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A Dorset Victorian thriller with a twist
Lovers of historical murder mysteries will enjoy this exquisitely researched tale of dark goings-on set in Victorian Dorset and told in the vernacular of the time. Author Andy Charman explains the story behind Crow Court.
The paperback edition of Crow Court, a novel set in 19th century Wimborne Minster, is published by Unbound on February 3rd.
Crow Court is my first novel and I was proud to see it long-listed for the Desmond Elliot prize 2021. Set in Dorset and centred on Wimborne Minster, it tells the story of several townspeople who are drawn into a mystery surrounding the drowning of a choirboy and the disappearance of the choirmaster.
Rather than telling this story with a single narrative, I used Crow Court to explore the lives of as many different characters as possible, so the tale unfolds through fourteen episodes, each telling different aspects of the story. The narrative is passed from the vicar, to a cordwainer, to a wine-merchant, a farm-hand, a sailor, and a well-to-do composer of parlour music – among others.
While the events are entirely fictional, I was determined to make the characters and their lives as realistic as possible. It took a great deal of detailed research, to the level that, for example, every name and profession is drawn from census data. Most importantly, the voices needed to sound right, and rural labourers of the 1800s spoke in Dorset dialect.
Fortunately, William Barnes (1801-1886) left us fabulously detailed records of both the vocabulary and grammar of the time. Using this, I was able to attempt a recreation of fulsome Dorset expressiveness.
‘Proper trimmen crop o’ rushes here,’ says Bill Brown in the opening chapter. ‘You joinin’ us a-labourin’?’ asks his more mischievous friend, John Street.
After a lot of practice, I attempted a few sections as if narrated entirely by a farmhand. I kept the spelling modern for clarity, and aimed at as good a re-creation of Dorset dialect as I could manage; the jokes are predictably earthy.
Anyone who knows Wimborne Minster will find the setting of this novel familiar and it ranges out to Sturminster, Swanage and Lyme Regis. With such a broad survey, I hope that Crow Court captures the warmth, good-humour and quick-witted nature of the Dorset character.
Finding the colour in the stars, and even on a spectacular Wolf Moon
There is no richer reward than spotting planets in what is sometimes considered a ‘slow month’ for star and planet gazing, says Rob Nolan
On the evening of the 17th January, we witnessed the first full moon of 2022, the aptly named ‘Wolf Moon’. Named as such because wolves were more likely to be heard howling at this time. Traditionally believed that wolves howled due to hunger during winter, we know today that wolves howl for different reasons.
Therefore it seemed right to start the year off with our closest neighbour at an average distance from the Earth of 238,855 miles. The rhythm of the phases of the moon has guided humanity for millennia; our calendar months are roughly equal to the time it takes to go from one full moon to the next.
The moon is a bit more than a quarter (27%) the size of Earth, a much larger ratio than any other moons to their planets in our solar system. This means the Moon has a great effect on our planet, including the tides, and may even have been a major factor in making life on Earth possible.
This type of Lunar image (opposite) is known as a Mineral Moon. By enhancing the colours usually unobserved, we can reveal the mineral deposits on the surface. The blue tones reveal areas rich in ilmenite, which contains iron, titanium and oxygen, mainly titanium, while the orange and purple colours show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron.
This image was taken using my 1000mm Skywatcher 200 PDS Newtonian Reflector Telescope, and a Nikon D850 DSLR camera. Zooming in on the surface you can easily make out the Sea of Tranquillity (the large blue patch towards the North East face of the Moon).
The two most prominent craters Tycho (South) and Copernicus (toward the East) are easily identifiable as are many of the other features.
To find out more about the Lunar surface, visit NASA’s site. We often take the Moon for granted, always there, always influencing our planet and our daily lives, so why not make this year the year to get to know it a bit more!
Grab your binoculars or a telescope and take a tour along its stunningly beautiful and dramatic surface! It was also Buzz Aldrin’s Birthday on the 20th January, who is now 92 years old, and was the second person to set foot on the Lunar surface during the Apollo 11 space flight, Happy Birthday Buzz!
The Night Sky, February 2022 – amazing things you can see this month:
This month is generally considered ‘quiet’ for planetary observing. However, exciting observations can still be made.
The Orion Constellation continues to dominate the sky, along with Taurus and Gemini. These great constellations appear weaved in the night sky by the Milky Way galaxy band. As these star patterns drift to the west, they make way to new constellations rising in the east: Leo (the Lion) and Boötes (the Herdsman). New constellations constantly come into view because our relative position constantly changes as we orbit the Sun. Sirius dominates the night sky this month, at the head of Canis Major (the Great Dog). Sirius boasts a temperature of almost 10,000 ̊C and is twice as heavy as our own Sun.
As Sirius rises you’ll notice it twinkling a multitude of different colours. This is partly exacerbated by its low position in the sky and Earth’s atmosphere. These colours also act as a cosmic thermometer, allowing us to tell how hot or cool the star is. Stars are not just ‘white’: using binoculars, take a look at Betelgeuse, the second star on Orion’s shoulder and you’ll see it shines red. Capella in the constellation Auriga shines yellow, while Rigel, also in Orion, is a blue supergiant star.
On the 7th February, it may be a good evening to try and spot the faint planet Uranus. Grab a pair of binoculars and follow the terminator on the Moon. This is where the line is drawn between the bright and dark regions of the surface. Track up and to the right for three Moon-diameters, and you should happen across the faint speck of light that is the seventh planet in our solar system.
Towards the end of the month, look towards the south-west after sunset to find Jupiter. Once Jupiter sets in the twilight, the only two visible planets throughout most of the night are the two outermost planets, Neptune and Uranus.
Mars is visible in the early morning after 5:30am, in Sagittarius, with Venus also visible above it. Mercury is only visible in the deep dawn twilight, to the lower left of Venus in the south-east.
by Rob Nolan – Find RPN Photography on Facebook here
It’s the season for choosing – and making a start on the sowing | Voice of the Allotment
Barry Cuff shares what’s happening on an allotment you might expect to be bare in January, along with an annual potato trip.
One of the main events in our allotment year is the trip to Mill House Nurseries at Owermoigne for our seed potatoes – they stock over 80 varieties. This year there were 21 first earlies, 16 second earlies and 45 main crop all accompanied with details of disease resistance and main cooking characters. Each year we aim to grow one or two new varieties.
A variety of potatoes
We chose Sagitta (superb flavour best chips and mash) and Royal. This variety was bred for McCains (The perfect all rounder. Makes superb chips, roasties, mash and jackets. Excellent flavour with good disease resistance). We bought enough tubers for a line of each. The rest of our crop will be tried and tested varieties. These are Foremost, Charlotte, Elfe, Rooster, Picasso and International Kidney. Once home the tubers were stood up in egg trays and put in the garage with natural light and frost free.
Peppers and beans
All our vegetables are grown from seed either directly into the soil, or in pots and plugs for transplanting.
We ordered them all last year, and they arrived back in September and October – the majority were bought from Kings Seeds (as we belong to the South West Counties Allotment Association we get a fifty percent discount on their catalogue price), but there are a few varieties which Kings do not stock, and we obtain these from Fothergills and Thompson & Morgan.
As of today (26th January) we have sown and pricked out about 15 chilli peppers and 25 sweet peppers. Sown in the greenhouse in trays of compost are 50 seeds Masterpiece Green Longpod beans and 50 Witkiem Manita broad beans. These should be ready to plant out late February.
Still harvesting
Out on the plot the autumn-planted garlic is doing well, and we are still digging carrots, parsnips, leeks and celeriac. A few celery have survived the frosts; admittedly they are not brilliant at this late stage, but the centres are good for soup.
From our store and freezer we are still enjoying potatoes, onions, squash, sweetcorn, peas and French Beans.
Only one third of our plot will be dug as usual and we hope to do this once cleared of crops over the next two months.
with Barry Cuff
Sponsored by: Thorngrove Garden Centre
Chef | Milton Abbey School | Holroyd Howe
Holroyd Howe is one of the UK’s leading contract caterers, providing fresh food services solely to independent schools and colleges. We are a team of experienced professionals who tailor our catering service provision specifically to suit children, of all ages, meeting the bespoke requirements of each school.
We are currently looking for a Chef working at Milton Abbey School, Blandford Forum
40 hours per week, 5 over 7 days
Specific Responsibilities:
- To prepare and serve food serving all food from scratch
- Help manage to keep the kitchen in a clean and tidy state at all times.
- To ensure that customers are given a prompt and efficient service and expectations are consistently exceeded.
- To be customer focused at all times, by being visible during service periods, approachable and quick to exceed expectations in fulfilling customer needs.
Please send your CV along with a covering letter to [email protected]
“Holroyd Howe is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees to share this commitment. An enhanced DBS disclosure must be obtained for this role’’
This appointment is offered on return of satisfactory professional references, and an Enhanced DBS check.
Job Opportunities at Bournemouth Pier
We are looking for:
RockReef & PierZip Assistant Manager & Instructors
Key West Bar & Grill Waiting Staff & Grill Chefs
Retail General Assistants & Cafe Assisitants
Interested?
For more information visit http://www.bournemouthpier.com/jobs or send an email to [email protected]
Shaftesbury wedding videographer declared Best in South West
Not quite a year after launching his business, Dan Pitman has been declared the South West regional winner – and awaits news on the National award at the end of the month.
The Wedding Industry Awards are well-respected in the wedding industry, judged by a panel of experts rather then a popularity contest.
Dan Pitman, a roofer from Shaftesbury, entered the 2022 awards, just a year after launching his wedding videography business in May 2020, feeling that even a little recognition would add some credibility to his fledgeling brand.
He was excited and surprised to learn he was a finalist, and attended the ceremony in Cheltenham on the 26th January with little expectation.
His response when he won was an emotional one:
“I’m still on such a high from winning. I feel incredibly lucky that my work has been recognised and regarded as the highest standard in the south west after less than a year of filming weddings. The amount of time I have invested in learning the skills required to film weddings, the money invested in equipment, facing fears of huge responsibilities… all worth it!”
“I am so grateful to everyone who has hired me – especially the first few. Booking a videographer who had never filmed a wedding before is a huge risk – I certainly wouldn’t have done it!
But to give me the opportunity to do that means so much.
It is going to be a very busy year for me” he added “I’m transitioning from roofing to full time weddings, and 2023 bookings are busy. The national finals are next month, and I am up against some amazing filmmakers. If everyone can keep their fingers crossed for me I’d really appreciate it!
The Regional Winners now go through to the National Final. The National Winners will be announced at a spectacular National Awards Event in London on February 23rd.
“Everything is beautiful if you look at it in the right way” Michael Taylor
World-famous artist Michael Taylor is putting on his first gallery show outside London for 30 years. The Child Okeford show is a ’must-see’ event, says Edwina Baines, who spoke to Michael about his work.
In the studio with Michael Taylor image: Edwina Baines
Around forty years ago I bought a small still life painting by Michael Taylor of a bunch of grapes (see image below). I have always admired the talent demonstrated in that oil study, especially the bloom on the grapes – a dark background with the blue-violet bunch occupying a central position.
At that time, in 1983, Michael won the National Portrait Gallery John Player Award. This placed him firmly on the map of prestigious portrait painters and led to a commission from the National Portrait Gallery to paint the classical guitarist Julian Bream.
Subsequent commissions followed and the National Portrait Gallery now also owns his portraits of the crime writer P D James (Baroness James of Holland Park), and the composer, Sir John Tavener, along with a self portrait.
For his Oscar winning film, ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, the film director Wes Anderson also commissioned him to paint ‘Boy with Apple’; the sittings taking place at Hanford School, the Jacobean manor house in Dorset. However, during our conversation at his lovely home near Dorchester, Michael told me he prefers not to be described as a portrait artist:
‘I don’t do so many portrait commissions now.’
Around forty years ago Edwina Baines bought this small still life painting by Michael Taylor.
Attic Stories
In Dorset, there will now be the rare opportunity to view his first Gallery show outside central London for over 30 years: ’Attic Stories’ is to be held at The Art Stable, Child Okeford, Dorset from 5 February – 5 March 2022. The ten stunning works on display are still life and figure paintings – and I was curious to understand the nuances between a portrait and a figure painting.
Michael explained ‘They each require a very different approach and technique.’ He likened it to the difference between a novel and a biography.
‘Portrait painting is more like a performance. I’m demanding a lot of the sitter’s time – it’s a two-way thing. You need their attention. I have to engage in conversation. I like to go into their environment if I’m going to paint a portrait because it reflects how they’ve chosen to live. I like to find the sitter’s unique distinguishing qualities which define their individuality.’
There is a rare opportunity to view Michael Taylor’s first Gallery show outside central London for over 30 years: ’Attic Stories’ is to be held at The Art Stable, Child Okeford, Dorset from 5 February – 5 March 2022 Work featured in this photograph: On easel: In parenthesis. Lower left: Copper basket with fruit. Right: Still life with Orchid image: Edwina Baines
‘darting glances of great intensity’
P D James spoke about her experience of sitting for Michael. During a sitting, she asked, ‘Are you trying to make me look grim and mysterious?’
He replied, ‘I’m not trying to make you look anything. I have enough difficulty painting what I see!’
She apparently felt that was the mark of a good portraitist. Painting with deep concentration and giving her ‘darting glances of great intensity’.
There was a certain amazement when she first saw the portrait. She said there was ‘a conviction that this was a portrait beautifully painted. The skill of the painter impressed me tremendously… it had something that can be preserved for posterity. I think it is a face of someone who has looked on the darker side of life, certainly!’
A wonderful tribute.
Michael went on to describe how a figure painting differs from a portrait.
‘I’m using the model to say something that is universal to all of us. I’m still describing the person who is an individual but they are actors in a play. With a commission I am trying to find out what makes them different to others; in figure painting I’m looking for what is universal to all of us.’
The placement of each figure’s hands seemed particularly expressive in many of the paintings. Always beautifully portrayed.
Michael explained, ‘Hands are very expressive. The odd thing is, if you paint a hand anatomically correctly, it looks wrong. You have to paint how it feels.
Often I’ll paint it correctly and then wipe it over with a cloth and what is left is more expressive.’
Portrait of PD James (copyright National Portrait Gallery)
’I’m still learning’
His technique does not include a lot of drawings; rather he completes preparatory diagrams and notes for his own use and then draws on the canvas with under-paint. However, he told me that he has recently been attending life classes again. ‘There is nothing like the rigour and discipline of objective drawing for sharpening up the brain and eye.’
Sitting with Michael in his studio, I was surrounded by the canvases for his exhibition. He is able to take an everyday object such as a sewing machine, a pepper pot or an old oil can and paint it with extreme precision. ‘Everything is beautiful if you look at it in the right way. I love pulling things out of tips and
rescuing them and giving them a new meaning,’ he says.
The pictures certainly take time to look at, each object gaining significance. There is a tenderness and reverence in his interpretation of both everyday items and the figures themselves: it is no wonder that Michael completes only three or four paintings each year. He is able to ‘commune with an object for weeks and weeks, in complete silence or with a bit of Haydn, getting to know it thoroughly. It’s a meditative process. The only way I can get the necessary focus is to take my time and then do nothing else.’
Works featured are – Left:’Toppled Machine’ Centre: ’Three tiered Table’. Right: ‘Attic Scene with Grave goods’. Michael holding: ‘Petrified clock with oil can’ image – Edwina Baines
A still life is a work of art where the predominant subject matter is that of inanimate objects, either natural or man-made: this genre had its heyday during the Dutch Golden Age of the sixteenth century. Also known by its French title, nature morte, the term “still life” derives from the Dutch word stilleven, which literally means motionless or silent life. It is a genre which has fallen out of fashion
in recent years – but Michael manages to portray a contemporary twist on the timeless tradition so that even the most mundane objects are imbued with a life beyond the ordinary and can be made into masterpieces.
The Curator of the National Portrait gallery writes of the ‘Sheer beauty, weight and intensity of his ‘still lifes’ – so I can understand that at the end of an intense period of painting, Michael needs to get outside to walk each day in our beautiful Dorset countryside.
by Edwina Baines [email protected]
Mythbusting Lifetime Mortgages
Equity release; it’s all over our TV screens and radio, but what do you actually know about it? Expert Chris Brooks separates the fact from the fiction and busts those myths you’ve heard about lifetime mortgages.
The most common form of equity release is a Lifetime Mortgage, put simply this is a long-term loan which allows you release the wealth tied up in your property.
Myth 1: Lifetime mortgages are unsafe and unregulated.
Fact: Lifetime mortgages are regulated by the FCA, also the Equity Release Council is set up to protect the interests of consumers so you should have peace of mind to consider equity release.
Myth 2: You’ll owe more than the value of your home.
Fact: Products which meet the Equity Release Council’s product standards are required to feature a no negative equity guarantee. Put simply, this guarantee means that you, or more specifically your estate will never owe more than the property is worth once it is sold.
Myth 3: You must stay in the same property for the rest of your life.
Fact: With most lifetime mortgages, you can move home and transfer the loan to the new property providing it meets the lenders terms and criteria.
Myth 4: You will leave a debt to your family and loved ones.
Fact: Providing the terms and conditions are met, no debt is left to your estate, and you or your family will never owe more than the value of your home once sold upon death or permanently moving into long-term care.
Myth 5: Equity can’t be released if there is an outstanding mortgage.
Fact: You can apply for a lifetime mortgage providing you pay off your existing mortgage balance. This can be done either through the equity released from your property or by another means.
Myth 6: It’s not possible to reduce the outstanding debt.
Fact:Many lifetime mortgages allow for 10% voluntary repayments without you incurring any early repayment charges.
With some plans you can also make monthly interest repayments; this way you can maintain
the debt to the initial amount of the loan before interest. Lenders will need to check these payments are affordable to you. If you choose to make interest repayments, you still have the option to move to a roll up arrangement at a later date if you wish. There are even some lenders who can offer you the option to pay off some of the capital throughout the plan.
Myth 7: You won’t be able to leave your property as an inheritance.
Fact: Once the loan has been repaid from the sale of your property, any money left over can go to your beneficiaries. Some plans let you ring fence a portion of your home’s equity to leave as an inheritance for your loved ones.
Myth 8: You’ll lose ownership and control of your property.
Fact: With a lifetime mortgage you continue to own 100% of your home. A lifetime mortgage is a loan secured against your property, so you will always retain ownership until you either die or move into permanent long-term care, after which time your property will be sold to repay the loan plus any accrued interest.
A better understanding.
Now we’ve dispelled the myths you have a better understanding of what choosing a lifetime mortgage actually means and its impact on you and your family.
There’s a useful calculator tool HERE for you to find out how much money you could unlock from your home.
At Harbour Equity Release our objective is to find the right solution for you. There is no obligation to proceed, and if equity release isn’t your best option
we will let you know. Please visit my website for frequently asked questions, a free-to-use calculator to see how much equity you could release and more. Please feel free to either give me a call on 01202 925 976 or email me at [email protected]
