“Legend has it that the villages of Puddletown and Briantspuddle, which used to contain the word ‘piddle’, changed their village titles to avoid embarrassing Queen Victoria whilst she was visiting.” So says the newly-published Little Book of Dorset. Is it true?
Posts tagged “Dorset”
A view of the coast road - long since crumbled away - between Lyme Regis and Charmouth. Artist and date unknown.
Bridport-based arts and heritage specialist Crystal Johnson explains why she’d like you to share any knowledge you might have about Dorset’s historic connections with artists.
FOR CENTURIES Dorset’s landscapes have inspired authors, poets, scientists and artists.
More than 40% of the county is classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), including virtually the whole of West Dorset (click on this link for a map of the Dorset AONB).
One of the AONB’s special qualities is its “rich legacy of cultural associations”.
I am now looking for information on artists who worked in Dorset in the past and depicted land, sea or townscapes.
I am interested in all levels of detail: names, views, people’s lives… There is no pre-determined time period. I am interested in anything that might tell us about the past or form a record of our current environment for the future.
Working in partnership with Dorset’s AONB team, I am hoping to put together a comprehensive art-historical record to see where artistic interpretations can be used to pin-point and demonstrate landscape changes over time.
We want to present the cultural legacy left by visual artists who lived and visited Dorset’s AONB in a way that will inspire new ways of appreciating, understanding and managing the area now and in the future.
Plans for Dorset AONB art walks
Although it is only at a very early stage, I hope my researches might inform a range of projects.
One of these projects could be the development of self-guided walks inspired by artists’ depictions of the landscape.
We could perhaps put together a map pinpointing viewpoints, images of artists’ work from those same viewpoints, biographical information about artists and their relationship to a particular place.
One aim would be to explore how and why Dorset’s landscapes have changed.
We would also want to give walkers relevant local historical, geographical and natural information as they progress through the countryside.
Information on local facilities such as local transport links, places to eat and other amenities would also be included to ensure that walks are well planned and easy to undertake.
I hope that research will identify views and artworks, show how suitable (or unsuitable) different locations might be, and reveal what potential there really is for informative and enjoyable walks.
It may also be possible to develop linked activities such as landscape exhibitions, work with local schools and artist-led community projects.
The range and viability of activities will be explored through the research phase, together with an exploration of potential funding sources.
So, if you can help, please do. You can contact me by email at
Crystal.johnson1@virgin.net
Thank you!
Parents of children aged four to six are being asked to provide their own fruit & veg after half-term until new supplier can be found for Dorset schools.
FOR years parents whose children go to Loders School have found it hard to resist raising an awful question.
Generally discussed in playground-style huddles, this question has long given a delicious frisson of dread.
It is: What will happen when headmaster Mike Kite finally decides to retire?
Loders School
Last year when Loders was inspected by Ofsted, this small village school near Bridport was found to be outstanding in every respect.
“Many [parents] commented on the inspirational leadership of the headteacher and it is this that provides the key to the school’s success. The headteacher has a positive ‘can do’ attitude and this permeates through the whole school from the headteacher himself to staff, governors, parents and children. No problem is too big to be surmounted.”
The problem now is that the time has finally come when Mr Kite, aged 62, has decided that he wishes to work rather less intensively than he has for the last 25 years.
His first plan – as explained in a letter – was to retire altogether in July.
But as everyone concerned with the school is reluctant to let him go – as some of what makes Loders special would inevitably go with him – another course of action is first being explored.
Loders has become the first school in Dorset to advertise for a Co-Head, that is, effectively, a job-sharing arrangement. It is, as Mr Kite says, unusual but by no means unique. About 40 other schools nationwide have co-heads.
The aim of Loders’ governors is to set up a mechanism for succession, an extended handover. It will be fascinating to see whether they succeed, at a time when a survey just last week found “a dire shortage of applicants” for headteachers’ jobs. More than a third of primary schools (35%) have to re-advertise.
If no co-head of sufficient calibre can be found for Loders, then Mr Kite will retire in July, and the school’s headship will be re-advertised on a conventional basis.
“Whichever route is taken,” says Mr Kite, “you can be sure that the governors will do an extremely thorough job – second-best is not an acceptable option for Loders School.”
More details of what’s proposed can be found on the dorsetforyou website.
Editor’s Note: I should say that when I qualified as a teacher, Mr Kite was one of my mentors, and I looked up to him as a flicker of light does to a star…