Posts tagged “Burton Bradstock”
02/02/2012 No comments

Bridport by Night: An alternative tourism video by Stephen Banks

So, it has been over a week since I uploaded my ‘labour of love’, Bridport by Night, to YouTube. The video really took off in the first four days, accumulating some 8,000 views in that period alone. Hits from technology site Gizmodo and Anglotopia helped it along its way, but the majority of views were picked up by an organic sharing frenzy on Facebook and Twitter.

Throughout last week, I had people who I didn’t know from the local area following me on Twitter and adding me on Facebook. Many of them commented expressing their praise for the video. To date, the video on YouTube has had about 75 comments (and the same number of replies by me), 206 likes and 2 dislikes – a comment reading “Two dislikes for this video? The pair of you: YOU ARE DEAD INSIDE” made me chuckle.

Interest has died down at the moment. A few people have quietly complained about how much I was mouthing off about it, so I haven’t been sharing it around so much. But the other night, ITV West Country Tonight came to West Bay and filmed me for a piece they are running. And this Saturday, the film is being shown at the Bridport Arts Centre as part of a Spirit of Bridport event.

My target number of views for the video is 12,977 (which is Wikipedia‘s listed population for Bridport). It should soon surpass that. I already have plans to make a second, improved version of the video. Difficult second album?
08/12/2010 1 Comment

Dorset County Council cuts: Details & analysis

UP TO 500 JOBS will go next year at Dorset County Council and there will be “significant impacts on services to individuals and communities.”

The council has to reduce spending by £45-50 million over the next three years – that’s £15 – 20 million more than first expected.

And that £15-20 million extra has to be cut next year.

Hence the job losses planned for 2011-12. Hence the huge list of other possible cuts laid out in an agenda paper published today on dorsetforyou.com at http://bit.ly/eT8F93

@realwestdorset on Twitter outlined the county council’s plans on Wednesday morning, and more details follow below, but there is no substitute for reading the full breakdown at http://bit.ly/eT8F93

The county council says that previous money-saving programmes have been “focused on efficiency and transformational changes, without major impact on service delivery”.  

But now: “To achieve the level of saving now required it is inevitable that there will be significant impacts on services to individuals and communities.

“The Council will try to adopt the ‘Big Society’ approach and enable others to take over services rather than cut them altogether, but has had little success so far with similar initiatives.”

Libraries are a case in point.

The county council asserts that it can no longer afford to maintain a branch network of 34 libraries. It hopes that volunteers may run up to 20, following the model established in Burton Bradstock – but Burton Bradstock is unusual. The council admits that “experience to date” indicates that getting communities to run libraries will be “very difficult to achieve in any realistic timescale.”     

So – despite West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin acclaiming his constituency as one of the main inspirations for “the ‘Big Society’ approach” – Dorset is entering uncharted teritory and lots still has to be worked out.

For example, it’s not yet been calculated exactly how substantial the “substantial expenditure for redundancy compensation payments” will be.

The council also expects that “Some additional temporary resource in HR may be needed to facilitate staff restructuring.”

@CoogarUK on Twitter found it “laughable”… “having to create some new jobs to help get rid of the existing ones.”

Few victims have yet been publicly identified, but 8 jobs will go in communications and customer services.

About 20 jobs will go in the ‘service support cost centre’ in Adult & Community Services.

The number of trading standards officers may be cut, and two of the 12 Registrars Offices may be shut.      

Significant impacts on services to individuals and communities

Support to adults with physical, mental and learning disabilities is seen as the area with the “greatest scope for significant savings”.

In practice this means – for example – providing fewer “simple aids for daily living to support people in their homes.”

It means “rationalising the management structure that supports the Learning Disability Day Services, and withdrawing the subsidy for transport and hot meals to the Centres.”

Older people attending day centres may also have transport subsidies withdrawn.

The number of day centres may be cut.

Affecting younger people, there are plans to “reduce the coordination of after-school, holiday, homework and breakfast clubs”.

Foster carers will get lower loyalty payments.

Fewer support services will be provided to families with children experiencing difficulties.

The list goes on and on.

The county council is proposing to stop supporting district & borough councils on affordable housing issues.

Funding will be reduced for economic development, tourism, the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Dorset Road Safety Partnership, Drug Action & Community Safety initiatives, museums, the Dorset History Centre, the careers advice service, and the school improvement service.

In line with “the ‘Big Society’ approach” it’s hoped that volunteers will come forward, not just to run libraries, but operate school crossing patrols and maintain footpaths.

Note: There are almost 3000 miles of public rights of way in Dorset, made up of roughly  4700 footpaths, 1700 bridleways and 37 byways open to all traffic…
03/06/2010 18 Comments

UPDATED: Critics savage Dorset County Council music video

A MUSIC video made for Dorset County Council has been scorned as “truly crackpot” by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

It shows the singing of a song called The Promise, written by the former Burton Bradstock School headteacher David Powell, now Dorset’s principal primary inspector.

The Promise was made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Or, in Dorset County Council’s own words, it “was created to support the development of Right’s [sic] Respecting Schools in Dorset and the move towards Right’s [sic] Respecting Communities”.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance doesn’t pick up on the aberrant apostrophes, but it’s scathing about everything else.

The Promise is described by Fiona McEvoy as “a council project so truly crackpot that we’re left wondering whether those involved have completely lost their minds…

“Even Chief Executive David Jenkins makes a disembodied appearance, his floating head mouthing the toe-curling lyrics to this bizarre dirge. 

“It’s good to know he’s filling this time with productive activities like this whilst taking home an impressive salary of £170,000pa!”

Mr Jenkins does, rather startingly, pop up briefly in the video at 3.24.

The Promise is also described by Mark Wallace on the website Conservative Home as “a sickly-sweet happy-clappy song… truly cringeworthy.”

Who on earth is it aimed at, asks the Taxpayers Alliance?

Well, it was, according to the Conservative-controlled Dorset County Council, supposed to mark the beginning of “an exciting new approach to providing children’s services in Dorset.”

The Promise is the herald of schools’ rights culture spreading into Dorset’s towns and communities, especially around Bridport.

That’s the theory. Dorset County Council cabinet member for children’s services Toni Coombs said she was “blown away“. 

You should watch the video to judge for yourself. At the very least, you won’t have seen graphics quite like it for a very long time indeed.      

One final point for now: according to the County Council, The Promise is performed by “staff from Dorset’s Children’s Services, The Children’s Trust Board, Dorset Headteachers, the wider County Council and others, along with children from the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership.”

Update at 11.40am: Dorset County Council is preparing a statement in response to people’s sudden burst of interest in The Promise, so we’ll have to wait to see what it cost. But I hear, in the meantime, that David Powell wrote the song in his spare time. He’s always been very musical - a friend of Billy Bragg, if I remember right; anyway, I don’t think he was paid for it. He did it because he’s  committed to the cause.

Updated 6.05pm: Here is Dorset County Council’s response, which came earlier this afternoon (when I was up Golden Cap, so its publication has been delayed, for which I apologise).

Key fact: it cost £450.

“The Promise video was made in November 2009 to highlight the commitment of Dorset County Council to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and bring the work we are doing on children’s rights in our schools and communities into focus.

“The video was also made to celebrate Dorset schools involvement in UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School Award.

“The Promise song was written and recorded by one of our principal inspectors in his spare time and the musicians, who play and sing with him, also gave up their own time to the project.

“The time spent by county council staff appearing in the video was freely and generously donated, during lunchtimes, breaks, and evenings. Pupils were also involved in the recording of the song.

“The video was played and the song performed to hundreds of parents and pupils at a special concert in Dorchester on 4 February to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UNCRC. Pupils from across Dorset sang songs that they had written about children’s rights.

“The filming and editing of the video was carried out by staff at our Dorset Centre for Education Technology (DCET), a traded service funded by its work for external customers. Their services were also donated to the project for free, but it is estimated that the cost of staff time involved in producing the video, and distributing a DVD of pupils performing their own songs at the concert, amounted to £450.” 
26/05/2010 No comments

Photographs from Burton Bradstock’s Spring Tide Food Festival

MORE than 1000 people went to the National Trust’s first Spring Tide Food Festival at Hive Beach in Burton Bradstock.

A farmers’ market sold produce grown, reared or made within 40 miles of the marquee, and there were craft stalls and free entertainment.

If you weren’t there and you want to see it was like, or you were and you want to look at some pictures, here’s eight courtesy of Graham Wiffen.

Extreme Knitting with Rosemary Gameson of Dorchester Stitchers

Clive Sage of Wyld Meadow Farm

y'Strel's Band

Mace from Bodgers Barn

Annette Lee of Woolsery Cheese, Sydling St Nicholas, with John Gundry of Scottish Choice over to the left

Fun at the Olives & Things stall

Stallholders included Wyld Meadow Farm, Ashley Chase Estates, Bridge Farm Cider, Capreolus Fine Foods, Dorset Visual Arts, Chapell Studio, Dorset Cereals, Scott McCarthy, Olives & Things, Lovingtons, Bridfish, Filberts Bees, Parrett Preserves,  Forest Preserves, Woolsery Cheese, AONB, Simply Cooking, Stockland Venison, Olga’s Art, Jamie Butcher, Dorset Treasure Trails, Dorset Village Bakery, Woolton Dairy, Clare Colby, Sarah Cooke, Simply Cooking, Pinks Organics, Homemade by Lizzie and Bekki, Barrington Court, Lyme Wash Soaps , Bodgers Barn, Tamarisk Farm, Eggardon Hill Natural Foods, Piddle Brewery, Town Mill Bakery, Guy Furner, RSPB, NT – Barrington Court, Dorchester Stitchers, The Fossil Workshop, Dorset Community Action, Direct from Dorset, Love Food Hate Waste – Dorset County Council, John Bullock & y’Strel’s Band and Treewise- Children’s craft/forest School.

Supporters included Dorset AONB, Steve Attrill and his team at the Hive Beach Café, National Trust wardens, staff and volunteers and Clive Sage, who co-ordinates Bridport Farmers Market.

Caroline Richards NT Visitor Services Manager for West Dorset, said: “I kept being asked when we were going to do it again. Something like this really brings the people together, it’s wonderful to see.”
01/05/2010 3 Comments

D-Day Dorset: Bridport to honour US fighters

DORSET’s role in the run-up to D-Day will be remembered when members of the World War Two Living History Association encamp near Bridport at the end of May.

It’s 66 years since the US 1st Infantry Division left Dorset to invade Europe and defeat Hitler.

Walditch in World War Two...

... and Walditch nowadays with a member of the World War Two Living History Association.

The event at The Hyde in Walditch has two aims: to honour the young Americans who came to England to fight for freedom, and to raise money for the Help for Heroes charity and the soldiers of today.

Over the weekend of May 29-30, there will be displays of uniforms and weapons as used during World War Two. Visitors are welcome from 10am – 4pm at The Hyde (now a BUPA care home).

Ice-cream, beer, turkey, flame-throwers

Members of the Living History Association have researched the 1st Division’s time near Bridport, and here is a full version of their notes, with details of everything from ice-cream to flame-throwers.

- Back in October 1943 Company E of the 2nd Battalion 16th Infantry Regiment, part of the 1st Infantry Division moved for the winter into Nissen huts at Walditch.

Officers were billeted in The Hyde itself, NCOs in houses in the village.

Pictures may fade, but memories should not

There were hikes and films, rain, Military Police in town, liberal passes, the people were friendly, the First Sgt. got married, there was turkey on Turkey Day and again on Christmas in the big Battalion mess hall, with ice cream and beer besides.

There was cool weather, firing on Symondsbury and Eype Down ranges, a lecture on What We Will Find in Europe, training in street fighting in a bombed-out section of  Weymouth, church on Sundays in Bridport…

In short, the men found England the best place to be next to home.

In January 1944, British General Montgomery reviewed the troops on the cricket field at Bridport, and told them that of all the American Divisions he’d seen, he’d rather fight with the 1st US Division.

In February, they went 86 miles by motor to Barnstaple for assault team training, amphibious operations, attacks on fortified positions, boat landings and obstacle courses.

On the 24th there was a beach landing by the entire Regiment. In March, the Company boarded the U.S.S. Henrico at Weymouth for another practice landing and attack inland. The bright spot in this picture was the chow served by the Navy, which was excellent.

Back in Walditch, James Cagney and cast entertained the troops with Keep ‘Em Rolling.

A Battalion rifle match was won by Company E and on April 2 General Eisenhower came around to inspect, present awards and make a speech.

Any illusions about returning home to the States were dispelled when he said: “The First Division will be one of the last to go home. If nothing else, I’ll just keep you around for good luck.”

From this time on the Division was on alert for the invasion of the continent. They went to Martinstown to train, revisited the U.S.S. Henrico, and assaulted “Able Red” Beach once, then again.

General Heubner, the Division Commander, made a speech.

The Company was organised into 5 assault sections and trained that way, each section equipped with flame throwers, and bangalore torpedoes, and with its own base of fire.

On June 1, they boarded the U.S.S. Henrico again, and when it sailed out from Weymouth harbour on June 5, D-Day and H-Hour were announced.

- It was one of the greatest events in European history.

Editor’s Note: The black and white photographs above are used courtesy of the World War Two Living History Association. To give a fuller flavour of those extraordinary times in 1943-44, I’ve also compiled for this piece a short silent film showing stills of American troops in Burton Bradstock, on the beach, in the pub, in the village school. It’s haunting, to look at all the faces.
12/04/2010 No comments

“Yes, yes, yes”: Last chance to see Dorset thriller Dope Under Thorncombe with live music

Dope Under Thorncombe is a feature film about drug smuggling in West Dorset.

It was shot in the late 1930s, mostly at West Bay and along the coast, though some scenes were filmed inland, such as the gunfight at Eggardon Hill.

The producer was Bridport man Frank Trevett, who inspired his friends and family to act in many roles, on screen and off, to splice together his vision.

There is a glamorous heroine, a handsome hero, an evil gang boss from London, rough matelots, caddish behaviour, a chase, a kidnap…

For many years Dope Under Thorncombe survived as a treat for the descendants of those who made it, watched on special occasions in a mood of excited nostalgia.

Then a copy was passed to the Dorset rural media charity Trilith by Frank’s son, the late Rex Trevett (famous as Bridport’s Mr Music as a musician), and then Rex’s sister Vivien Smith provided the original black-and-white silent film. At which point Trilith director Trevor Bailey sensed a very special opportunity; to commission a score to go with Dope Under Thorncombe and present the newly enhanced film to the wider world.

Dope Under Thorncombe from James Harrison on Vimeo.

“Silent films and music to reflect and enhance their mood always went together,” said Trevor. “Here was a chance to show how the imaginative efforts of a group of friends all those years ago could inspire modern creativity.”

Trevor commissioned the composer Rachael Leach to write a score, which was premiered live earlier this year at Bridport Arts Centre and rapturously received.

Among the comments – Brilliant. Fantastic. Wonderful. Yes, yes, yes.

Now there is one final chance to see Dope Under Thorncombe with live performance of its music at Burton Bradstock Village Hall, 7.30pm, 24 April. To book tickets call 01308-897214.

Vivien Smith will give a short talk about how the film came to be made and the memories that her family and other local people have of their roles.

There will also be a full supporting programme of other Dorset archive films from the Trilith collection.

There were 157 people in the audience at Bridport Arts Centre, 83 of whom filled in questionnaires and this is what they said:

Really good. A joy to watch and listen to.

Excellent.

A great historical document.

(On the importance of saving and exhibiting old films) Very important indeed!

Great fun!

Good to see the films giving us the opportunity to realise how people lived many years ago.

(On the music) In keeping if a little loud. I was delighted that Dope Under Thorncombe had been resurrected. I first saw it in about 1939.

Very enjoyable evening. Fascinating films and local history.

To have live music and the composer here was wonderful.

Thank you. A great evening. Wonderful work you do.

Marvellous music. Great fun.

Hooray!

Music brilliant. Complemented film so well. So important to keep these old films ‘alive’! Well done.

A really informative, lively evening!

Great!!  We need more of this kind of ‘living archive’.

Carry on the good work.

A brilliant performance. Well done.

The film could have been made for the music!

Very entertaining. Thank you.

Excellent score. Great musicians.

Musical accompaniment was a bonus!

The music not only enhanced the film, but could have stood alone as a piece in itself.

Very enjoyable. Thank you.

More Reels to your Spools. A great asset to Dorset especially Amplion.

Great evening – good to see a large audience at the Arts Centre with an old-to-young mix. Music and performers excellent. Please continue funding Trilith.

An excellent evening. Most enjoyable.

Brilliant.

Interesting and historical. First half was a little too long.

Great fun and important stuff!

Wonderful. What a fantastic evening and well done to the funders for supporting a brilliant project!!

Fantastic music – really loved it.

Brilliant!

A very worthwhile thing to do!

It was fantastic.

(How well did the music enhance the film?) Yes, yes, yes.

I wish we could see more of the same.

Absolutely fascinating.

Better than the new animations.

Keep going.

Excellent musicians.

Excellent entertainment – more of the same please.

Music was fantastic – well done. It was perfect!!

A great evening – hope it can be repeated and publicised more widely. A real one-off.

Super to see some local footage – excellently presented and very affordable. Thank you.

It was very, very good! I loved the extra parts. My name is actually Jill Hoskins (nee Trevett).

Keep it up!

Highly entertaining. Surprisingly well made film with quality acting.

Wonderful evening.

Music too loud.

Other films very interesting too!  More please…?

We have greatly enjoyed any Trilith showings we have attended – please go on collecting and preserving all this terrific social history.

Would have liked a simple list of films showing and more info about the film-making and makers (where poss!)

Amazing how it made the film really exciting.

Trip down memory lane. Narrator excellent.

A good evening.

Dates at the end of the films would be good!

Let’s hope there will be more in future.