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Graveyards: an excuse for weeds or a space that nature needs?

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Editorial team
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Rachael Rowe investigates how Dorset’s living legacy of churchyards blend history, wildlife conservation and community care

Okeford Fitzpaine churchyard. Image: Rachael Rowe

There was a time when most people were buried in their local churchyard, with entire generations resting together. Today, 70 per cent of people are cremated, and with pressure on land supply, what is the future for traditional graveyards? Who maintains them and how are the currently-popular rewilding projects managed?

History in graveyards
Cemeteries are steeped in history, and many of Dorset’s churchyards provide the last resting place for notable people, containing a wealth of information for genealogists. Benjamin Jesty, the farmer associated with experiments into immunity from cowpox is buried in Worth Matravers, while the notorious smuggler Roger Ridout rests in comfortable peace in Okeford Fitzpaine.
The Blackmore Vale is also home to many meticulously maintained Commonwealth War Graves: there are 87 in Blandford Forum, including nine German graves from World War Two. Several Anzac graves in Fovant and Heytesbury are the tragic consequence of the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed troops as they waited to go back to Australia and New Zealand. Churchyards are often home to ancient trees, especially yews, like the 4,000 year old yew at St John’s Church in Tisbury.

Traditional scythes are used by the Living Churchyard project volunteers tomanage areas of long grass.Image: Anna Aubrey

Who is responsible?
Municipal cemeteries are the responsibility of town and city councils. Natural burial grounds are maintained by the trusts operating them. Any graveyard within church grounds comes under the jurisdiction of the local parochial church council. However, if a church closes, the responsibility for the churchyard maintenance usually reverts to a local or parish council. Today, many churchyards in Dorset today are maintained by teams of volunteers. While burials decline and opportunities to create wildlife habitats may increase, can these sacred environments be maintained without looking unkempt?

Living churchyards
The enthusiasm bubbles from Anna Aubrey as she outlines the Living Churchyard Project run by Dorset Wildlife Trust. Currently, the people responsible for 150 churchyards receive advice from Anna, the volunteer co-ordinator.
‘There is no need for churchyards to be messy,’ she says. ‘It has been tricky this year because of the weather, but there are ways of doing it. We recommend churches have three lengths of grass: always keep the front of the churchyard short, it needs cutting weekly or fortnightly. Long grass is difficult to maintain, so is best kept to a minimum and cut twice a year.
‘Churchyards are areas of unimproved grasslands. The soil has not been disturbed for centuries and we don’t have places like that any more. When they are managed properly they hold a seed bank – wildflowers grow all over the place! They are a huge asset to nature and make wonderful wildlife corridors. They are a space that nature needs.’
Anna also advises churchyard volunteers to create compost heaps and wood piles as they attract all manner of insects and reptiles such as toads and slow worms. If they are kept at the back of the church they are unlikely to look unsightly and will remain undisturbed.
Some of the cemeteries involved in the Living Churchyard project have begun attracting a proliferation of wildlife. Helen Kemm leads the team of volunteers at St Mary’s Church in Piddlehinton, who held a bat evening for the local community so they could learn about their churchyard residents.
‘I’ve been doing it for two years now,’ she says. ‘I was asked by the PCC to lead on the Living Churchyard project when I attended a clear-up event: I have a background in the environment, so it suited me. I had just moved in to the village and it was a good way to get to know people.
‘We have had lots of events. We held a maker day when we made different kinds of bird boxes and another one for swift boxes. Around 25 people turned up! We have also made a hedgehog house and bug hotel. Then we had a moth mapping event, where we spotted 70 species in our churchyard. We also listened for the dawn chorus at 6am..
‘We did have issues with long grass in the churchyard, which got a few complaints, but the PCC has a regular mowing scheme now.
‘When we asked for help to clear things, the entire village turned up! We have a regular autumn clear-up day to get rid of brambles and ivy etc. We also link up with other groups such as butterfly conservation and Dorset Bat Group. It’s too early to say whether we have made a difference, as the project has only been going for two years – and of course this year all the numbers of insects were down, but I do keep records.’

Village communities come together for annual clean-up events at their churchyards
Image: Anna Aubrey

Natural burials
Many people are now opting for natural (or green) burials where the body is literally returned to nature in a woodland or designated field. Loved ones can plant a tree above the burial plot, and plaques replace traditional headstones. These areas tend to be peaceful places where nature flourishes and there is little need for a carefully manicured churchyard, although paths and access points are maintained.

Churchyard wildflower meadow in summer
Image: Anna Aubrey

Excuse or opportunity?
In a world where the natural environment is increasingly fragile, there is an opportunity to use existing cemeteries and churchyards to support wildlife. However, volunteers are always in demand to maintain these areas, which must be accessible for the bereaved as well as attractive to the natural world.

the Living Churchyard Project, including volunteering, see the Dorset Wildlife Trust website

A whirlwind tour of all that’s coming up in Sturminster Newton this month

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Editorial team
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Pauline Batstone shares her monthly round up of what’s happening among the town’s collection of community enterprises and events

Make Stur Sparkle 2024

Thank you to all those who worked so hard to make Stur Sparkle this Christmas, despite three major storms. The two before Christmas blowing the lights off the little street trees (and blowing down some of the trees themselves), and then the storm which blighted the New Years Day Classic Car event (but still more than £2,000 was raised for the Air Ambulance).
Thank you to the Town Council grounds team for all their input, to the Fire Brigade, and to Lee, our 1855 blacksmith, who got the trees and lights back up for the second time.
A special thank you to Father Christmas for coming to meet our children and their families ahead of Christmas Eve at this busy time for him.
And none of it would have happened without the work of our events coordinator Jacqui Wragg, our shops manager Cheryl Basten, their colleagues and volunteers, and the generous support of our sponsors, businesses and SturAction customers who pay for it all.

The next event in Stur’s busy calendar is the Wedding Festival. The Wedding Fair will be held at The Exchange on Saturday 25th January.
It’s set to be the best wedding fair yet, with more than 60 exhibitors, live music and entertainment and two catwalk shows featuring 15 brides, grooms and flower girls. There’ll be lots of offers for bride and grooms, of course, and food available in the café by Black Cat Catering. And the fair wouldn’t be complete without the wonderful wedding dress display in the church – see 21 dresses from the last 100 years, displayed with the wedding pictures of them being worn and the romantic story of the couple. Don’t miss it at St. Mary’s Church on Friday 24th and 25th Jan.
The wedding fair is FREE entry and runs from 10am to 3pm. Car parking in the town will also be free.

Business Awards are open
It’s back to work for some of us and just checking the entries/nominations we’ve had so far – big thanks to everyone that’s taken the time to enter again this year.
If you haven’t yet, remember the way it works – you enter your own business (or where you work) and anyone can nominate a business they love. If you’re a local resident and there’s one you think deserves an award please do put them forward – they could be our winner!
All the details are on the website and that’s where you enter – marketingwest.co.uk/sturminster-business-awards

Lastly, we’d like to thank the teams at both Charterhouse Auctioneers and to Horrocks & Webb for all the support and advice they give to us at The Emporium, enabling us to get the best value from the collectable donations we receive.

We’d love to see your dress!

We have held an exhibition of wedding dresses at St Mary’s Church in Sturminster Newton for the past two years in conjunction with the Wedding Fair in the town, and we are now looking for wedding dresses to display in the 2025 exhibition. Would you like to share your wedding story? Whether recent or from years in the past, every wedding has a story, and we display your stories with the dresses together with any memorabilia and accessories (photos, shoes, veils) that help recreate the memory of the day. We have been able to include family wedding dresses worn across the generations, wartime and vintage dresses, new dresses and some of different colours. Each has its own unique tale to tell – details of the dress, why it was chosen, or perhaps an unexpected happening on the wedding day. There will be bridal flower arrangements and wedding hats on display in the church too, all of which create a beautiful celebratory atmosphere.
If you or your family have a cherished wedding dress, old or new, simple or elaborate, that you are happy to lend to us for the 2025 display, we would love to hear from you:
Please email rm.damerell@gmail.com
We welcome everyone to come and see the display (free admission) at St Mary’s Church on 24th and 25th January.

Dorset’s master of strings

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Editorial team
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Dorset luthier Jeremy Walsh on listening to the wood, a double bass jigsaw, holding a $15m Stradivarius and Friday night rave music

Jeremy Walsh in the door of his studio

In his self-built workshop at the end of his cottage garden, Jeremy Walsh dexterously taps his fingers over the belly of a violin he is making. ‘Audi lignum’ he tells me. ‘Listen to the wood. That’s my motto.’
It’s about a month’s work to handcraft this beautiful instrument from spruce and maple, using patterns developed by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù (1698-1744) – the famous Italian violinmaker, whom Jeremy hails as a genius.

Inside violin maker Jeremy Walsh’s Dorset studio
All images: Courtenay Hitchcock

Specialist tiny curved planes, gouges, violinmaker scrapers and even horse tail are all used in the exquisite carving. Mares’ tail (equisetum), one of the oldest plants in existence, has been used by violin makers since before Stradivari’s time – it is a perfect finishing abrasive on the wood before it is varnished.
Once the external shape is perfected, Jeremy cuts the F holes and fixes the base bar, all the while listening and tuning the wood.
‘Every piece of wood is different, and must be treated as an individual,’ he explains. Making the scrolls (the decoratively carved beginning of the neck)is his favourite part. ‘I was taught that these are the external signature for the internal verity of your work. If you see a well carved scroll, you can be confident you’ve got a good instrument.’

‘These chaps spent all day with beautiful instruments, whittling bits of wood and listening to Radio 3. I thought that would be a perfect use for a politics degree!’


A luthier (someone who builds or repairs stringed instruments)in Dorset for more than thirty years, Jeremy relies on word of mouth for his private commissions, selling to music shops and repairing and restoring instruments for musicians across the country. ‘You can advertise all you like, but it’s what people say about you that counts – and that’s a lovely thing.’
One of his most demanding projects was piecing back together a double bass. ‘A musician had found it in an old ballroom. It was in so many pieces he delivered it to me in a tea chest. It was like a huge jigsaw and I had to make all the missing parts. I loved it!’

All images: Courtenay Hitchcock


Jeremy recalls his childhood bedroom filled with Airfix planes hanging from the ceiling. ‘I was always doing something creative – building, or taking things apart.’
It was while studying for a degree in politics in Lancaster in the 1970s that he got into playing double bass – ‘very badly!’ – in jazz bands and scratch orchestras.
‘Double basses just come apart for a hobby. The wood moves constantly in humidity, and you’re always banging them into things as they’re such cumbersome instruments.

Making the scrolls (the decoratively carved beginning of the neck) is Jeremy’s favourite part. ‘These are the external signature of your work. If you see a well carved scroll, you can be confident you’ve got a good instrument.’

Consequently, I spent a lot of time going to see repairers to get mine put back together and stop it “buzzing”. These chaps spent all day with beautiful instruments, whittling bits of wood and listening to Radio 3. I thought that would be a perfect use for a politics degree!’
Jeremy moved to Bristol and persuaded expert luthier Rod Ward to teach him the craft. ‘Rod must be in his eighties now, and he’s still making. He’s an exacting craftsman and continually finding ways to improve his instruments. He’s an inspiration and a hoot! At lunchtimes, we’d nip to live Radio 3 concerts at St Georges Church on Brandon Hill.
‘Afterwards, we’d nab the musicians and scrutinise the string quartet’s instruments.
We’d also go to Sotheby’s and Christie’s when they were auctioning Stradivarius’. It was a fantastic education. The auctioneers allowed us into their inner sanctum and let us loose on grand master instruments that ended up being played by famous soloists like Nigel Kennedy. I’ve got photos of myself holding an instrument that was offered at 15 million dollars. I could have easily dropped it … and Rod played folk tunes on it!’

All images: Courtenay Hitchcock


Jeremy’s life choice has certainly hit the right note. ‘Most people thought I was mad to take this up for a living. But I’ve never had any sort of plan or career aims. I just know I would’ve died long ago if I’d had to sit in an office every day. I just like making things, and I love that I am still learning my craft. And listening to Radio 3 … except for Friday nights, when I listen to rave music on Six Music. It’s great, a noisy accompaniment to carving!’

Jeremy can be contacted on
jeremywalsh@btinternet.com or 07929 597207

Jeremy’s quick fire questions:

Dinner party A-list?
Cooking for my wife, three kids and old friends who make me laugh. I’d love to host author Terry Castle, avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson, historian Dame Marina Warner, classicist Mary Beard and author Margaret Attwood. Eavesdropping on the conversation of these sassy, intelligent and incredible women and basking in their brilliance would be a complete hoot.

Book on your bedside table?
Nearly always travel and history books – Greece, Rome, the Middle East … ‘Geometry, Proportion, and the Art of Lutherie’ by Kevin Coates is a book that ticks all my boxes.

Best violinists?
Viktoria Mullova and Jascha Heifetz

Best violin music?
Bach – his violin concertos and especially his sonatas are utter bliss.

Championing rural Britain

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Editorial team
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The BV takes a look inside the Countryside Alliance’s fight to protect rural traditions and livelihoods and to drive sustainable countryside policies

A brown working cocker spaniel standing among the pink bell heather on heathland, Surrey, England – shutterstock

Many people have heard of the Countryside Alliance, but how much do you really know about the work they do? From championing rural communities to protecting country traditions, the charity plays a key role in shaping countryside policies and debates. The BV magazine sat down with the Countryside Alliance to learn more about their work and the challenges they tackle.

What is the Countryside Alliance?
It’s a leading membership organisation which aims to promote and protect the rural way of life. Our work spans rural advocacy, wildlife conservation, field sports and supporting the rural economy. We are a voice for the countryside, ensuring that government, media and the wider general public understand the value and importance of rural life.

What type of issues does the Countryside Alliance campaign for?
Quite simply, we campaign on issues that matter to those who live and work in the countryside. We work to publicise the economic, social and environmental contribution that activities like hunting, shooting and the countryside as a whole make to the national economy and quality of life. From digital connectivity and supporting local businesses to educating on rural crime and advocating for farmers up and down the country, our campaigns are constantly evolving.

How did the Countryside Alliance influence policy, defend rural traditions, and amplify rural voices in 2024?
During the general election campaign our supporters sent more than 50,000 emails to candidates, championing the rural way of life. We launched our own manifesto for the countryside – the Rural Charter – and held events at all the major party conferences throughout the year to influence the policy of all parties.
Through a Campaign for Hunting initiative, more than 10,500 supporters lobbied Steve Reed (now Labour Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) following his pre-election announcement that Labour would ban trail hunting. Our Action for Hunting communications regularly engage with more than 17,000 people, and we held ten regional briefings on the future of hunting last summer.
Lastly, we launched the ‘Value of Shooting’ report in 2024. The Campaign for Shooting showed that shooting contributes £3.3bn to the UK economy annually, and supports the equivalent of 67,000 full-time jobs. With more than 14,000 people actively engaged with our work on shooting we have challenged the RSPB on their bird crime figures and have continued to stand up for the shooting community when it faces hostile attacks.

image courtesy of Shutterstock

And exactly how does the Countryside Alliance support the farming community?
We have been at the forefront of opposing the proposed “family farm tax”, launching the Fight the Farm Tax campaign which has mobilised farmers and the public against the tax, engaging with the media to articulate the concerns of farmers and rural communities. The Alliance has also supported local government opposition to the proposed tax changes, reflecting a growing town hall rebellion.

In what way does the Countryside Alliance support rural businesses?
Affectionately known as the Rural Oscars, the Countryside Alliance Awards provide recognition and visibility for the countryside while celebrating rural businesses and communities. More than 1,000 rural businesses are nominated each year, and over 40,000 people vote to support their favourite rural businesses.
This ensures both regional and national recognition of smaller rural businesses which might often go unnoticed. Many winners report significant boosts in recognition and revenue, with some expanding their operations after receiving the Award.

How does the Countryside Alliance protect lawful hunting activities and shooting?
Our aim is to achieve a better understanding and acceptance of lawful hunting and shooting activities, protecting them from bias, misinformation and over-regulation to ensure they have a long-term and sustainable future. Through consultations, meetings and events with politicians, policymakers and civil servants, we promote real rural issues in Westminster and across the devolved administrations to ensure that law and policy support the needs of those whose lives it directly affects.

countryside-alliance.org

Come racing at Badbury Rings!

The ever-popular Countryside Alliance point-to-point returns to Badbury Rings on Sunday 23 February, with tickets available to buy online.
Gates open at 10am, with the first race starting at 12 noon.
So that provides ample time for racegoers to arrive early, explore the shopping stalls, enjoy the entertainment …and maybe even place a bet with the bookmakers before the first race!
pointtopoint.co.uk

The value of local knowledge and intelligence

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Editorial team
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The Dorset Insider, a new sporadic column dedicated to shedding light on local matters with unfiltered honesty and a critical eye. The author – a local parish councillor – will remain anonymous for the sake of candid discourse, but readers can rest assured that their identity is known and trusted by the editorial team. This anonymity allows the columnist to speak openly, challenging the status quo and addressing issues that matter most to our community.

The first the neighbours knew of a planning application next to their home was a notice the day before the consultation deadline. Yes – the day before.
Dorset Council has now devolved responsibility for posting planning notices to the developer, as they no longer have the capacity to place them on sites. It’s quite possible that developers, as busy people, also don’t have time to put sign up – or they simply forgot. That’s only human, we all forget things.
Or maybe it was simply that the wind blew the sign away. These neighbours did eventually find out in the nick of time. But imagine losing the ability to comment on a planning application at all.

Nimby or experience?
Just before Christmas, when people already had their minds focused on the festive season, the Government released two very important papers on devolution and planning.
Launched to a fanfare of “War on the Nimby,” politicians promised that the currently bulging planning bureaucracy would be overcome by making the process easier. Indeed, there have already been incidences where the deputy Prime Minister has waded in to long-standing disputes across the country to sort out the so-called blockages to development.
So what exactly is a Nimby? From reading the new diktat on planning, right now anyone who complains about large developments seems to acquire the title. However, the acronym for Not in My Backyard first appeared in 1979, and was used to describe people who complain about developments or unpleasant projects in their area, such as a new waste incinerator.
The concept dates back a lot earlier, of course: back in 1721 the good people of Smithfield in London objected to the stench of women being burned at the stake (note that the barbaric punishment itself wasn’t the issue) and got the execution site moved to Tyburn.

Who is heard
As a councillor, I’m approached all the time by people with concerns about the loss of good agricultural land and the threat of turning villages into featureless commuter transit centres – or, worse still, merging two villages into one as a consequence of the continual creep of new housing onto farmland. While it’s inevitable that every town and village has at least one person who believes everything should remain as it was in the 1950s, the vast majority of those raising issues have constructive feedback and significant, very reasonable concerns.
I’ve learned a great deal from people who have worked the land all their lives – those with deep, practical knowledge of drainage and ditches. What they have to say about the impact of building developments is highly relevant, especially given the rising groundwater on roads in North Dorset.Then there are the growing concerns about road safety, with larger vehicles speeding down narrow roads that lack pavements – basic, valid worries. When local families face the realities of Dorset’s ‘dental desert’ or juggle school runs to three different schools due to limited places, they are rightly questioning the strain on infrastructure. And you only need to visit an A&E department in January to see the effects of failing to expand local infrastructure alongside housing development. These are all urgent, well-founded concerns – yet time and again, they’re kicked into the long grass by successive governments. When planning decisions are made, a very defined process is followed to ensure that the applicant gets a fair hearing and the right to appeal where necessary. So when I see politicians wading into the planning process, or ‘bureaucracy’ being removed, it begs the question who exactly makes the decision on large developments, and on what criteria?
Of course, streamlining the endless red tape is badly needed. But so are the opinions and the engagement of the community around new developments. When we deny the voices of the local people, we are firstly losing out on important perspectives and knowledge, but more importantly, the right to speak freely without being labelled as a stereotype.

A mayor for Wessex?
When the new strategic councils are formed and decisions are taken at a wider regional level, I wonder how any deep understanding of local knowledge can possibly be heard and taken into account. Most of the strategic councils so far have been established in urban areas like London and Manchester. Will a city model work in a rural area? Especially where a mayor is responsible for several counties? And what happens when a difficult decision has to be made, such as one member council being unable (or unwilling) to meet its planning targets? Will the others have to absorb the shortfall?
As strategic councils begin to form, I also wonder about the impact on local council officers, most of whom do a fantastic job in challenging and underfunded circumstances. When I have a parish issue, I always find it refreshing to speak to a Dorset Council officer who knows exactly where I mean in the wilds of North Dorset. But will a super-council offer the same response, or will that local knowledge be lost in corporate detachment?
Most importantly, will we as the people of Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset get to vote on the proposed mayor, as London currently does, or will these people be appointed through a yet-to-be defined process?

Child of the 90s? Your Tamagotchis and Furbies are in a museum …

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Editorial team
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Within the 200 items on display as part of the MED’s I Grew Up 90’s exhibition, curator Rob Gray says that two items stand out to him more than any of others – and not for their cute or cuddly dispositions.
The first is the Tamagotchi, the virtual pet that you could nurture and grow. However, neglect of said virtual pet could lead to its demise and ultimate death – they taught a deliciously harsh lesson in electronic mortality.
The other is the Furby: again, not for its cute and cuddly appearance but for the ridiculous fact the United States spy agency, National Security Agency (NSA) thought they were covert spies and banned them from their premises in the 1990s..
Who said the 1990’s were dull?

Tamagotchi comeback
The egg-shaped toy housing a virtual pet was one of the biggest crazes of the 1990s – and it is back!
A Tamagotchi is a virtual pet: you raise it, feed it, clean up after it and play games with it, all while carrying it with you. Invented by Aki Maita and Akihiro Yokoi in 1996, Japanese manufacturer Bandai created these digital toys, targeting a primarily teenage audience. They were launched in the UK in 1997, and quickly became a craze. Every 90s kid had their own Tamagotchi, with so many different pets to collect.
Global sales have continued to rise. As of June 2023, more than 91 million units have been sold worldwide. Tamagotchi has now opened its first shop in the UK – something it didn’t do even when it was 1997’s hottest gadget.
Unsurprisingly, the modern Tamagotchi isn’t the same as the 1990s version. It looks the same – a bright coloured egg with a small digital screen and buttons – but the actual toy has much more functionality, allowing Wi-Fi connection and the ability to download items.

The Furby Spy conspiracyFurby was an American electronic robotic toy by Tiger Electronics. Originally released in 1998, it resembled a hamster or owl-like creature and became the must-have toy at Christmas that year. More than 40 million Furbies were sold in the first three years, and its speech was translated into 14 languages.Furbies were the first successful attempt to produce and sell a domestically-aimed robot. A newly purchased Furby starts out speaking Furbish, the unique language that all Furbies speak, but is programmed to start speaking English words and phrases in place of Furbish over time. This process was intended to resemble the process of learning English.Furbies came pre-programmed with 700 to 800 words. While they only spoke their native language (Furbish) straight out of the box, more interactions would unlock more real words.On January 13, 1999, it was reported the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States banned Furbies from entering NSA’s property due to concerns that they may be used to record and repeat classified information, advising staff should they see any on NSA property to contact their Security Officer for guidance.It was thought within the NSA that Furbies had an artificial intelligence chip that could “learn” from things the user said. The NSA theorised that if employees discussed confidential information around the toys, that information could later be repeated. Roger Shiffman, the owner of Tiger Electronics, stated that ‘Furby has absolutely no ability to do any recording whatsoever,’ and that he would have gladly told the NSA this if they had bothered to take the time to ask him!

IGU90s exhibition at Museum of East Dorset runs until 29th March 2025. One admission ticket gives you annual access to Wimborne’s award-winning museum.
museumofeastdorset.co.uk

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Fun, fundraising and fine musicians at The Exchange

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Editorial team
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The Exchange ended 2024 with a fantastic night of fun with Mad Dog McCrea, a true ‘live’ band who gave the crowd an amazing, energetic evening.
The Exchange trustees are hugely grateful to all those who have worked (and worked…) to make 2024 such a success: in particular, raising more than £35,000 to help rebuild the financial reserves which were hit so hard by electricity costs in 2023.
Celebrity guests have freely given their time, volunteers have gone that extra mile – and more – on top of all they already do, and you, our customers, users and visitors, have been so very generous. Thank you all.
The end of the year isn’t the end of the hard work, of course: inevitably, costs continue to rise and similarly hard-worked equipment has to be replaced. Please continue to support The Exchange … it’s the venue other towns wish they had!

Coming up…
Why not drop in on the 15th of January – it’s free entry! – and be entertained by John H as he plays 200 tunes and songs in the Bibbern café, all to raise funds for The Exchange.
The Bibbern is also our art gallery, of course, so you can enjoy the exhibition of Samantha Biddles’ vibrant animal portraits while you sip a coffee and enjoy the music. John will be back again on the 7th February to accompany our popular French Wine and Cheese Evening – we’re always keen to provide an opportunity for you to enjoy yourself while supporting us! Before that, and not for our funds but for the good of the community, we are delighted to welcome back the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 14 piece ensemble on 5th February, performing ‘West End to Hollywood’. Our partnership with Artsreach is again responsible for bringing musicians of the highest quality to rural North Dorset, playing music we can all enjoy – it’s a brand new concert of film and stage inspired music.
And looking ahead a little further, we’re excited to announce that on Saturday 29th March we have An Audience With John Sergeant. Join us for an entertaining evening with the former chief political correspondent for the BBC and ITN’s political editor. Known as one of Britain’s most popular and respected broadcasters and authors, tickets will sell out fast so be quick to book yours!
Happy New Year from all at the Exchange.

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Same bikes, new mission

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Editorial team
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Giles and Annie Henschel’s return to the Mediterranean highlights the crisis facing olive farmers and the resilience that is keeping hope alive

Annie Henschel enjoying the ride through an olive grove at sunset

In March 2024, The BV featured Giles and Annie Henschel as they prepared to retrace the epic 10,000-mile motorbike journey that sparked the creation of their Dorset-based business, Olives Et Al, 30 years ago.
Across the Mediterranean, droughts and floods have disrupted major harvests and markets in a huge way. The 2023 olive harvest in most of Europe failed for the second successive year, presenting a very real threat for the future of the entire olive industry. During 2024 prices for olive oil reached record highs both at source and for retailers.
Now, with the journey completed, the Henschels have created a mini-documentary film.
Back in 1993, Giles and Annie’s year-long trek around the Mediterranean on two motorcycles not only inspired the founding of Olives Et Al but also set the tone for their lifelong relationship with Mediterranean food and culture. The original journey – dubbed “Operation Watertight” – focused on highlighting water shortages and pollution in the region. Fast forward to 2024, and the Henschels found themselves facing a new, but equally urgent, challenge: climate change.
This time, they set out to explore how shifting weather patterns are affecting Mediterranean harvests and the communities that depend on them. In the film, Giles talks about their beloved BMW R100 GSs motorcycles – unchanged since the first journey, and even part of the Olives Et Al logo. ‘They’re part of our DNA,’ he says. ‘They’ve been with us from the very beginning.’
Their new journey title? Operation Watertight 2 – Same Bikes, Different Challenge.
The olive tree – a symbol of Mediterranean life – is not just a source of food, but a physical connection to history and culture. ‘There’s just something spiritual about an olive tree,’ Annie says.
Giles continues: ‘It can affect every aspect of your health, your demeanor … and it’s given us …’
‘… a way of life.’ finishes Annie.

Giles and Annie Henschel

On the road again
Last year, on those same bikes that were used 30 years ago, Giles and Annie travelled 10,000 miles in 100 days, passing through 11 countries and crossing 16 international borders, returning to the landscapes that had shaped their early adventure – this time with decades of experience, deeper connections and a growing sense of urgency. The couple mapped around 50 farmers, growers, producers, suppliers and contacts to visit, and they planned to get input rom others they met along the way. After crossing France, they rode across the top of northern Italy, down through Slovenia into Croatia, on through Montenegro and Albania, into Greece and then over into Italy – to Sicily, back into Italy, around France, around Spain, to Portugal … and then home. ‘We wanted to build a complete picture,’ Giles explains in their film. ‘So we asked the same five questions to everyone – farmers, growers, agronomists, restauranteurs … What’s happening? How is the climate affecting their crops? What does the future look like?’

A crisis in the olive groves
The picture they encountered wasn’t always hopeful. ’The industry now is in something of a crisis,’ says Giles. Over the last few years the Henschels have seen olive groves completely devoid of fruit. ‘Either the conditions weren’t right, or the trees simply couldn’t produce. Either way, there were no olives.
‘So we decided to go and see first-hand what was really going on, on the ground.’
Growers they met often believed their struggles were isolated: ‘Every single farmer,’ says Giles. ‘In every single region, every single producer, they think it’s just happening to them. It isn’t. And if we can share that knowledge and share that information, maybe some more communication can happen and some more plans could be made.
The Henschels’ journey confirmed that shifting rainfall patterns, soaring summer temperatures and new diseases are placing immense pressure on traditional farming practices.
Their final question to each interviewee – ‘How do you see the future?’ – was often the most poignant. The couple fall silent on the film before Giles shakes his head: ‘They couldn’t answer.’

New adventure, same bikes

Resilience and hope
Despite the many challenges to the olive industry, the Henschels also found reasons for hope. At the World Olive Bank – a DNA cataloguing project for olive varieties – they witnessed efforts to preserve genetic diversity and build resilience against climate change. ‘It was really uplifting,’ Giles says. ‘I came out of there with a huge amount of optimism.’
‘It’s very exciting for the future,’ adds Annie.
Personal connections added further to the trip. From sharing meals prepared to age-old family recipes to swapping stories with farmers who are determined to adapt and innovate, Giles and Annie saw resilience in action. ‘There’s always hope,’ Annie says.

The journey continues
Now back in Dorset, Giles and Annie are busy writing up their findings, which they plan to publish later this year. But for now, they’re focusing on sharing their film as widely as possible to keep the conversation going. ‘It’s been a fascinating trip,’ Giles says. ‘And we hope the film adds to the discussion about climate patterns and the changes we all need to face.’

Revving through history

By
Editorial team
-
0

Blackmore Vale Motor Cycle Club combines tradition, innovation and community to keep off-road racing thriving after more than a century

Dean Whitty
Image © Michael Berkeley


Motorcycle sports roared onto the scene in the early 1900s,  born from the time trials hosted by the ‘auto-cycle’ clubs. The off-road motorcycling circuits are grass, gravel and mud, packed with tight turns, water, ramps and punishingly steep slopes. The primary objective is to complete the course in the shortest time, and success hinges on precision, control – and nerve. When an 11-year-old Dean Whitty saw his uncle’s trials bike he was fascinated … and so began a lifelong love of trials riding. Dean is now the club secretary of the Blackmore Vale Motorcycle Club Auto-Cycle Union (MCC ACU).

Negotiating a section on a pre 1965 bike.
Image © Michael Berkeley michaelberkeleyphoto.uk


‘The Original Blackmore Vale MCC is 103 years old, one of the oldest in the country. It started in 1922, with scrambling, trials and road racing. Today the club specialises in off-road trials and not the wider motocross scrambling disciplines.

‘My uncle had a road bike that he rode to work and then converted to off road for trials at the weekends. He said he would take me to a trials meeting and from then I was hooked. Mum and Dad weren’t very keen … but my uncle bought me a bike and taught me!’

Exiting the river section, under the watchful eye of the observer
Image © Michael Berkeley

Inevitably, trials bikes have evolved significantly over the last century as the sport has become more specialised.

‘People tend to ride to the era of the bike they own. In my uncle’s day, lots of men used to do what he did – ride their road bike to work and convert it at the weekend. People still ride those bikes, and there are pre-1965 classes for them. But today things are very different, with specialised purpose-built bikes.

‘There are the old two-stroke bikes. Then air-cooled bikes developed – that’s where air passes through aluminium fins to cool the engine while the bike is in motion. Now there are modern water-cooled bikes, with much better suspension.’

Although the liquid-cooled bikes are more efficient and comfortable to ride, trials is now starting to see electric bikes.

‘They are the future. We already have world championships designed for electric bikes. And a lot of people with bikes tend to have more than one type – that’s what happens with motor sports!’

Blackmore Vale MCC riders wait their turn to enter a section
Image © Michael Berkeley

A sport for all ages
Trial riding appeals to all ages. The oldest person riding at the original Blackmore Vale club is 93-year-old George Greenland from Salisbury, who regularly turns up at meets. Dean says: ‘He’s still competing – in his younger years he won the British Enduro Sidecar Championships three years running.’

Younger members may start from seven or eight years old, but Dean sees most people taking up the sport in their 30s. He’s also noticed something else about the membership: ‘Some of the kids who start give up when they hit their teens, as they get more of an interest in electronic devices, and disappear. Because of this, the future of the sport is thin on the ground.
‘It’s hard to see how it will look in the next 20 years?’

Dean Whitty (left) explains an ‘observed section area’ to a rider
Image © Michael Berkeley

There are few women in the club at the moment. ‘We have had some in the past,’ says Dean. ‘One lady had to give up after having a family. They are always very welcome. It’s not intended to be a boys club!’

The original Blackmore Vale MCC ADU has seen several national and world champions. ‘We’ve got Ben Lovelace who is a factory rider for Gas Gas. He’s won national events and competes in the British Championships. And we have two-times European Trials Champion Mick Andrews, who was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements, running training classes for us … he tells us where we’re all going wrong!

‘Over the years I’ve also met a lot of champions, including Guy Martin. Everyone is very friendly. It’s a great community. We go to steam rallies in the summer and have a static display or a demonstration.
‘We also raise money for charities such as the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.’

Negotiating a section in the woods on a 1970s OSSA bike
Image © Michael Berkeley

The Meets

‘Meets depend on what’s happening,’ says Dean. ‘Some of our riders ride with other clubs, so it can be a juggle. We tend to have five meets a year – we get permission from landowners and pay them a fee. Around two weeks beforehand the course setter will go out and mark out the course. Meets usually attract 50 to 60 riders. And we always fix the state of the ground after the meet. That’s something a few walkers have been worried about when they see the ground churned up, but we do repair it.

‘The vast majority of people involved are volunteers. It’s the love of the sport! For anyone wanting to take up trials, contact someone like me. You need to have an ACU licence* and a bike and the kit. If you are a newbie, we can help – we’ll take you aside, find someone who can do the training and get you started.

‘There’s a lot of camaraderie in trials riding and people with a wealth of experience. You might be competing against each other, but if you come off your bike, someone will stop and help. It’s that kind of sport.’

*A day licence in 2024 cost £20, and a Trials One Event registration was £5.
The ACU website has lots of information on getting started in trials –
acu.org.uk
Get in touch with Dean on whittydean@gmail.com

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