Archive for December, 2009
31/12/2009 No comments

South West Quadrant: “If this development goes ahead, my wife and I will never visit Bridport again”

NOT ONE letter sent into the Planning Inspectorate supports the redevelopment of the South West Quadrant of Bridport.

The proposed “regeneration” of the area, which includes St Michael’s Trading Estate, is going to be fought over at an appeal hearing in West Bay in January.

If landowners Haywards get approval for their scheme, which was first drawn up with West Dorset District Council, it will have a bigger effect on Bridport than any development since the 1970s.

Forty-three letters went to the Planning Inspectorate. One – from the Highways Agency – raised no objections provided certain conditions were met. The rest were all opposed.

To help round off 2009, and to carry us through into 2010, here are a few of the most eye-catching bits.       

“This fake new utopia”

Alan Ross of Burton Bradstock writes: “Should this development go ahead, my wife and I will never visit Bridport again, taking our business to places of character such as Beaminster!”

The letter is also signed – you’ll be relieved to hear – by Mrs Susan Ross. (I didn’t like to think of her being unilaterally barred by her husband from visiting her nearest town… But as it stands, that’s what you call a resolution.)

Mr and Mrs Ross say they object to the idea of Bridport becoming a clone town, yet another victim of the process which sees a vibrant artistic area created, then developers cash in, wipe the slate clean, and cram in houses, “outpricing this fake new utopia to the local people who were instrumental in building, and had pride in, their inter-reliant community.”

“A sterile town”

Antonia Fraser, Pymore: “Many of us think that what is being proposed at present will turn Bridport into a sterile town with smart shops and bijoux cafes of the kind found in the South East of England.

“The alternative is that Bridport retains its authentic Dorset character, rooted in its artisan base.”

“It is honest, it is human and it is real”

Rex Johnson, Nettlecombe: “St Michael’s trading estate is a trading estate and is bound to look a little shabby in places. SO WHAT?

“I find the current and ongoing mania for tidying everything up disturbing, totally distasteful and utterly superficial.

“Bridport is an historic and characterful market town and a characterful, shabby trading estate is very much a part of that.

“It is honest, it is human and it is real.

“The very last thing I would wish to see happen to St Michael’s trading estate is for it to be transformed into yet another Poundbury…”
29/12/2009 No comments

Bridport Trick Factory: A Mum’s view. “If they weren’t doing this, they’d be trashing the house.”

 

 

Harriet Laurie with sons Caspar and Dillon

 

You can see Harriet Laurie on You Tube by clicking on this link  

GRAPHIC designer Harriet Laurie is one of the leaders of the fight to save Dorset’s only indoor skate park from destruction.

The Trick Factory on St Michael’s Trading Estate in Bridport is in danger of being knocked down so that landowners Haywards (originally teamed up with West Dorset District Council) can build flats on the site.

Ms Laurie is involved because she has three sons. She says, “If they weren’t doing this, they’d be at home trashing the house. This [place] is geared up for testosterone, and my home is a little bit of a cosy cottage where three big boys are just busting out at the seams, so they come here, they get it all out of their system, and they come home and they’re lovely.”

One of her boys, Caspar, admits: “I can skate, which I like doing, and I’m tired out when I get home, so I don’t stay up late, and I’m ready for school and stuff like that. It’s just a lot easier to come here and it’s something to do at night rather than going out around the town.”

The Trick Factory is thronging with boys trying out risky sporting moves. There’s plenty of fallings-off but no visible fallings-out.

Ms Laurie says: “There’s an awful lot they’re learning about how to co-operate with other people, and how to be generous, you know, allowing other people the space and the time to do their stuff and they all really encourage each other, there’s a wonderful kind of bonhomie.”

More activities for teenagers a West Dorset priority

The last major survey of public opinion in West Dorset was bmg research’s Place Survey, carried out in late 2008, published in full in October 2009.

According to this survey, residents’ two top priorities for improving life in West Dorset are more affordable decent housing (47% overall – 57% in Bridport) and more activities for teenagers (43% overall – 45% in Bridport).

This is why the future of the Trick Factory has become such an explosive issue – because it brings the two priorities of affordable housing and activities for teenagers into direct conflict.

(This is also why it’s remarkable that the Trick Factory should – until recently – have been so ignored by West Dorset District Council planners and landowners Haywards: – so casually earmarked for destruction – or so it seems to everyone I’ve spoken to about it…)

Should one priority give way to the other? Harriet Laurie: “Affordable housing is really important, but I think there’s not much point having affordable housing and then having that all full of kids who’ve got nothing to do, who are going to trash the place. You have got to get a balance, haven’t you, between keeping people busy and positive, as well as housing them. I don’t think one has to give way to the other. You can create a scheme that works for everybody.”

But is it now possible to get a scheme that works for everybody? Haywards’ planning appeal – against district councillors’ refusal to allow the transfomation of St Michael’s Trading Estate and the South West Quadrant of Bridport – will begin in West Bay on January 26.

Click here for the Trick Factory’s website 

Click here for the Trick Factory Support Group on Facebook, which (at the time of writing this) has nearly 1,500 members 
23/12/2009 1 Comment

“Great coffee can be a work of art”: A Dorset coffee roaster reveals his secrets

 

Unfolded waves of hessian shows beans like cowrie shells

A PILE of hessian sacks filled with raw coffee beans are stacked up on a wooden crate in the corner, while a traditional roasting machine churns its first load of coffee of the day, and the bitter-sweet aroma of freshly-roasted coffee fills the air. 

I almost expect a rugged explorer to come climbing out of a plantation, with a glowing jar of nature’s brightest protruding from his backpack.

Giles Dick-Read. The Read family name can be traced back generations through Reads Flour Millers, of Norwich

Giles Dick-Read. The Read family name can be traced back generations through Reads Flour Millers, of Norwich

Instead I find myself looking on as coffee connoisseur and founder of Reads Coffee, Giles Dick-Read, moves deftly around a converted milking parlour close to his rural home.    

Giles and his wife Charlotte operate their roast-to-order business from their home at Limekiln Farm, just outside of Sherborne. So how did a quintessentially English couple bring a taste of the exotic to the Dorset countryside, and why?

Having set up shop in Oxfordshire eight years ago, the couple, who hail from Buckinghamshire, moved down to Dorset nearly five years ago to be nearer their families.

Charlotte and Giles pause for a chat. A typical working day lasts for ten hours, roasting, bagging, installing machines in cafes, making deliveries... At weekends, they visit farmers' markets or events within a 40-mile radius of Sherborne

Charlotte and Giles pause for a chat. A typical working day lasts for ten hours, roasting, bagging, installing machines in cafes, making deliveries... At weekends, they visit farmers' markets or events within a 40-mile radius of Sherborne

Giles said: “What we like about Dorset the most is that there are lots of ‘foodie’ people here – so many are extremely enthusiastic about eating and drinking great produce.”

During a trip around America and Canada in the early 1990s, just as Starbucks was exploding across the USA, and on his return to the UK Giles found himself frustrated: he could not find a decent coffee anywhere.  

A discussion with the doctor about the side effects of caffeine convinced him that good quality Arabica coffee offered a healthier choice, as opposed to the cheaper Robusta coffees, which often have a far higher caffeine content.

So, as his quest for the perfect coffee began, he worked for various coffee operators, including Whittards, before joining Pret A Manger as its coffee man, where he stayed for several years developing the company’s coffee trade.

“I have done a lot of work with cafes, training baristas and educating operators about the mechanics of coffee making – choosing the right coffee, getting the best from their machines, and perfecting how coffee should be prepared.

Records are kept of every coffee roasted

Records are kept of every coffee roasted

“Great coffee can be a work of art – it is really very simple, but to do it well takes a lot of practice and experience. The skill lies in how it is prepared.  People often say that Italy has the best coffee. The reality is that the Italians really just know how to serve it properly.”

"Great coffee can be a work of art..."

"Great coffee can be a work of art..."

So this is what their business offers: Read more
19/12/2009 No comments

Fight to save Trick Factory moves on to Bucky Doo Square and Chapel in the Garden

Philip Colfox and daughter. It's not every day you see your Dad wearing a bright orange boiler suit to campaign for skateboarders. But this was to be no ordinary day...

Philip Colfox and daughter. It's not every day you see your Dad wearing a bright orange boiler suit to campaign for skateboarders. But this was to be no ordinary day...

TODAY is the big day to save the Trick Factory, the indoor skate park in Bridport that’s threatened with destruction by property developers.

So says the human rights lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, who lives near Bridport and is now helping to organise the campaign against the park’s shut-down. It’s scheduled for demolition if landowners Haywards get the right at a planning appeal next year to redevelop St Michael’s Trading Estate and the South West Quadrant of Bridport 

So, from about 11 am this morning, around Bucky Doo Square in Bridport, and in front of the Arts Centre, users and supporters of the Trick Factory have been asking people to back a petition. It’s reckoned that by the end of this afternoon 500 or 600 people will have signed up and perhaps even been photographed too.

Busking for the Trick Factory in front of Bridport Arts Centre

Busking for the Trick Factory in front of Bridport Arts Centre

Clive Stafford-Smith (wearing grey body-warmer) behind a busy petition table

Clive Stafford-Smith (wearing grey body-warmer) behind a busy petition table

Making a clear stand: Save the Bridport Trick Factory

Making a clear stand: Save the Bridport Trick Factory

Many users are clad in bright orange in reference to the notorious jumpsuits which inmates at  Guantanamo Bay are forced to wear. Clive Stafford-Smith is best known for his work with Guantanamo captives.

A short film about the Trick Factory is also showing in Bridport Arts Centre.

Also this weekend…

On Sunday December 20, the collection from a Christmas carol service at the Unitarian Chapel in East Street, Bridport, will be donated to the cause. (That’s The Chapel in the Garden, opposite Rawle’s butchers).

Trick Factory supporter and local landowner Philip Colfox says: “My family are putting on a little carol service in the Unitarian Chapel on Sunday, at 4pm, for people to come along and play their musical instruments and have a lovely time and we’re going to dedicate the collection towards the Trick Factory.”

Mr Colfox has got involved in the campaign because he says: “My little boy absolutely adores bicycling, skateboarding, and I know how important it is for young lads to have something to do, keep them occupied, so as far as I’m concerned the Trick Factory is absolutely one of the best things for young boys.”

Some sample messages from the wall of the Trick Factory

I am x years old and I live round Bridport. If I wasn’t at the Trick Factory, I would be skating up the side of your garden wall.

I am x years old and I live round Bridport. If I wasn’t at the Trick Factory, I would be doing my homework… NOT!

I am x years old and I live round Bridport. If I wasn’t at the Trick Factory, I would be begging my parents to move to Florida.

I am x years old and I live round Bridport. If I wasn’t at the Trick Factory, I would be lying in the gutter outside the kebab shop.

I am 50 years old and I live round Bridport. If I wasn’t try to save the Trick Factory, I’d be trying to save the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Guess who that last one was!
17/12/2009 No comments

Bridport skate park fans get London law firm to put “fear of God” into developers

A BIG London firm of lawyers has today volunteered to represent the young skateboarders and BMXers of Dorset as they battle to save The Trick Factory in Bridport from being shut down and demolished.

The human rights lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, best known for his work with prisoners at Guantamano Bay, said: “I suspect that will put the fear of God into the people who want to take this gem of Bridport away from these young people.”

The Trick Factory is Dorset’s only indoor skate park. It’s taken ten years to build up the venue inside an old industrial premises on St Michael’s Trading Estate, which is in the South West Quadrant (SWQ) of Bridport. The park is scheduled to be destroyed if the estate’s owner wins a planning appeal next month and gets the right to redevelop the SWQ, particularly for 175 new homes.

Trick Factory leader Robert Ridge got to know Mr Stafford-Smith, who lives near Bridport, when he went to do some plumbing for him. Mr Stafford-Smith visited The Trick Factory and was impressed. He was there tonight as local politicians, and other interested figures, were shown around.

And he revealed: “Just today I was on a telephone call with some lawyers with whom I’m doing a fairly big case in London on torture, and I told them all about The Trick Factory, and I said ‘Look, we’ve got much more serious issues here in Bridport than a little torture in London’ and it turns out that this big London firm is very much into doing this sort of planning work and they have volunteered to come and represent the kids down here at the Trick Factory. I suspect that will put the fear of God into the people who want to take this gem of Bridport away from these young people…

“We are talking about a very big firm, plus a barrister who lives down here too, who is sort of shocked that they want to take this away from the youth of Bridport, so with any luck we’re hanging on to it.”

Author’s note: I was surprised to hear Mr Stafford-Smith use the word “fear”, as he is so obviously a man whose work (in torture cases, for example) has taught him what fear means. So this could be a significant development…

Look out for more on The Trick Factory on this site tomorrow afternoon (Friday, December 18). More stories will appear after vital IT changes and updates go well in the morning. I am deliberately being optimistic; I am also keeping my fingers crossed! 
16/12/2009 1 Comment

Could Dorset pub reopen after 10 years shut?

TEN YEARS after the closure of The Old Swan pub in Toller Porcorum there are signs that it could possibly be reopened.

Palmers Brewery has offered the village’s SOS campaign group five years rent-free tenancy to help make the venture more viable to begin with.

SOS members have asked a consultant to prepare a business case, and Toller Porcorum Parish Council has applied to West Dorset District Council for a grant of £3,000 towards the costs of the consultant’s labours.

There is a precedent for what might happen at Toller. The New Inn at Shipton Gorge was shut for several months, then leased to villagers by Palmers. It reopened in August 2006 and – as you can see from its website – it is an important part of local life.

Thoughts about stripping-out and strippers

The New Inn was extensively stripped-out inside, remodelled and redecorated. A lot of work was done for nothing (and the fun of it!) by villagers.

One of the problems with re-opening The Old Swan might be that it has been shut for so much longer and so might require much more work.

It is difficult to remember what it was like inside. It worked best as a pub (in my experience) in the days when it was run by an oldish chap called Ben Pick, whose preferred way of life simply seemed to be running a basic country pub. It didn’t seem to bother him greatly if he didn’t have lots of customers; he would just do what had to be done to keep the place ticking over.

I used to walk over there in the morning, spend the lunchtime session drinking beer and eating crisps, then get the bus home again and stare with dreamy contentment out of the window as it bobbed up to Mount Pleasant then down past Wytherstone…

After Mr Pick retired, there were some unsuccessful/unsuitable landlords. I can’t remember how many.

There was one man who may been from the West Midlands (Wolverhampton or Dudley way? or was it actually Yorkshire?) who put strippers on at least once.

I’m pretty sure he did, because I remember speculating about who on earth would go along. I don’t think many people did. It was a bad idea. Toller Porcorum has never appreciated that kind of thing.

I remember John Slater, when he was news editor of the Bridport News about 15 years ago, telling me a story about a fete he’d covered in Toller in the 1970s or early 1980s. One of the fete organisers thought it might be a good idea to solicit some goods for auction from Fiona Richmond, the glamour model and actress who was the daughter of a Toller Porcorum vicar. Ms Richmond sent a pair of knickers. But no one bid for them, as no one dared to be seen doing so… John Slater said the whole affair was farcically, scandalously, funny.