Some foraging is an easy win, says expert Carl Mintern, but remember not to ignore the weeds when you look for the strawberries and honey
As well as tasting delicious, honeysuckle is hugely valuable to wildlife, supporting several rare UK species. Butterflies such as the white admiral (which is in decline), rely specifically on honeysuckle, and it is also prized by bumblebees. Pollinating moths are attracted to the sweet scent of honeysuckle at night, when it is strongest; and birds, including thrushes, warblers and bullfinches, eat the berries when they ripen in late summer and autumn. Dormice rely on honeysuckle for both shelter and food – they use honeysuckle bark to build nests and eat the sweet, nectar-rich flowers.
June has arrived, with its long warm evenings and the most hours of daylight (is it too ambitious to say sunshine?) that we will see all year. If you have been waiting for an opportunity to do some evening hedgerow harvesting, then wait no longer.
Eat the weed! Let’s start by talking about ground elder (aegopodium podagraria ) which gets its name because its leaves resemble those of the elder tree (sambucus nigra). The tender leaves have been used in antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages as a spring vegetable, similar to spinach. It has many names which can tell us something of its traditional medicinal uses against rheumatism and gout (gout weed, goutwort) in the form of a poultice. Around the end of the first century, monks started to include it in their herb gardens so its presence around ecclesiastical buildings gave rise to other names – bishopweed and bishopwort. First introduced to the UK as a pot-herb by the Romans, it was cultivated as a valuable food plant. It soon spread, and the modern day gardener now spends fruitless hours attempting to get rid of it, considering it an invasive weed. With a similar flavour to parsley, you can eat the young leaves and shoots (before the leaves have unfolded) raw, or add to salads. Alternatively, you can cook young shoots the same way as you might spinach, by boiling, steaming or frying in butter. They can also be added to many dishes as you would parsley. Widespread and shade-loving, look for this plant under hedgerows, in woodlands – and in gardens! Look for oval, serrated leaves growing in threes, close to the ground on a stalk which is grooved.
Ground elder is a member of the carrot/parsley family (Umbelliferae), which also includes poisonous species such as hemlock, fool’s parsley, Satan’s parsley, giant hogweed, etc. In the UK, there is a very easy distinguishing test. Ground elder is the only one with a stem that is triangular in cross section.
Sweet honeysuckle Next I want to talk about honeysuckle (lonicera periclymenum). This beautifully scented plant can be found in woods and hedgerows throughout the summer. Just look along the tops of hedgerows while travelling through country lanes and you’ll often see the distinctive honeysuckle flowers. And it is these delicious blooms the forager seeks! These fragrant wildflowers can be used to infuse a sweet, honey flavour into a variety of drinks and foods. Only a few flowers are required to inject the taste of sunshine into water to make a refreshing drink, but they can also be used to enhance ice creams, jams and jellies. Or, like me, just eat them fresh in salads and as garnishes on any meal. Remember it’s the flowers we are looking to collect – the berries of some varieties can be quite toxic.
It takes dedicated picking to collect many tiny wild strawberries, but it is definitely worth the effort. They have an extremely intense, sweet flavour with a hint of vanilla, and the fruit is best eaten fresh on its own, perhaps served with Greek yoghurt, cream or ice cream. Preserve into jams, jellies and syrups or use in muesli and granola mixes.
Tiny wild strawberries Finally I wanted to mention wild strawberries (fragaria vesca) which can be found in woodlands and on shady ancient banks under hedgerows towards the end of spring and carry on throughout the summer. They are much smaller than the cultivated ones we see in the shops, but that makes the discovery of the miniature fruit all the more rewarding as they are often hiding in plain sight, using only their diminutive size and unassuming habit as cover. They frequently grow in small patches, and sprout tall-stemmed, small white flowers before they fruit with tiny, dense berries which burst with an intense flavour – they make up in taste what they lack in size. The fruits tend to start ripening from June onwards. So all that begs the question – what are you waiting for?
by Carl Mintern – See details and availability of Carl’s local foraging courses on his website SelfSufficientHub.com
Last month in the BV the North Dorset MP offered to answer an open postbag – and here he has answered all the letters that were sent.
Q. The UK government signed an international agreement in the Northern Ireland protocol. Are you happy that it would then break it – what would that say about the trustworthiness of the Johnson government? Christie Burton, Monkton Deverill
A. You may be aware that I chair the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee so I know this policy area pretty well. The UK’s reputation for upholding the Rule of Law is really important. I have made this clear in the Commons and directly to Ministers. We cannot and should not act unilaterally but through the dispute mechanisms of the Agreements. To do otherwise would send a devasting message to the rest of the world and would undermine our Rule of Law message to Putin.
Q. Why has Mr Hoare not publicly stated his confidence, or lack of, in the PM, and has he sent a letter to the 1922 committee? Chris (via Twitter) Blandford St Mary
A. I think my views are pretty well known on these matters. I expect more and better from the Government.
Q. I would like to ask Simon about the NHS dental services in this part of Dorset. When I moved to Dorset I waited a year on an NHS Dentist waiting list to get an appointment. My dentist is now retiring and I have to go back onto the list. With only three of 99 NHS dentists in Dorset taking patients, this is not going to happen soon. We now have a dental crisis in Dorset – this is nothing to do with Covid. ALL dentists say that the money they receive from the NHS makes it impossible to provide dental services in a financially viable way. The NHS has got to pay dentists sensible money – they have to be paid more and this has to happen now. In the meantime perhaps Simon can tell me what I am going to do? Alyson Parkes, Verwood
A. NHS dentistry is in national crisis I am afraid and I hear many such stories as Alyson’s in my inbox. Put simply we do not have enough trained dentists in the UK, so this puts pressure on the system both public and private. The Government is aware of the situation and trying to encourage more people to become dentists. It’s not so much about the money per se but rather a shortage of trained people.
Only three out of 99 dental practices in Dorset are accepting new adult NHS patients, a health watchdog reports. Healthwatch Dorset said its research, undertaken between September and November 2021, also found that only 12 were accepting new child NHS patients.
Q. With second-homing becoming such a major issue affecting not only house prices but also the social backbone of our village communities, can Mr Hoare share what steps can, should and will be taken to ensure more truly affordable housing in the countless new developments planned for Dorset – and also that this housing is kept for people who live and work locally? Our adult children are leaving, not by choice, but because there is simply nowhere for them to feasibly live. Angela Park, Blandford Forum
A. Angela raises an important point. Housebuilders want to build and deliver their product to market. There is a real issue of viability evaluation on development proposals, which I am discussing with the Housing Minister. Changes in viability can affect the per cent of affordable housing that is delivered. The housing list already has a local connection element to the assessment criteria, but this can always be strengthened. The key ambition, I would suggest, is to keep our villages and towns vital and viable.
Q. What is Mr Hoare going to do about illegal fox hunting, with the local hunts (Portman and Blackmore & Sparkford Vale) [potentially] endangering the public on footpaths, roads and railway lines? Lucas North, Buckhorn Weston
A. It is imperative that local hunts stay clearly within the law. It is imperative that we all stay within the law. As I always say when this issue is raised with me, if there are concerns or evidence of lawbreaking, inform the Police, record the evidence if you can and submit it.
Q. A fascinating addendum to Tales from the Vale in the May issue of the BV was a link to a House of Commons debate from March 1942, in which Major Lloyd George states: “we can call upon our people for any sacrifice, provided they have the knowledge that it is equitable”. It is a shame then that a fact which the Liberal Party understood 80 years ago is still not grasped by our current Conservative party. How does Mr Hoare justify the seeming culture of ‘one rule for them’ rife in Westminster, exemplified by Partygate? How does he explain this to those who missed their loved ones’ last days during Covid, and who were denied the comfort of a simple hug upon their death bed from similarly- grieving family, only to now see images of our political leaders thoroughly enjoying themselves at parties? Annabel Cores, Gillingham
A. Let me start by saying that my family and I, like countless others, took the Covid rules seriously. We stayed home. We saved lives. We protected the NHS. I called for Dominic Cummings to be sacked following his Durham ‘eye test’. I was ignored and the rest, as they say, is history. I cannot and will not defend the indefensible. Politics has been damaged by this shameful episode, compounding the feeling of ‘do as I say not as I do’. It is appalling. I am furious. There is no justification and I won’t use weasel words to mitigate that which cannot be mitigated against.
Q. Why does the Tory elite seem so set against home working? Proposals to expand flexible working were removed from last week’s Queen’s speech. Boris Johnson has decided that those who work from home are aimlessly drifting back and forth to the fridge. Rees-Mogg decided the best way to bully civil servants back into the office was to leave passive aggressive notes on their desks. It’s clear that flexible working is here to stay (the ONS predicts that 57 per cent of workers will work at least partly from home by this autumn, while two-thirds already work flexibly in some way), and those who resist are refusing to acknowledge the benefits and bound to be left behind. Just last month in the BV a local recruitment firm acknowledged flexible working was a must on an employer’s benefits list if they wished to recruit the best candidates. In a rural area like ours, the ability to work from home opens up opportunities previously unseen, and can drive real change in our local communities – what sucks the life from our area is young people moving away for better jobs. But would more choose to stay if remote working for at least part of the week let them tap into big-city opportunities without having to up sticks? More home working means less commuting (with its enormous knock-on environmental benefits), putting money back into hard-pressed pockets; it breathes life back into struggling local high streets too, drawing new people in. Brian Holmes, Shaftesbury
A. I agree with Brian. My party professes to believe in individual choice and discretion. If a boss and employee can come to a good working solution allowing flexible working, then let them get on with it. We have not rolled out broadband across the UK just to allow superfast gaming! It is also good for the environment, saving miles of car journeys, as well as being good for family life and the work/life balance. It also means we can employ good people who don’t live in the area but are happy to visit once a week or whatever. Home working is a dividend of the IT revolution. Let’s exploit it.
Jacob Rees-Mogg hit the headlines when he left this note for civil servants who weren’t at their desks
Q. It seems that the Conservatives have abandoned their pledge to reform the planning system, and I wonder if Mr Hoare can explain how they propose to improve the chance for young people to buy their own home? The last major house- building programme took place many decades ago and we just don’t have enough homes for everyone. I voted Conservative because they promised to rectify this. S Richards, Fifehead Neville
A. Another planning Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech. Let’s see where that takes us. I agree with the question that, if we are to have sustainable communities allowing inter-generational living, then we must have a wide range of home ‘products’ of wvarying types, price points and purchasing schemes to get our young on the housing ladder.
Q. How do we regain trust in our government when their lack of proximity to the truth undermines trust in all MPs and by doing so undermines democracy? Without truth there’s no trust and without trust, democracy flounders. Simon Hoare is a decent MP tainted by dishonourable colleagues. As a supplement, I would be interested to know which of the seven Nolan Principles Mr Hoare believes (and is able to confirm) Johnson adheres to: • selflessness • integrity • objectivity • accountability • openness • honesty • leadership Wendy Darvitt Chalke Valley
A. It is for any Government to earn trust, secure it and retain it. It is not automatic from the people, nor should it be. No party has a right to be in government. It is a sacred trust vested by the people and it can be taken away. I think the key task at hand is to veer away from easy populism and deal with grown-up politics in a grown-up way. The Nolan Principles are pivotal to our public life and tinkering with the Ministerial Code is inept politics. All I can say is that in the 19 years that I have been elected to office – 12 as a parish, district and county councillor and seven as an MP – I have tried to maintain the highest levels of public service and uphold the Nolan Principles. I think they are important as they are, in essence, the heart of our UK political system.
The household support package is a mere plaster on the UK’s cost of living says Labour’s Pat Osborne
Labour Pat Osborne
While Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a £37bn package of household support for rocketing energy bills gave the Tories some respite from Partygate this week, for many of those worst affected by the cost of living crisis, its impact will barely be felt at all. October’s grant will do very little to offer respite from hardship for many on pre-paid meters, let alone replace the meals and hot showers they’ve already missed. For others the grant will offset arrears that have accumulated, effectively rechannelling cash from a windfall tax on obscene super-profits straight back into the pockets of the oil barons and energy moguls. Sunak is right to point to the role of a range of global factors, such as the war in Ukraine, in pushing energy prices up. But the cost of living crisis isn’t just about energy – it’s wilfully disingenuous of a man with his economic background to sidestep the plethora of homegrown factors that are contributing to it.
No answers The package does nothing to address low pay, nothing to address the housing crisis and rising rents, nothing to insulate homes (which is the most cost- effective way of both keeping energy bills down and tackling the climate crisis), and nothing to reverse the damage of 12 years of Tory austerity on our decaying public services. Most importantly, it does nothing to tackle privatisation and the lust for excess profits that are the root of inflation. The Chancellor’s long-awaited answer to the cost of living crisis has been to put a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound. Like the rest of Johnson’s Government, he shows himself to be without either the imagination or integrity to act in the best interests of the country.
It’s tricky speaking truth to power. How can citizens who are increasingly concerned about the looming environmental crisis persuade government and industry decision-makers to take the necessary actions to avert disaster? The challenge was highlighted at a protest outside Dorset Council’s offices on 12th May, seeking to raise awareness of the council’s failure to take adequate action since it had declared a climate and ecological emergency three years ago ago at its first AGM as a unitary authority. None of the protesters were there for personal gain. They were acting on behalf of all of us. To their credit, some councillors engaged with them as they arrived for the meeting. Notably only a couple of younger Conservatives did so. The protest was entirely peaceful, albeit theatrical and lively when a drum band struck up. There were various speeches, but they were not heard inside the building. A Conservative councillor in the meeting was reported to have described the protesters as a ‘rabble’ and said she was ‘disgusted’ by them. Decades of increasingly desperate warnings by scientists have failed to generate the required urgent action. Public protests have so far simply drawn increasingly harsh repressive measures by the Government. There is some hope, with polls indicating that most people are now increasingly concerned about the environment, and growing numbers within industry are too. A safety consultant recently left her job with Shell, sending an open letter to its executives and 1,400 employees saying the firm was knowingly causing extreme harm to planet and people. Attitudes to the environmental crisis are too often split between the so-called political Left and Right. This is disastrous. Global warming will impact us all, regardless of our political affiliation. We have to find a way to work together for the common good. Our common future depends on it.
Cerne Abbas village has been opening some of its private gardens since 1974 and this year they are delighted to return to their traditional June weekend when the roses should be at their best.
The village event will be on the weekend of the 18th and 19th June, and it is expected that more than 25 gardens will be open, all within easy walking distance of the free car park (open from 1pm-8pm). All garden hosts make a special point of being available to talk about their gardens and their homes. The proceeds will be split equally between two local charities, Cerne Valley Youth Trust, and Dorchester Youth Theatre. A few gardens can accommodate wheelchairs, and most gardens welcome well-behaved dogs on leads – these will be identified on the maps which may be downloaded from the website one week in advance of the date (www.cerneabbasopengardens.org.uk). Teas will be available in St Mary’s church, and the renowned plant stall will be back in the village square. The villagers very much look forward to you visiting.
Cerne Abbas Open Gardenms weekend is Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th June. Gardens are open from 2pm to 6pm. Entry to all gardens £7, (accompanied children free).
The world needs grown-up democracies more than ever, says North Dorset Lib Dems’ Mike Chapman – but ours is currently looked at with raised eyebrows
Mike Chapman Lib Dems
First and foremost, 70 years of duty delivered faultlessly by our Queen is the most potent message this nation can send to the rest of the world. The strong, integrating and positive voice of the Commonwealth, built during her reign, is the most extraordinary achievement, too. A heartfelt thank you to Her Majesty from here in the Vale. But why does the quality of the political leadership of this nation matter so much to us in the South West? Why should the probity of those at the top, elected and unelected alike, be so important? With the US schizophrenic about guns and equally divided about so much else, with Russia being taken to hell in a handcart and China continuing to demonstrate the viciousness of its regime, the steady voice of the more grown-up democracies needs to be heard. Thus, Partygate, the continuing spat with the EU about Northern Ireland and the rest of the Brexit mess are doubly disastrous: our nation is not focused on the more important issues and the rest of the world is dealing with us with raised eyebrows and the long spoon of distrust.
Fool all the people The electorate is increasingly savvy. Those one-liners from the 1950s on, from “you have never had it so good” to “take back control” no longer resonate the way they used to. Lincoln had it right about the limitations of trying to fool the people. We know we have been taken for a ride. The heart of this for the Vale is the notion of levelling up, currently being served up by those we have seen at the centre of the Partygate revelries. The haughtiness, the we-know-best approach of those in the various coteries at the centre can be seen in the pictures, read in the texts and felt in the denials and excuses. It is this centralised and centralising monoculture that needs fixing. Otherwise, we are no better than those tyrannies we seek to defeat. Through elections near at hand and in the longer term, we will find the way. Early May saw the start of change.
Post 1: Hours: 20 – 8.30am -12.30pm Monday – Friday, Term time plus 1 week for inset (training) days.
Post2: 16 hours – 11.15am – 3.15pm Monday – Thursday, Term time plus 1 week for inset (training) days.
This is an exciting opportunity to join the strong team at Milborne Port Primary School and shape the future of our early years provision.
The school governors are looking to appoint two qualified (Level 2 or 3) Pre-School Practitioners at The Beeches Pre-School from September 2022.
We are looking for individuals who are enthusiastic about early learning, committed to providing the best start for children in the early years, and who have a desire to continually learn and develop.
Please contact the School Business Manager Claire Brown on: [email protected] for an application form and job description.
Closing date: Friday 24th June 2022
Interviews: Tuesday 28th June at 9.30am
All completed applications should be returned to the school email address above.
Milborne Port Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share in this commitment.
This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check and medical clearance.
Tom Robinson, songwriter and broadcaster, will be at The Exchange later this month. Editor Laura Hitchcock spoke to him about his 50-year career as a musician, as a broadcaster and as an activist.
It was 1977 when 2-4-6-8 Motorway became one of the landmark singles of the UK punk era. Other hits by the Tom Robinson Band included Glad to be Gay, Up Against the Wall and Power in the Darkness, which went gold in the UK. As a solo artist, he had further hits with War Baby and Listen to the Radio and co-wrote songs with Peter Gabriel and Elton John. As a radio broadcaster Tom has been introducing new artists to the UK audience for the past two decades, sharing them on his Sunday night Introducing Mixtape show. I asked Tom whether his heart lies in touring or in his radio show. “The radio show was a godsend when it came along in my early 50s. I’d been a working musician for the best part of 40 years, and it was getting tiring! So the radio show was just at the right time and ensured I knew where the next crust was coming from – that I slept in my own bed and actually saw my kids grow up. But then it’s been really nice coming back out of retirement and strutting the boards again. Really I get the best of both worlds.”
Small but perfectly formed So why now think: “hmmm, as I reach 70, now is a great time to head back out and work long hours for weeks in a row”? “Ha! Gratification! People still remember the songs that I wrote all those years ago, and an astonishing number of them know the ones I wrote more recently. There’s a small but perfectly formed audience, and it’s enough to fill a venue. “At 72, still to be able to strap on a Fender bass guitar and throw shapes on a stage, pose in the lights and play with some great musicians? Why wouldn’t I? “I get to play with top-level musicians who are 20 years younger than me, and it keeps me on my toes. We do it because we love it. And when people sing along to what you’ve written, 40 years later, it’s definitely something.” And does he mind the repeated requests for 2-4-6-8 Motorway? “Oh, no, au contraire! If it wasn’t for that song I wouldn’t be talking to you now! The great advantage of only having half a dozen songs that everybody knows is that there’s plenty of scope in a show to play loads of other stuff – I just don’t have the enormous back catalogue of hits like Elvis Costello and other contemporaries of mine. So we can play all the favourites, and everybody’s happy, but I have latitude to do some interesting new stuff too.”
Introducing Mixtape And alongside the music, Tom’s career has really moulded around introducing new artists? “Absolutely! Actually I’ve had a great time on this tour asking my favourites to be my guests and open the shows. A lot are completely under the radar artists. It means I get to see them play live and they get to play to an audience that doesn’t know their work. My favourite on the last tour was a 14 year old from East Sussex. She first sent me a record at the age of 11 that she’d made at home with her dad. It was stunningly good. Really radical and spiky. When we played Brighton I asked if she fancied playing a few songs, and it turned out she’d never played live for an audience before. Her very first gig was opening for us at the age of 14 in Brighton! “And she was brilliant – the audience went crazy. Talent is talent, it doesn’t matter how old or young. She’s probably the youngest I’ve ever played on the show, and the oldest was Peggy Seeger, who sent a new song to BBC Introducing, as if she were a new unknown artist – at the age of 86. And it was brilliant! All that matters is what comes out of the speakers.”
A modern industry I’m presuming the entire industry has flipped on its head since Tom started, compared with how people access music now? “The key word there is industry. We always thought of ‘music’ and ‘the industry’ as synonymous. But the older I get the more I see that the industry exists simply to extract money between the creator and consumer. That’s why we have record companies, publishers, managers, touring companies, rehearsal space managers … endless people all creaming off their five per cent. “It is interesting that creators are now bypassing all that and going direct to the consumers. I see folk bands with a mailing list of a couple of thousand followers, and they’re making a great living off that – because no one else is taking overheads. So if someone is willing to spend £100 a year on tickets, an album, a tee and what-have-you? Multiply that by a thousand, and that’s giving up the day job and making music full time. On a very small audience. You no longer have to have a big industry behind you, to be on Radio 1 and play Glastonbury with an audience that loves what you do. ‘Unsigned’ used to be a demeaning term. But there’s no shame at all in being unsigned – now we call them independent artists, and they just don’t wait for permission to be musicians anymore.
Tom the activist So – campaigner or musician, which is your legacy? “I never got into music to politically campaign for LGBT rights or racial equality. I was just keen to use any platform I had. It has to be music first and foremost. Because unless you’re making music people love, no one gives a toss about your political views or campaigns. Nobody buys your records because they agree with your politics. Glad to be Gay didn’t change attitudes, it was the audiences that used to sing it together that went home and talked and argued with friends and family that did that. I don’t believe music has the power to change minds – I don’t think a single National Front skinhead showed up at one of our shows and said ‘Oh, I’m so stupid, I’ve seen the error of my ways’. But sharing the music with a big crowd does reinforce a message in a mind that is ready for it.”
Tom Robinson is appearing at the Exchange in Sturminster Newton on 24th June, a full band show ahead of their Glastonbury set next day Tickets are £22 here.
Luke Rake is Principal and CEO of Kingston Maurward College near Dorchester and chairs the Dorset Local Nature Partnership.
Luke Rake Principal and CEO of Kingston Maurward College
Born in Devon, Luke grew up on the edge of Dartmoor and has always been an outdoors fanatic, as well as a self- confessed geek. “I’m a classic example of the free school meals kid whose life was changed by education, supportive welfare from a number of sources and some cracking parenting. After my parents split we were shunted around by the council for a little while, including to a bedsit and a caravan, until we got lucky and landed a council house when I was 11. There are no musicians in my family, but the radio was always on and my pop quiz abilities are largely down to a young mother who didn’t migrate to Radio 2 until well after I left home. Like every sane person, I consider 1984 to be the greatest year of music in history. At sixth form I started to learn the guitar and have been obsessed with it ever since, so I’ll admit this list is heavily influenced by that!”
And so to Luke’s eight music choices, in chronological order of influence:
Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie I remember bouncing around to this in the car as we drove to and from my Dad’s greengrocer’s shop when we lived in East Devon. Literally bouncing. I don’t think we used seatbelts back then. It’s a fabulous song with huge energy and defines the late 70’s for me.
Hallowed be thy Name – Iron Maiden This band was hugely formative for me and their albums were some of the first I bought with earnings from my Saturday job. It’s also current – outside work I swap the tweed for a cut-off jacket as I’m one of two guitarists in an Iron Maiden Tribute Band. COVID has got in the way for every venue and it’s important to get this back and support live music. We’re gigging all over the country, headlining a couple of festivals over the next 12 months and love what we do. When this one kicks in, the crowd goes nuts every single time. It’s just a blast to play with the guys.
By day, he’s a mild-mannered college principal. By night, he‘s a rock-playing guitar man with torn-off sleeves
Time Stand Still – Rush Probably the closest thing they did to a pop song, this late 80s tune always makes me smile and has been a fixture in most of the driving mix-tapes (and modern equivalents) ever since. Great band, great musicans.
Dreams – Van Halen It’s pure cheese, but it’s also brilliant. We could have an endless debate over the David Lee Roth vs Sammy Hagar era, but Eddie was just such an inspiration to a young guitarist and this song is also the soundtrack to driving over Dartmoor. In the upper sixth our timetable on a Thursday had just one lesson first thing and then we were free to do … whatever. We used our ‘study time’ most productively, and were usually on the moor or at a beach by lunchtime. Van Halen was the soundtrack to every sunny day.
Day We Caught the Train – Ocean Colour Scene Although I grew up in Devon, I didn’t really regularly visit Dorset until the 90s, after I got my first car. I was doing a lot of rock climbing and frequently spent Friday nights zooming down here to camp at Tom’s Field in Purbeck, or a cheeky bivi site on Portland, and get to the pub before they rang for last orders. This tune is iconic for the 90s and was frequently playing as we left for the coast. It’s no wonder we ended up living here really – my wife and I got engaged after a particularly romantic weekend around Dancing Ledge, and even named our first cats after places in Dorset!
Famous Last Words – My Chemical Romance It’s not a phase. It’s a way of life. I was never really into grunge, but emo, definitely. Welcome to the Black Parade is the defining album of the genre and this song is just immense. We saw them in Cardiff 15 years ago, leaving behind a baby and a toddler in the care of the babysitter, and they blew our minds. This May all four of us were at Cardiff for their return, although I was more than happy to let the younger pair go into the mosh pit this time while I held the drinks and merch …
Garden Valley – Cara Dillon I love folk as much as I love metal. This is a Dougie Maclean song about emigration from the east of Scotland, and this rendering by Cara is just sublime. She has the most incredible voice, truly astonishing. The storytelling of the lyrics combined with the way it’s delivered always make me cry.
Waving through a Window Dear – Evan Hansen I love musical theatre. Music is, or should be, about emotion. Anyone who has felt ‘on the outside’ will resonate with this. I was someone who was definitely the Dungeons and Dragons science geek at school, and that, along with dealing with the challenges never having enough money at home brings when you see your friends do things you simply can’t, meant I always felt somewhat separate. Being pretty introverted also probably added to the mix. It’s a powerful message – Evan has his own issues, but we’re all on the outside at one time or another. It’s important to just be happy with you, whatever that is.
And if the waves were to wash all your records away but you had time to save just one, which would it be? Dreams. It has to be.
My book – Danny, the Champion of the World. Such a comforting read, as well as beautiful imagery. Loved this as a kid, and was then lucky enough to live in the Chilterns in my late 20s and early 30s, not far from Roald Dahl’s home. It is exactly as you’d expect it to be, and I used to drive along the same road as Danny did (when he ‘borrowed’ the Baby Austin) every day to work. Fabulous.
My luxury item Well, a guitar obviously. Along with a Marshall DSL Head and 4×12 cab please. And maybe a full pedalboard of FX. (I think you’ll find that’s cheating, and more than ONE THING – Ed)
