Phyllis Caroline Rose Smart
Formally of The Yews Mere
Passed away peacefully on 26th January 2021 at Watersmead Care Home in Westbury Wiltshire Aged 96
Much loved Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother
Private Service to be held at the West Wiltshire Crematorium. Donations if desired to The British Heart foundation Via L C Hill & Son Funeral Directors website Tribute Page
Valentine’s Day is coming! And our February issue is going to be all about the love (because frankly we think we all need a big virtual tight squeezy hug right now, in the absence of the real ones).
So: we want to do a proper old-fashioned local paper Valentines message board. It’ll be fun! Totally free – just fill in your words and we’ll print them for your secret love to find.
Want M to know you think she’s wonderful every single day? Yes, do it!
Want to tell Shnookums you love his toes? Go for it!
Want to tell EF that with or without avocado you love his grumpy face more each day? Come on in!
Let’s feel the love for a change, and spread some smiles across the Vale for Valentines day.
Deadline is midnight Tuesday, so be quick – click here to fill in your message. Go go go:
*form now closed*
Happy to say we had very close to 100 messages submitted!
They’ll be published in the February issue, out on the 5th.
Covid seems like one of those film villains that despite shoot- ing, stabbing, suffocating and
drowning, remains alive to cause mayhem.
We can, however, take heart that vaccines are now being licensed and rolled out across the country
to beat this villain. This is the first real fight back that we have been able to make against this
serial killer virus.
While the decision of who is in the front of the queue for the vaccines is ultimately a decision
for the national medical committees I do hope that they will listen to the very strong call being
made for teachers, school staff, police and emergency services to be vaccinated speedily. Those
who put themselves ‘on the front line’ deserve the comfort and reassurance that the vaccine represents. I would also add de- livery drivers, shop workers and posties.
Post Christmas blues, poor weather and the bills of Christmas (that ultimately wasn’t a Christmas) coupled to a third Lockdown do not make for the ingredients of a delicious cocktail. I want to share with you my biggest fear for Dorset:
Throughout the Covid turmoil of 2020 Dorset as a whole fared well. The South West had the lowest R rate in the country and Dorset was among the lowest of the low. Our communities rallied to provide support. Our local NHS services stayed standing. Communities adhered religiously to the rules.
2021 has changed the local picture. The South West’s R rate (at the time of writing) is the highest in the Country. Infection rates across the County are on an upward trend. Our local NHS is nearing capacity. Ambulance crews are at full tilt. As a result of delays in hospital admissions there is a shortage of small tanks of oxygen. The valiant men and women who provide our healthcare are not themselves
immune to catching the virus and I shudder to think of the scenario where too great a number of NHS
staff have themselves become covid patients. Bed capacity has had to be significantly reduced in order to accommodate social distancing. 1-2-1 intensive care is now being delivered at 1-2-3.
So, Lockdown 3 is real because it is needed. The rules are the rules and laws. They are not guidance. They are not a pick and mix a la carte. They are not for others to follow but that you have a special exemption. They are for all of us to follow. Not because the State has delusions of power madness or
because we take a perverse thrill in stifling liberty: it is simply because none of us went into public life to see constituents avoidably fall ill and possibly die. Of course Lockdown is a damned nuisance. But it is a
necessary and vital damned nuisance. Our local Police have my full support in being as robust as necessary to enforce the law.
I shall share with you with this thought sent to me from a con- stituent. You have to imagine a new headstone in a graveyard. The inscription reads: “Here lies xxxxx aged 49. He need not have died but he thought he was immune and exempt from the Law. He refused to wear a mask. He went out unnecessarily. He had friends and family to visit (some of them are in hospital or awaiting burial). He leaves a wife and two children. Arrogant and selfish to the end”. I do not want that to be the epitaph of any resident of North Dorset. I implore you to follow the Rules and do what is right.
I started with Aretha Franklin, let me close with the metaphysical poet John Donne:
“No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main……… Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”
Let’s follow the Rules to the letter: the bell won’t be tolling for thee.
by Simon Hoare MP
Simon John Hatcher
Passed away at home on 15th January 2021 aged 57.
Much loved son, dad, grandad and friend.
Taken from us too soon but always in our hearts.
Mrs.Sheila Booley
Passed away in Salisbury Hospital on 13th January 2021 at the age of 92.
She will be greatly missed by all who knew her, especially her son and daughter, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
The funeral was held at Yeovil crematorium and was attended by immediate family only.
A webcast was recorded. Many thanks to all involved in the funeral preparations.
Winter is well and truly here and another lockdown means many of us are looking at our kitchens to provide some form of entertainment. If you are anything like me, a good breakfast is a great way to start the day off with a bang and these breakfast tarts are effectively a full english loaded onto puff pastry (I still haven’t found a recipe that is ruined by adding puff pastry).
When making this recipe, I found that a quails egg was the perfect size to top the tart and in doing so, I happily discovered that you can buy local quails eggs from most farm shops. I also discovered a little chicken farm near me that had quails eggs on a stand outside, complete with an honesty box for payment so keep your eyes peeled when on your daily Lockdown walks for something similar near you.
I may or may not have waited for very cold 3 hours early on Christmas eve to pick up my turkey from my local butcher so I think many of us are discovering the joys of local meat from our local butchers. There are local butchers across the county and they work hard to bring us the best in local meat, so I can recommend using local sausages and bacon for this recipe too.
Ingredients
1 packet of ready rolled puff pastry (or homemade puff pastry) 6 sausages
6 rashers of streaky bacon
3 tbsp of tomato puree
6 quails eggs
1 chicken’s egg (to egg wash)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 fan/Gas 5. Grease and line a baking tray.
Remove the sausages from their skins and break up the sausage meat into pieces. Cut the bacon into 1/2cm pieces. In a frying pan, fry the sausage pieces and bacon pieces together until just cooked (but not browned). Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Roll out the puff pastry and cut into 6 rectangles. Place these rectangles onto the baking tray.
Spread tomato puree onto each square, leaving a 1/2cm boarder around the edge.
Beat the chicken’s egg and then egg wash the edges of the tart that do not have tomato puree on them (this makes them lovely and golden brown in the oven).
Add the sausage and bacon pieces to the top of the tomato puree (keeping that egg washed edge clear). Try and make sure that the tomato puree is covered as much as possible as the puree can darken quickly in the oven.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Whilst the tarts are baking, get a sharp knife and the quails eggs ready.
After 25 minutes, the tarts should be starting to look almost done with golden brown edges (if they don’t look at all done, give them a few minutes more in the oven). Remove the tray from the oven. Make a small dent in the centre of the sausage meat and bacon mixture on each tart. Crack the quails egg into the dent using the knife to break the shell. Place the tray back into the oven for 5 more minutes. This should just cook the quails egg. If you would like a firm yolk, cool for 2 minutes more.
Tip – You can make this vegetarian by replacing the sausage meat and bacon with vegetables. If using root vegetables, I would par cook before adding to the tart but some asparagus and halved cherry tomatoes would work well here.
By: Heather Brown
January usually sees conveyancers taking stock – with spring in prospect, new instructions start to trickle in after the hectic pre-Christmas period. But – like the world generally – this year is different.
I know I am returning to an already busy caseload which will stay that way until at least March. The south west property market was one of the most active in England & Wales throughout 2020, stimulated by the stamp duty holiday and by people rethinking lifestyles and living arrangements due to Covid and lockdowns. Agents, surveyors, local authorities, conveyancers, lenders and removal companies remain under huge pressure to get transactions completed in challenging and extraordinary circumstances.
With this in mind, here is my New Year’s conveyancer’s wish list:
Without the above, here are some ways that clients can help themselves:
If everyone plays their part and communication is good, we can achieve the best outcome for you at the earliest opportunity. Moving has always been a stressful business but never more so than now!
Jenny Cottrell
Solicitor
The year ahead is uncertain but as you’ve just read, property experts are still predicting 2021 to be a strong year for the UK residential property market.
There is currently an unprecedented demand for moving house, leading to a record number of property transactions. Successive lockdowns have led many homebuyers and tenants to reassess their homes.
Spending more time at home in 2020 led people to look for more space and better internet connectivity. This, along with the stamp duty holiday approaching at the end of March 2021, is now fuelling further demand throughout the beginning of 2021.
Have you heard of the term
“bank of Mum and Dad” or
“the Granny bank”?
In the past decade it has become more and more common for homebuyers, and particularly First Time Buyers, to receive a contribution from parents or other family members towards the deposit on their first home.
These are just two rising in popularity ways, alongside newly created Retirement Interest Only loans, and Lifetime Mortgages that people are using to buy property. Low rates of interest and a stamp duty window, make now the perfect time to act if you are contemplating moving, buying a holiday home or simply passing wealth down the family line and reducing the family potential inheritance tax liabilities.
The likelihood of the Bank of England increasing the base interest rate at least in the short term remains slim. This means mortgage rates should stay low which is making this an attractive time to purchase property. Even with the stamp duty holiday set to end in March 2021, investors are taking advantage of these competitive rates.
Banks are gaining more confidence to lend, and this will continue to do so as more normality returns. This helps further increase the availability of mortgages.
This should be a good time to lock in lower mortgage rates and take advantage of subdued house prices. Interest rates and house prices are only likely to increase in the coming years.
So if you are thinking of buying or selling a property, then mortgage rates and availability of funds, together with advice on where best to access those funds will be an important factor.
Adrian Seager is Ward Goodman’s mortgage expert. He regularly reports on how the whole of the market is changing, something only your Independent Financial Adviser would do.
If you want to speak to him, call him on 01202 875900.
Families across Somerset will be able to enjoy the county’s own virtual panto from the comfort of their own homes.
Theatre makers in Somerset have come together to create the perfect solution for panto in a pandemic – each scene of ‘In Search of Cinderella’ has been filmed at a well-known theatre or arts centre to create an online performance.
Funds raised from ticket sales will benefit theatres and arts centres in Somerset during their current struggle to keep their doors open for the public.
As well as telling the traditional Cinderella story on the stages of Somerset’s well-known venues, In Search of Cinderella takes the audience to the cafes, bars and front-of-house areas of the theatres to see The Prince’s quest for the foot that fits the glass slipper.
The play is written and produced by Richard Crowe in association with Somerset Film, based at The Engine Room.
Richard Crowe said:
“We’re creating something special with and for the people of Somerset. This is an opportunity to join across the county and celebrate what we’ve got and who we are. This story belongs to us – Somerset is Cinderella. We’re the county people drive through without stopping, and we’re the county that punches above its weight. We don’t always acknowledge the amazing things that happen here, such as Carnival and all our local traditions.
“As well as giving audiences a good time, we’re promoting our county’s theatres and arts centres at this difficult time. Everyone is welcome to watch the online performance for free – have a chuckle and a singalong on us! But if you can, the producers are asking for donations (whatever you feel it’s worth) that will go directly to help participating venues recover from the coronavirus crisis and help keep theatre live in Somerset.”
The participating venues are: Strode Theatre, Taunton Brewhouse, The Regal Theatre Minehead, Bridgwater Arts Centre, The David Hall South Petherton, and the performance will end with the Prince and Cinders’ wedding at Glastonbury Abbey.
Children at Butleigh C of E Primary School have recorded their ‘It’s behind you’ moments which will be included in the performance.
The project is funded by Arts Council England, Somerset West & Taunton Council, the BARN initiative (via Take Art) and by the people of Somerset and further afield, through a fundraiser.
In Search of Cinderella premieres online at 6pm on Wednesday 20 January.
© Bluebean Publishing Ltd
