We are looking for a new patient service team member to join our dedicated team to work across our busy GP practice
For information about the role and to apply, please click on the link below.
https://www.blackmorevalesurgery.co.uk/vacancies
Or for more information please contact Laura Grant on [email protected] or call 01258 474513
The family-favourite outdoor theatre company Illyria will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and they will be playing Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore at Castle Gardens in Sherborne on Wednesday 25th August. You can always rely on Illyria for fantastical sets, memorable performances and plenty of laughs along the way for children and grown-ups alike.
These shows will be staged beneath the summer sky, so please remember your picnics, blankets, seating and warm clothes, so you can make the most of an evening of fast and furious madcap comedy in the walled garden.
Doors will open at 6.30pm each night, with performances
starting at 7.30pm.
Tickets are now on sale from Castle Gardens and online via illyria.co.uk. Tickets cost £15 per adult, £12.50 for concessions and £5.00 per child (0-16).
A police helicopter and armed officers chased a gang of poachers across east Dorset on the night of Friday July 29th.
They were called to an area near Blandford after a local person reported people in a 4×4 car targeting hares and damaging property.
Officers followed the vehicle before it was abandoned and the men fled on foot. Four people were arrested in connection with the incident and two dogs were seized along with a suspected air rifle.
The four men arrested were:
All suspects have been released while inquiries continue.
Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team is asking the public for increased vigilance as criminal gangs involved in coursing target farms in the Dorset countryside.
While the activity is considered a hobby for those involved, large sums of money, often linked to organised crime, are used for betting on the dogs used.
The highest number of incidents of hare coursing in the county occur in north east Dorset. To flush out hares, offenders will walk across a field, perhaps spacing out trying to locate and bolt hares, then release dogs on the hare. They will often use their vehicles to drive across the field, releasing dogs from moving vehicles, damaging not only soil or crops, but also gates, hedgerows and fencing.
Farmers have reported being threatened by these individuals, who will leave livestock gates open on purpose.
Read the full Dorset Police report on Coursing here
Hare coursing
The lesser known cousin of fox hunting and deer hunting, this traditional country ‘sport’ was immensely popular in earlier times with thousands of people turning up to see the larger events and place bets. Coursing is the now-illegal activity of using dogs acting on sight to chase animals such as the brown hare and deer.
In the late 1880s the Waterloo Cup, run on Lord Sefton’s estate at Altcar was so popular that carrier pigeons conveyed the results to major cities across the country. It is reported that when news of the winner reached London the Stock Exchange shut down for the rest of the day while traders celebrated their wins from bets placed on their hunting hound of choice, many of which become national names.
The Waterloo Cup was the idea of William Lynn, proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel in Liverpool, who also conceived the still-held Grand National horse race at Aintree.
The activity was banned under the Hunting Act 2004.
The dog will always win
Hares have evolved to sprint at high speeds over short periods to avoid predators such as foxes. They cannot match the stamina of hunting hounds who will continue the chase until the hare is exhausted. Even if the hare escapes it is widely understood that its welfare is seriously compromised due to the trauma.
According to the Hare Preservation Trust the number of brown hares in the UK has dropped by 80% since the late 1880s. Modern farm practices are thought to be the main cause of the decline. Hare hunting and coursing also had an impact.
The brown hare is listed as a conservation priority in the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan.
By: Laura Hitchcock
Champion of Champions!
A Blackmore Vale butchers shop has won one of the most prestigious awards in the meat industry for their sausages. T Buttling Butchers of Ludwell near Shaftesbury, work to a closely guarded family recipe and have been entering the Champion of Champions competition for around 20 years. This year their traditional pork and sage sausage won the judges over.
The Champion of Champions award is run by the Meat Trades Journal with butchers entering their finest sausages from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is unique in presenting the best quality sausages. There are regional finals which T Buttling has won several times and they have also been finalists, so clearly something was more than just good. The 2020 competition was judged on 7 July in Crawley with T Buttling receiving the prestigious trophy for producing the best sausages in the UK and Ireland.
Paul Buttling explained how the finals worked. “We have to submit six raw sausages and six cooked ones. There are 50 points to be won both for raw and cooked products. The competition used to be at Butchers Hall in London, and then a top hotel, but this year because of COVID, everything was online so I delivered the sausages to the headquarters in Crawley and had to turn the car round.”
My mind is racing just thinking about how where you even start with judging a sausage. Paul outlined what the judges look for and it all comes down to the finest quality: “With raw sausages it’s all about the filling, the texture, and the size as well as the smell. Cooked sausages are judged on shrinkage, any defects such as air pockets, and of course the taste. It is quite technical, but the judges are looking for a succulent well-filled product.”
The Champion of Champions cup is proudly displayed on the shop counter above the award winning sausages. On the back wall, among the diagrams of prime cuts of meat are several other trophies. They also won the 2020 Craft Butcher Awards for their pork sausage. T Buttling have been quietly selling award wining meat for years, something Paul sees as a team effort and not an individual success. Fellow butchers Dave Smart and Allan Seldon along with colleague Mario were all in on the win. But what do the local customers think?
“They told us ‘we always knew you were winners. We always knew the quality was good’,” smiles Paul. T Buttling is a fourth generation butchery. The family has been in the meat trade since 1898, firstly in London until the family moved to Wiltshire and took over the Ludwell premises in 1978. All the meat is sourced locally but Paul also looks for quality in his suppliers.
So what difference has the Champion of Champions competition made to the industry nationally? Roger Kelsey, one of the judges from National Craft Butchers summed it up.” I’ve been judging competitions for 30 or 40 years. I have to say that over the years the standard of sausage making in this country is so much better than when I started.”
So what’s next for the Champion of Champions winners? “ We’ll look at another competition for a different type of meat,” says Paul. As if the standard can’t get much better at T Buttling, I’d say we’re in for a treat in the Blackmore Vale with local businesses like this one having a constant eye on driving up quality for customers. And the judges were right- those sausages are outstanding and absolutely delicious.
By: Rachael Rowe
Chef/Cook required to support local charity with lunchtime meals.
Come and join our team and help make a difference
Sherborne Community Kitchen is an award-winning charity that cooks and delivers delicious locally prepared meals. We now want to offer sit down traditional lunches at our Sherborne base.
We’re looking for a self-employed chef/cook to join our vibrant team. This is a rewarding and unique opportunity to provide a vital local service to people who may struggle to provide a hot meal for themselves.
Hours are 9.00am – 2.00pm with hourly pay of £15.00 per hour for the suitable candidate. L2 Food Hygiene Certificate and planning and catering skills for 100 is a “must”.
To find out more contact [email protected] or phone Jill or Harry on 07561 067381
Saturday 14th August 2021
The Railway Gardens – Free Parking in the town
Come and join us!
The Dove Inn is a delightful Wiltshire country pub in the heart of the unspoilt countryside near Warminster with an award winning restaurant.
We are now seeking the following staff to join our team:
Senior Bar Tender/Waiting Staff
Positions are full or part time
Immediate Start
Salary: £21K Full time + benefits
£12ph + Tronc part time
At least 2yrs in a senior/similar role is required, and being a driver is essential due to our idyllic remote location.
Please apply in writing by sending your CV to
Our regular column in which you discover the faces and stories behind the pub sign. This month we’ve been chatting to Barbara who owns The Langton Arms at Tarrant Monkton nr. Blandford.
How did you end up at The Langton Arms?
It was ‘our’ village pub, just down the road from where we lived on the family farm, when it went into receivership – we bought it from Barclays Bank in 1993. It felt like a good partner business opportunity for the farm – plus it was where we used to go courting in our Young Farmers days!
Obviously, we were very naive, buying into a business we knew nothing about, but 30 years on here we are still!
What’s your favourit local place to visit on an afternoon off?
I love going to the seaside! Swanage during lockdown has been wonderful. The views over Corfe Castle, Arne Nature Reserve and Old Harry’s Rocks are truly breathtaking – you never really appreciate what is on your own doorstep. Plus you can’t beat good local fish & chips on the beach, enjoying them with only the seagulls as competition!
Tell us about your pandemic?
During lockdown, a lot of organisation had to be put into place – we pivoted focus, and concentrated our efforts on the farm shop, which remained open. We kept two chefs very busy cooking pies and ready meals for our farm shop. All our staff helped to run our farm shop, organising the queuing public, and helping us sell plants for Baskets and Blooms Nurseries, who were going to stop producing and plough their plants into the soil. We helped them to keep growing, and for people to continue to enjoy their gardens in that much needed lockdown period.
Flour and yeast became our best sellers as everyone at home became bakers! We were able to keep supplies going when the supermarkets could not.
What’s been your biggest challenge since taking over? What are you proud of?
In 30 years of owning and running the pub, there have been many challenges; but I feel our main challenge has been the competition of the supermarkets – as it has been for many other businesses on the high street. Their cheap sales of alcohol and soft drinks, as well as their ‘meal deals’ for home consumption… we just cannot compete with their prices. I am most proud of still being here after 30 years! Surviving a fire in 2004 and rebuilding my business. The smoking bans also came into place, and all pubs had to reinvent themselves as food- led venues.
What part of the pub is your absolute favourite?
We have so many lovely little areas, two small bars which are part of the 17th century old building. The converted stable is part of our 50-seater restaurant with a conservatory. Our function room still has a fully operational skittle alley in it – but the best story of all is it in an old Nissan hut from World War 2, brought down and erected by the
soldiers stationed at Blandford camp. Their beer was in big baths, and they used to scoup their beer mugs in!
Which dish is your most popular?
We’re all about the beef! It is from our own family farm in the next village. Our steak pie dish was created 25 years ago and is still the same recipe. Our steaks are matured on the bone for 28 days and our animals are all grass fed to give the full old-fashioned flavour (even our burgers are to die for!)
So what’s next – do you have big plans on the horizon?
We have six guest rooms, a function/meeting room, and great gardens. We would like to rebuild our business after
covid and make the most of the UK holiday market that will help to re-boost our economy. Our customers need the Great British Pub – it is the hub of the community. I believe if nothing else we need to enjoy the very simple things in life; great family, great friends & great food.
