Archive for July, 2010
31/07/2010 2 Comments

Found on Chesil Beach wearing women’s underwear

In the latest issue of the London Review of Books, the essayist Stefan Collini reviews a new book by Jeremy Lewis, Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family (Cape, £25). It’s mostly about the novelist Graham Greene and his numerous brothers, sisters and cousins.

There’s masses of detail, including this, in passing, about West Dorset.

“When one of the Greenes (Hugh) was involved in interviewing captured Luftwaffe pilots during the war, we are told: ‘His life was made easier by the fact that Luftwaffe crews often carried diaries and letters in their pockets, and he made use of his fluent German and his knowledge of their country: a dead Luftwaffe officer on Chesil Beach was found to be wearing pink silk women’s underclothes and carrying lipstick and a powder puff.’

It’s a good thing, notes Collini drily, that “Hugh was on hand to bring his knowledge of the country to bear.”

Has this episode ever been reported before? I suspect probably not, because it’s the kind of story that sticks in the mind and gets repeated (as now).

Mull it over and it raises many questions.

I wonder where the officer’s grave is?
07/07/2010 No comments

Bridport Literary and Scientific Institute Proposal Summary

Mission: To promote an understanding of and engagement with local industrial heritage and history, its place in people’s lives, its national and international impact and context

Statue inside the Literary and Scientific Institute, Bridport. Photograph by Vince O'Farrell.

THE PROPOSED project will restore and renovate the Literary and Scientific Institute in East Street, Bridport, as a discovery centre for local industrial heritage and history. The building will be run and managed by Bridport Museum Service (BMS). BMS will rationalise and consolidate its two existing sites into a single site at the LSI. The building will become a landmark venue for the study of rope and net, interpreting the unique industries of the area and positioning Bridport within a local, national and international context.

From Wimbledon to Wembley, Hermes handbags to aircraft seat belts, space exploration to international conflict, Bridport rope and net has a global presence. It has shaped not only the social and economic profile of the town but also the physical structure of its streets and the contours of the surrounding landscape.

The centre will offer a combination of conservation, research, education and entertainment. It will promote the past but look to become a museum for the future by prioritising quality, innovation, interaction and sustainability in all aspects of its operation.

The centre will become a resource for local schools, colleges and the community. It will develop a targeted programme of talks, workshops and activities to encourage and support a broad base audience and attract visitors from outside the area. There are few local attractions and very little provision for residents and visitors in inclement weather: the centre will address this need and provide all weather, all season attraction in the heart of the town, which is itself at the centre of the Jurassic Coast.

The renovation of the building will allow for exploration and application of energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies to a listed building so creating a case study for the museums and heritage sector, whilst reducing long term running costs. The capital work on the building will be structured to allow a number of individual research and development projects. Local schools and colleges will be offered the opportunity to work with industry experts to explore the historical generation of power for local industry and investigate how past methodologies might be adapted and combined with new innovations to create a sustainable building.

Traditional skills training will be incorporated into the capital element of the project so offering ‘hands on’ learning and volunteering opportunities in practical restoration and renovation of a listed building. In this respect the project would look to form partnership with local and regional educational organisations notably Bridport Local Area Skills Training (BLAST) and Weymouth College.

In addition to heritage based displays the building will incorporate state of the art conservation storage, research centre, audio visual facilities, meeting/lecture space, office space for museum staff and a café. The project will aim to build strong and sustainable relationships with local education providers, local industry and the local community.
07/07/2010 No comments

Wading birds find West Dorset haven

A PAIR of ringed plovers have bred in the far west of Dorset for the first time.

The wading birds have raised four chicks at Chard Junction Quarry.

Site owners Bardon Aggregates and Dorset Wildlife Trust turned a disused part of the quarry into a community nature reserve about a year ago. 

Bardon Aggregates are still extracting gravel from are another part of the quarry, but when the company heard of the plovers’ nest, quarry manager Tony Pearson ordered an exclusion zone to make sure the pair weren’t disturbed. 

He said: “It’s fascinating see how these birds have progressed, considering the natural predators that share the same area, including foxes, badgers, crows and buzzards. We just hope they will become regular visitors now.”

Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Joy Wallis said: “The birds could leave any time now, possibly to winter on the coast, but we hope they will be back to breed here next year.”

Ringed plover. Photograph by Monique Vanstone.

Ringed plovers have increasingly chosen to nest inland on sand and gravel pits, even sometimes on old industrial sites, as well as on coastal beaches.

The species’ future has been concerning conservationists; ringed plovers have amber status, indicating they need places to feed and breed.

Chard Junction Quarry nature reserve is near Chard Junction, at grid reference ST 345045. Open daily, free of charge, it includes a path, bird hides, woods, ponds and establishing grasslands. There is no other nature reserve nature in the area.

Reserve leaflets are available from Chard Tourist Information Centre.

More information can be obtained from Bardon Aggregates on 07730 832767.
04/07/2010 No comments

Bridport backs plans to save historic Institute

MORE time is being sought for work on a plan to turn Bridport’s old Literary and Scientific Institute into a new Heritage and Study Centre incorporating the town’s museum.

The Institute in East Street, a Grade II* Listed Building, is one of Dorset’s historic treasures.

It began life in the 1830s as one of Britain’s first Mechanics Institutes, meant chiefly to educate young working class men.

It became a more middle-class Literary and Scientific Institute in 1855.

During the Second World War it was a Red Cross recreation centre for American soldiers and a quartermaster’s stores.

From the early 1950s until 1997 it housed Bridport’s public library, and then until 2002 it was home to the award-winning digital arts combo PVA, trading as Labculture Ltd.

Nowadays it’s on English Heritage’s list of buildings at risk.

There’s been a long and complicated legal dispute between Dorset County Council and descendants of the original freeholder about the ownership of the property [see below for more details], but earlier this year the High Court decided that people in Bridport should be given six months to see if they could come up with a plan.

And they have. The plan – unanimously supported at a meeting in Bridport Town Hall – is to create a new Heritage and Study Centre focusing on Bridport’s cultural and industrial past, present and future.

The High Court is now being asked to grant more time so that a detailed business plan can be prepared.

“Various suggestions have been made for the future of the building, but the need to secure major restoration grants means that only proposals which are likely to generate income over a sustained period have any chance of success,” said town councillor Charles Wild. Since January, he’s been working on a voluntary basis with local consultant Crystal Johnson to investigate possibilities for the Institute’s future.

Coun Wild continued: “The trustees of Bridport Museum have indicated that they would like to investigate the possibility of establishing a new local attraction, incorporating the existing museum collection but with a wider focus on the cultural and industrial heritage of the Bridport area. The ownership of the building could be transferred to the Bridport Area Development Trust, which could sub-let it to the Museum Trust if the project can be shown to be viable. 

“This looks the strongest of the suggestions which has come forward since we started looking for a solution to the building, and is gaining a lot of support.

“It could be a great use of the building and its wonderful interior spaces.”

Sandra Brown, chairman of Bridport Museum Trustees, said: “Obviously there is a lot to consider, but we think this is a very exciting possibility and well worth investigating. The Museum trustees are very supportive of this initiative.

Crystal Johnson said: “We’re very grateful for the help we have received from a number of people over this short period, coming up with a range of suggestions and thoughts on how they could be funded, and some really interesting suggestions came up at the meeting..

“Six months has obviously left us working to a very tight timeframe. Having got the support of the meeting (to which we invited all those who responded to our public appeal in early March), we have asked for a short extension of time in order to complete a project proposal with costings and financial projections which could be submitted to the High Court.”

Anyone who would like to offer practical help is asked to contact Charles Wild (01308-420808) or Crystal Johnson (07968-577867).

Related Posts on Real West Dorset: http://www.realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/index.php/2010/03/01/inside-the-institute-grandeur-and-desolation/ With many photographs

http://www.realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/index.php/2010/02/23/bridport-dorset-history-mechanics-institute-literary-scientific_institute/ Suggests (a bit cheekily, I suppose) that Oliver Letwin might like to contribute 

Editor’s Note on the legal situation: My understanding of the case is that, in 1863, the Trustees of the Bridport LSI were given a lease of 1000 years, under the provisions of the Literary and Scientific Institutions Act of 1854.

In 1951, Dorset County Council was appointed sole trustee by the Minister for Education, who ordered that the building should thereafter vest in DCC.

However, in the 1990s, the Charity Commission suggested that things were not as simple as they might look: there could, in fact, be two trustees; DCC as the body governed by the 1863 lease; but also an institution of trustees governed by the LSI rules – although that institution appears to have ceased to exist as a legal entity in 1951.

To further complicate matters, descendants of the original freeholder have also sought to claim title.

It’s possible – no, make that likely – that my understanding is far from complete, but I’ve included this note to try to give a rough idea why the High Court thought it might be a good idea to see what the people of Bridport could suggest. It might be a way out…

And who knows? It might be. The economic climate of the times is against plans for heritage and study, but a new centre could be a fantastic thing for Bridport to have.
02/07/2010 No comments

Bridport: Support Your Local Drunks

THIS week’s Bridport News gives extensive coverage to the jungle of advertising A-boards that seem to be breeding along East Street.

So it should. These things are a positive menace to drunks tottering their way home after a session of innocent boozing.

Only the other evening, the Saturday of the beer festival, those of us gathered in a hostelry to the north of these hazards to navigation were treated to the company of one of our highly respected local representatives. He was in a state of refreshment after having had a bash at the wares of the lads at the sampling. In fact, one or two held the opinion that he was refreshed out of his skull.

Anyway, he proceeded to be boring beyond what would normally be expected of a politician. In due course, the staff told him that he had drunk enough and should go home. The place nearly erupted in cheers.

Given a bit of luck and time he managed to find the door and headed off away to his home.

He turned and headed towards the danger in East Street at a pace that would have made sedentary look swift.

Can you imagine the horror if he had tripped on an A-board and injured himself? The whole town would have been bereft.

It is vital that our inebriates are kept safe and protected from themselves. Think of the future. Can we risk the lives and limbs of those a cut above ourselves? No, never. They must be protected and let the hard working local businesses go hang.

Drunks first – that’s the spirit.