Our current ‘unwritten constitution’ is unfit for purpose and ripe for abuse, argues Labour’s Pat Osborne.
“Partygate” continues to dominate the news, while the Tory’s plan to address the cost of living crisis is still nowhere to be seen. In fact, Sunak and Johnson seem content to announce confirmation of National Insurance increases from April. This will undoubtedly make a bad situation worse for people in North Dorset who are already paying more at the pump, paying more in the shops, and feeling less in their back pockets after a week at work. With Sunak’s previous £20 a week cut to Universal Credit having already pushed some 200,000 of the most vulnerable people into poverty, and energy bills set to climb 70% in just over a year, we’re all going to find it increasingly difficult to get by without the Government stepping in. Whilst Sunak sharpens his dagger for an inevitable leadership bid, the business of running the country for the benefit of the people takes a back seat. So, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of why this is happening. Partygate is happening because we are among a tiny minority of countries in the World that don’t have a written constitution. Until we do, checks and balances like the Ministerial Code will always be open to abuse by those in power. While the national press focuses on Colin the Caterpillar’s trip to Downing Street, the power of the Government is increasing with every Bill, the authority of the Courts and our human rights are being eroded, our rights to citizenship, to protest and to vote are all being swept away. The most recent example being so called ‘Brexit Freedom Bills’ which seek to give ministers the power to make law without Parliamentary scrutiny.
With the exception of a few notable changes made by the last Labour Government, our current ‘unwritten Constitution’ is largely a relic of the 19th Century. It’s ripe for abuse and no longer fit for purpose. It’s high time that we renewed our expectations of those who seek to serve us and hardwired them into a written constitution that genuinely holds the public as sovereign.
Cllr Pat Osborne Labour’s former Parliamentary Candidate for North Dorset
The cleaning of farm and commercial grain stores across Southern England. Removing the dust and debris of the previous stored crops.
Full training and independent certification is given – Working at Heights; Confined space safe working; Powered access platforms; Alloy Tower erection; Manual Handling and First-aid. Qualifications for you to keep that can be used across a wide range of industries.
A community is devastated at radical council cutbacks ‘which will affect public mental health’, says Steve Keenan.
Dorset Council is set to withdraw an annual £500,000 grant to manage and subsidise the QE leisure centre in Wimborne : Steve Keenan
Wimborne residents are facing loss of access to the swimming pool and sports facilities at Queen Elizabeth school following council cutbacks. Dorset Council is set to withdraw an annual £500,000 grant to manage and subsidise the leisure centre attached to the school.
Without the money, the school has indicated it could not afford to keep the 25m pool, gyms and 3G outdoor pitch open to the community. It will now have to find ways to fund the leisure centre, while the centre’s public closure would also reduce central government funding to the school by £280,000 per year.
“We would find a way to continue the commitment to our school sports programmes, but our preferred option is for the school and council to continue working together,” said Head Teacher Katie Boyes.
But that seems highly unlikely, with Dorset Council saying the centre accounts for 30% of its £1.7m annual leisure budget, the rest being shared between eight council-owned leisure centres.
Cllr Laura Miller, Portfolio Holder for Customer and Community Services, said: “Dorset Council simply cannot justify spending so much public money managing a centre we do not own, in an area that has so much comparable leisure provision close by.”
Overwhelming support
The news is not unexpected as the council went out to consultation last year. It received 1,800 replies: unsurprisingly, there was overwhelming support for the status quo.
Claire Ruscoe from Wimborne said: “My sons aged 14, 12 and nine all swim with the Manta Rays swim club at QE on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. It is very well attended so if this facility goes, many of those regular swimmers will have to stop swimming and some will never start it back up.” Liz Mills of the Manta Rays club added: “This is the only leisure centre in Wimborne and there is a high demand for swimming – we have a waiting list for our swimming club. It is so important.”
The news comes just six months after Port Regis School closed its pool and gym to adult members. The former St Mary’s School near Shaftesbury is also planning to only allow schools or clubs in future, rather than individuals.
Swim England (SE) recently warned that up to 2,000 pools could be lost by 2030 as they come to the end of their lifespan, while not enough new facilities are being built to replace them.
SE is asking the Government for £1bn for new pools and for refurbishment of existing ones.
QE Leisure Centre : Steve Keenan
’Counter-productive move’
It says that swimming helps to save the health and social care system more than £357m a year as being active in the water can help prevent, and treat, a number of physical and mental health conditions. But while councils have statutory responsibility for social care and libraries, they do not have to provide leisure facilities by law – and councils are all facing pressure on their budgets.
Dorset Council has said it will help the school find alternative funding and offer a one-off £150,000 to replace the all-weather pitch. It also maintains there are a number of other leisure centres nearby, including a pool at St Michael’s Middle School in Colehill. In a statement, it added: “Dorset Council operates three other leisure facilities in the East Dorset area, as well as two country parks, so it is felt that there is clear evidence that Dorset Council is supporting the community to be physically active. Many other areas of Dorset are less fortunate and don’t have access to the same level of leisure facilities.”
The decision to withdraw the funding will be taken at Cabinet on March 1.
Be part of the unfolding racing story of our young racehorses, helping shape their futures from birth.
Part-time hours, approx. 3hrs a day, 3 days a week (fit in around the school run?).
We are a mares’ only stud with high standards, breeding top quality, champion racehorses with an excellent team of full-time staff on the yard who all enjoy following the racing careers of the foals and youngstock they have helped raise.
Some previous experience with horses would be ideal, so that the terminology and basic day to day routines are familiar. Bookkeeping experience would be good but is not essential. The role entails keeping the horses’ information uptodate on our yard management software, keeping records of breeding certificates, registering foals, preparing paperwork for walk-in covers, keeping track of vehicles and machinery maintenance and MOTs, preparing employment documents, filing and generally working alongside Doug and Lucy Procter to help the office and the stud, run smoothly.
We are easy to get to, in Glanvilles Wootton, five miles south of Sherborne – we’re even on the Dorchester/Sherborne bus route if that helps.
Please email [email protected] or call Doug Procter on 07974 314262 to discuss.
That anti vax letter I wonder if you bothered to take a look at the web link at the end of Roger Guttridge’s anti-vax letter in the January issue (p.24 here). I did, and found a site full of mad conspiracy theories and dangerous lies about covid vaccines. Just today it was reported that hundreds of doctors in the US had signed a letter describing an online platform used by one of the men quoted by Mr Guttridge as a “menace to public health”. Another of his “experts” , Dr Mike Yeadon, is responsible for the lie that the vaccines make women infertile. This is the same Dr Yeadon who claimed covid would quickly fizzle out with fewer than 40,000 deaths. He also claimed there would be no second wave and declared the pandemic over, weeks before deaths hit 1,000 a day. Publishing the views of extremists is not a matter of balanced debate. My own family has suffered as a result of this kind of disinformation. Don’t forget that people’s lives are still at risk. (For verification, here are links to the report about the US protest and a Reuters article about Dr Yeadon’s false prophesies: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/14/spotify-joe-rogan-podcast-open-letter
(We will not be running any further pro/anti vax debate – Ed)
On Cozmo Jenks: Can I say how disappointed I was by the Random 19 interview with Cozmo Jenks (Jan issue, p.19)? I didn’t feel it necessary or appropriate for the BV to publish her fondness for marijuana as a past time, nor her swear-filled ‘favourite quote’ nor indeed her bad ‘wind’ habits. Really? She looks old enough to know better – even if those are the honest answers, a little social politeness might have served in her public responses. Usually I look forward to this column as a fun, interesting and often thought-provoking read, but this one felt forced and deliberately provocative. Do better, BV. Lilla May, Sherborne
Bravo Cozmo Jenks! How refreshing to read the bare honesty of a woman ‘of a certain age’. The Random19 answers all felt utterly true, mildly bonkers and thoroughly fun – a telling insight into Cozmo’s own personality, I suspect, which is of course the point. And well done BV on not tidying up or sanitising Cozmo’s answers – absolutely brilliant, she had me laughing (not unusual in the BV, I do appreciate the fact you have a sense of humour) and cheering approval. I thought I’d write to support as I’m sure you’ll get complaints. For my own part, though I’m sure my mother wouldn’t have approved, I’m considering a new sign for my kitchen – “Fit in or F**k off”! Eleanor Shaw, Verwood
What an absolute gem Cozmo Jenks is (and thank you BV for not editing her answers). I had no idea she lived locally – I hope you don’t get complaints about her unfiltered answers. The article was flowing with character, enthusiasm, positivity and a serene confidence in just being who she is. A lesson to all us ladies – let’s just be a little more honest. I’m not brave enough to try her ‘Friday Night In’ (yet!), but I’m adopting her favourite quote immediately. Selina Gray, Wincanton
On Violet Cross I refer to Roger Guttridge’s utterly fascinating article on the life of Violet Cross (Violet’s wars: the story of a Dorset heroine, Jan 22 issue). I have gathered from the comments I have seen on your Facebook page that my wife and I were not alone in being inspired by her story. We drove to the church in Hazelbury Bryan in order to view her memorial plaque – only to be completely dismayed, and rather angry on her behalf. Thanks to the editorial comment on the image in the article, we entered the church expecting the plaque to be hidden from plain sight, and knew we had to look behind the organ – but even so, without determined perseverance we would never have found it. As it was, my wife was not able to climb to it, and I had to navigate around the organ bench and over a wooden railing, squeezing down the very narrow gap beside the organ housing to view it myself. Why on earth is a memorial located where no one may view it? I suspect that many of the regular church attendees have never seen it, let alone occasional visitors. Surely the point of the plaque is to remind people of Violet Cross’s life and her astonishing achievements? She apparently has no descendants, and to my mind the very least the village can do is relocate her plaque to a situation where others may pay their respects to her memory. Alan Banes, Mere
Dorset Island Discs I was very happy to see the new ‘Dorset Island Discs’ column; I’m a huge fan of the original radio show, and I’m so pleased you have kept the same simple format. Dr Luckett (‘Don’t listen while driving’, Jan 22 issue) had a fascinating range – and just as it should be it allowed us an oddly personal insight into a local figure through their favourite music. Just one request – please do select a wide variety of guests so that it’s not all classical music and jazz – and keep them honest. The one failing on the Radio 4 version is when the subject selects songs they think are suitably appropriate or impressive for a Radio 4 audience – it’s always obvious when it has been engineered, and the listener gains nothing. Howard Borne, Shaftesbury (I hope you’ll approve of this month’s guest variety – Blandford’s Cllr Nocturin Lacey-Clarke’s thoughtful choices are genres away from Dr Luckett’s! – Ed)
On local politics I find it surprising that no one locally appears to be aware that our MP for North Dorset, Mr Simon Hoare, has had defamation proceedings begun against him, after sharing an inappropriate tweet by the UUP (Ulster Unionist Party) leader Doug Beattie. Mr Beattie tweeted a joke that referred to the wife of political rival Edwin Poots and a brothel. Mr Hoare shared the joke, but then deleted his own tweet in fairly short order. Mr Beattie has since apologised. But the agricultural minister Edwin Poots has now instructed solicitors to issue defamation proceedings against Doug Beattie and Simon Hoare. I find it remarkable that our experienced MP, and the chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, would engage in such poorly thought out behaviour. G Harrow, Shaftesbury
I have almost put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?) to you a couple of times in recent months to make a request: whilst I consider us exceedingly lucky in our local MP Simon Hoare, I am aware that there are other voices to be heard, and we should be hearing them all. I was so pleased then, to see you give space and voice to other local political opinons in the January issue – I hope this is a permanent change? Dorset may be solidly a Tory heartland, but that doesn’t mean we all voted blue – nor does it mean that those of us who did aren’t interested in hearing the other side of the debate on local topics. K Greening, Marnhull (the local politics column has been permanently expanded to hear voices from the local Labour, LibDem and Green Party – Ed)
It is a universally acknowledged truth that excited young boys cannot keep a secret. When we first moved into the village, a delightful lad of about eight used to come into my Studio and we’d natter away (I did check with his mum, Abbie, that this was OK). The lad, Ryan, had some issues, particularly at school. The poor kid was bullied. I think he viewed the Studio as a type of safe haven.
But I made him laugh and he made me laugh (he’s bright and cheeky) and I listened to his woes and gave whatever meager advice I could.
He asked me what I did, apart from teaching guitar, and I told him that I was a secret agent/ assassin.
Not very wise, perhaps, but he was excited about it and full of questions (‘Andy, can I come with you on your next mission?’ ‘No, it’s too dangerous!’). Stopped him worrying about school, anyway.
I did swear him to secrecy telling him that the whole point about a secret agent/assassin is that it’s meant to be secret.
He swore that he’d tell no-one – ‘not even mum’. Ryan came round later while I was creosoting a garden shed and he demanded that he help me. Manfully hiding my doubt about what sort of ‘help’ he’d be, I told him to go and ask mum if that’s OK, and to change into old clothes.
Later, while wiping the creosote off the windows that Ryan had generously daubed, he spotted a power drill in the shed and excitedly shouted, ‘Andy, is that a machine gun?’
I said, ‘Oh, my God, you’re not meant to see that. It’s top secret.’ ‘Can I have a go on it?’ Ryan asked. ‘No. It’s very dangerous and you mustn’t tell anyone about it. Do you understand?’
Again, Ryan swore on his life that it would remain a secret: ‘I won’t even tell mum,’ he again added gravely.
Early that evening Abbie came round and both of us trundled our lawnmowers up the lane to mow the church grounds. She paused in the conversation to say, ‘oh, I forgot to ask. How’s the machine gun?’ She smiled and added, ‘I suppose you need it for the assassinations.’
‘It was a power drill,’ I said. ‘Well, I’d worked that out,’ she answered. ‘I told him to tell no-one,’ I said. She said, ‘He came running into the house and immediately shouted, “ANDY’S GOT A MACHINE GUN!” I think the whole village heard.’ But then, I knew that would happen. Bless him.
A potential behavioural aid for schools?
Explosive hand-out
I’ve got form with kids. I used to be head of the education department (the ‘department’ was one assistant and we shared a photocopier) at Fort Newhaven in Sussex. It’s one of the forts, like Nothe in Weymouth, built
in the 1860s to stop a French invasion. Not that the French had any intention of invading, hence the forts’ nickname at the time – ‘Palmerston’s Follies.’ Essentially, my job was to give school parties a tour of the place and it was very enjoyable. We had vast amounts of artifacts, from a Churchill tank to rifles (de- commissioned) and steel helmets and WREN’s caps. I allowed the children to handle the stores and they loved it.
We had an ex-army sergeant working, and I’d get him to parade the children; boys wearing steel helmets, girls wearing WWII ladies’ service caps. It was hilarious. When the old guy bellowed ‘right turn, quick march’, half the kids would turn left (their steel helmets wouldn’t move) and there was much enjoyable mayhem – their teachers loved it, too. As more schools visited I got a bit wilier. I’d meet them off the coach, gather them around, tell them they’re to call me ‘Andy,’ not ‘Sir.’ And I’d ask who’s the naughtiest boy in the class. With a lamentable lack of group loyalty all the girls (it was always the girls) would point at one kid (usually skulking at the back) and shout, ‘Lee!’ I’d ask the girls how naughty Lee was. ‘Very!’ they’d shout. So I’d get Lee come before me. I’d take a good look at him (bit of theatre here) and say, ‘Lee, they tell me that you’re naughty, but I don’t think you are. I think you’re a responsible young lad. And I’m going to prove it today to your teachers and your class. In fact, I’m going to trust you with my life.’ Big moment coming. I’d take a WWII hand-grenade out of my sagging jacket pocket (much excitement from the kids) and say, ‘you know what this is, don’t you?’ I’d pass the grenade round so they could see it was real (they’re extraordinarily heavy), telling them ‘do not remove the pin,’ and explain how they work. Then, holding the clip firmly, I’d remove the pin. I’d hand the grenade (obviously de- commissioned, but they didn’t know that) to Lee and tell him not to let the clip ping off.
On every occasion the naughtiest boy in class would follow my instructions and behave impeccably (usually bombarding me with intelligent questions) during the tour – his classmates keeping their distance.
And at the end, I’d carefully take the grenade, replace the pin and say, ‘Lee, I’m proud of you. You’ve proved yourself to be a very responsible young man,’ and his class would look at him in a new light. Needless to say, the naughtiest boy absolutely loved it. Once I started this, school visits shot up, and the kids would often return with their parents, pleased to see me and show me off.
But the best thing was that very often teachers would phone me a week or so later to tell me that the naughtiest kid’s behaviour had improved, often significantly.
So, my advice to head teachers: get some grenades in. (The N.U.T. may have a different view on this – but I did this in 1985. It was different then – we were more robust).
Female wiles
I received some nice comments about a piece I wrote about teaching blues, rock, pop guitar in a previous issue, so I’ll add a bit more. I planned to teach my lovely student, Laura (10 years old) a couple of new chords based around the open D chord. This sounds very complicated but it’s not, and the variations are used in a thousand songs, so bear with, digital reader.
They are D sus 4 and D sus 2. Everyone reading this will recognise them. For example D and D sus4 are the intro to Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Bung in a Bb, C and G and that’s the whole song.
I expected the entire lesson to be spent on this. But Laura just got it straight away. My heart swelled. I looked at her dad, Damien, who shook his head disbelievingly. He said, ‘I don’t know D sus2’ (and Damien’s a good guitarist).
So I said to Laura, ‘Now, what we can do for D we can do for A’. And I showed her A sus4 and A sus2.
And she got that. Straight away. She played them cleanly, moving her fingers with precision. No fret buzz, no damping of strings. Just perfection. Damien said, ‘I don’t know A sus4 and A sus2.’ Laura proudly smiled and looked at me keenly. I said to her, ‘Laura, when you get home, dad will ask you how to play these new chords’ She said, ‘shall I show him?’ I said, ‘not straight away. You say, “Dad, I’ll need to build my strength up to show you these chords. Maybe if I had some chocolate, I’ll have the stamina to show you”.’ She nodded sagely, a delighted gleam in her eye. Damien laughed and said, ‘Andy, my girls don’t need any lessons in manipulating me. They’re doing it fine by themselves.’
The word game Wordle went viral within weeks. Now two Dorset familieshave created Nerdle – a maths equivalent that’s destined for stardom, says Steve Keenan.
Richard Mann, from Iwerne Minster, who created Nerdle with his childhood friend Marcus Tettmar
A maths version of the hugely successful word game Wordle has been developed in the Blackmore Vale and is taking the education world by storm. Teachers, from primary schools to universities, are praising Nerdle, which gives users six tries to solve a mathematical equation. The daily numbers game only launched on January 20 but within five days was being played by 400 users per minute in 53 countries. And, as with Wordle, the game’s popularity has spread like wildfire, so much so that by Day 13 (Tuesday, Feb 1), it had 360,000 users worldwide. The response has been overwhelming for childhood friends and developers Marcus Tettmar and Richard Mann, who created Nerdle. Said Richard: “I was driving home with my daughter Imogen, 14, chatting about the Wordle craze and agreed there must be an equivalent for us maths fans. A few minutes later, we’d decided on the rules of the game and the name ‘Nerdle.’” Richard’s son Alex, an A-level maths student, got involved and the whole thing was put together “in a few hours” by Marcus, using open-source coding from a Wordle clone.
Note from Ed: this is my first ever attampt at a Nerdle. Wordle users will instantly grasp how to play, and also how much I whooped when I managed this. Definite fluke – but I’ll take it.
…and for younger maths fans
Marcus’s son helped check the coding and his primary school teacher sister advised. As a result, the team have also launched a mini Nerdle (six squares across, instead of eight) for younger children. Said Marcus, 50, who lives in Shroton (Iwerne Minster): “I guess we thought it was going to be educational. It came from a conversation with the kids, who were very much at the forefront of helping develop it.” The response from the educational world on Twitter has been huge: “Using Nerdle to reinforce our Algebra standards! We love math puzzles!” posted a primary school teacher in Maryland, USA. A lecturer at the University of South Australia added:
“It encourages you to use many different aspects of working and thinking mathematically.” And teacher Emma McCrea, author of Making every Maths Lesson count said: “Move over Worldle. It’s Nerdle time.”
As with Wordle, Nerdle was set up as free to use: Marcus also runs games and tax return software companies with an office base in Blandford. Wordle was sold recently to The New York Times but Marcus says he is not surprised.
“Not everyone wants to make things commercial but when things get popular, they become expensive to run. The bandwidth needed is huge. “We want to keep Nerdle non-commercial but when there comes a point when it’s getting too expensive, maybe we introduce a donation button. Something else we have talked about is donating money to a charity.
“We’ll see what happens. People are saying the game is addictive but right now, so is watching the site stats!”
Nocturin ‘Noc’ Lacey-Clarke, 35, is a Conservative councillor in Blandford. He is not your average tory councillor. He is different. And he is making a difference in the town.
Nocturin Lacey-Clarke chooses the eight pieces of music he could not live without.
Raised by a highly creative single mum (now a lead maths advisor for primary schools, but who as a young punk in London used to help Boy George and Adam Ant with their make-up), Noc says his upbringing was loving, but there was poverty. ‘People used to donate second hand clothes and toys to us,’ he says.
Raised in Tolpuddle, he was bullied at school. ‘I didn’t fit in,’ he explains, ‘I had Asperger’s Syndrome and was OCD. I could read, but writing was a challenge. It still is. And I didn’t like sport. My real friends were my mum’s university friends, not people my own age’.
Skilled at sciences he studied maths and psychology at Bournemouth & Poole College.
From drifter to politics
After college, Noc admits he became a drifter with no fixed ambition until, living in Blandford, he became disenchanted with certain decisions taken by some local councillors.
‘They said that if I thought I could do better, why don’t I stand for election. So I did in 2018. I won by three votes.’ Noc stood again at the last election, winning around 1,500 votes. His nearest competitor received around 750.
Keenly interested in helping people struggling with mental issues, Noc’s charity ‘New Opportunities for Community Support (NOCS)’ was made official three years ago, and today around 100 people of all ages receive help weekly from his premises in Blandford Forum.
‘We help people through the medium of gaming. We listen to their stories.’ NOCS is part funded by the shop, as well as The National Lottery and Children in Need.
Noc lives in Blandford with his wife, Charlotte. My eight music choices: ordered chronologically according to when and how they affected my life:
Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime
My mother introduced me at an early age to this US indie band and I fell in love with the absurdity of the lyrics, the artwork on the records and the amazing use of language. I’ve always enjoyed the idiosyncrasies of the English language.
Crash Test Dummies – God Shuffled his Feet
A whole album of what appears at first glance to be insightful quotes and parables but in reality led me to question a lot of ideas I had always taken for granted. How does a duck know which direction south is? And was that a parable or a very subtle joke I heard at church?
Korn – Follow The Leader
For a young teenager that was struggling with being bullied, not fitting in, and the general angst of being a teenager, this album put into words what I was feeling and gave me an outlet that was exciting and physical.
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasure
This is for those times in all our lives when we struggle with mental health – something that has played a huge part in my life. When the world seems broken and you just want to swim in oblivion for a while or curl up in a foetal ball in the corner of a room, what better music to do it to?
System of a Down – System of a Down You can’t keep a good man down for long. The band that truly made me fall in love with live concerts, with an energy I had never experienced before. System of a Down captured geo- political views and had an urge to change the world which led me through college where I learnt who I was, what was important to me, and where my place was in the world
The Eels – Beautiful Freak
Reaching my late teens and early twenties, I had calmed down, and so did my taste in music. Still obsessed with lyrics, The Eels merged the lines between depressive downbeat music and subtle optimism which really appealed to my love of everything paradoxical. To me, it reflects life’s natural juxtapositioning.
My Beloved Monster is a song from this album (later used in the Shrek movie sadly..) that summed up my relationship with my partner, Charlotte, of now 15 years.
We chose it as a reading at our wedding and so will forever hold a special place in my heart.
Lana Del Rey – Born to Die
By my late twenties and early thirties, having seen many different sides to the world, and experiencing the accompanying highs and lows, I really found my passion which was helping people.
This led to the creation of my community-based shop, charity and lastly election. Lana Del Rey is a mixture of hopeless love songs with darker undertones and the need to ask for help when we are at those low points. It resonated with both Charlotte and I as it points out the pain in the world but carries hope and dreams that can be attained if we work together.
Phil Spector – A Christmas Gift For You The one album that has truly been a part of my entire life. As a child every year at Christmas my mother would take this record out and play it as we decorated the house and had our first treats of the season.
Still to this day I kiss the same Father Christmas stocking and hang it on the window sill with the sounds of this record playing. I truly could not feel the Christmas spirit without it. Even on a desert island it would bring back all the warmth and memories of a full life filled with luck.
And if the waves were to wash all your records away but youhad time to save just one, which would it be? Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasure.
My book
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. It was one of the very first books I read independently. I knew the main character was Bilbo Baggins and wanted to find out about him
as my middle name is Bilbo – I needed to know why! It turns out my mother not only has a great taste in literature but also knew I was born to live an adventurous life!
Bilbo was always trepidatious about adventure and liked a structured, ordered life, but when push came to shove his bravery shone through – and he helped save the whole of Middle Earth.
Not a bad role model to aspire to!
My luxury item
Definitely my Lego Star Wars Death Star kit. This will provide me with hours of entertainment building it. I can fulfill part of my OCD nature organising the blocks and best of all, relive the greatest moments of the Star Wars saga.
