those learners are looked after.
‘In a couple of cases students have decided they would actually prefer to stay at Kingston Maurward, and have moved on to a full time programme, which means they’re coming here three days a week instead of just one.’

Poor timing?
Could this not have been put in place before the school year started in September?
‘It’s something we have been discussing for a while, but apprenticeships do not have a school year – they can start at any time, and roll continuously. There is no natural break, so whenever we had made this decision, it would have been difficult. Ultimately, we didn’t want to close the apprenticeships, but our main responsibility is to the financial security of the whole institution. It was a regrettable, but entirely necessary, thing we had to do.’

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