Terry chats with Kate Fry, a local wildlife photographer, about her letter from Sir David Attenborough. The Reverend Andrew Gubbins talks with Jenny about some of the challenges facing Dorset’s rural churches – and what he sees as possible answers to those challenges. And Terry has a fascinating and thought-provoking talk with Jez Hughes from the CPRE about what more genuinely-affordable housing in Dorset could look like.
On a recent school trip to a nature reserve, local schoolchildren were fascinated by a snake eating a frog while they were pond dipping. Terry talks to amateur wildlife photographer Kate Fry, who was accompanying the trip and managed to photographed the encounter. The children wrote to Sir David Attenborough to tell him about their experience and show him the pictures, and they were they were thilled when he replied with a handwritten letter, in which he congratulated Kate on her photographs.
Jenny talks with the Rev. Andrew Gibbons vicar of the Okefords benefice, who suggests shrinking congregations, financial challenges and cultural changes in the Church of England are all at the root of the problems facing so many rural churches: ‘Every year we ask “Are people content? Are people confident that the church still has an important place in their community?”
The need for the creation of truly affordable housing in rural communities has long been a topic for heated debate. Terry talks to Jez Hughes, vice chair of Dorset CPRE, about what that might look like for the county
“There are over 10,000 households looking for affordable housing in Dorset, and the council get around 500 requests a month asking for help in finding affordable housing for rent. So there’s a big need across the county. And it’s not just in the big towns, it’s in villages, in local communities. People who may have grown up here, who may want to work here, are finding themselves priced out of the ability to live here. And that’s the challenge we want to meet.”
