Bridport Museum curator leaves for Chartwell
BRIDPORT Museum curator Alice Martin is leaving to become house and collections manager at Sir Winston Churchill’s old house, Chartwell in Kent. “I went there once when I was a kid,” she said. “Now I get to live in the house. It will be fantastic. “I’m also looking forward to working for the National Trust.” [...]
Bridport: Much ado about Bucky-Doo
BRIDPORT’S first gig Bucky-Doo has been launched at West Bay. The weather was drizzly, and the sky was overcast, but the chairman of Bridport Gig Rowing Club Mike Carter was thrilled – even if he didn’t get to go out on the water himself. “It’s been a fantastic event,” he said, “a year’s achievement has [...]
Bridport: Children’s gigs to brighten beach
FIFTY ONE cardboard gigs have been painted by children at Symondsbury School near Bridport, and they’ll all be displayed at West Bay this Sunday (April 25). Bridport’s new Gig Rowing Club has organised the Beach Boats event on East Beach between 11am and 2pm. Club chair Mike Carter will present a model gig to the maker [...]
“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 [...]
Fifty years at the Riverside in West Bay
EXACTLY fifty years ago, on March 12th, 1960, the Watson family took over the Riverside Cafe and Post Office in West Bay. The Post Office was busy and the Cafe was mostly used by holidaymakers staying on the municipal camping ground, and coach parties from Dorchester, Yeovil, Chard, and Taunton. Locals enjoyed playing dominoes there. March 12, [...]
The 28th Lecture About Everything: Fish stocks off the Dorset coast
DAVE SALES, a shellfisherman for over fifty years, has worked the Dorset Coast from Poole to West Bay. In the course of his long career, he has experienced many changes in the industry. He has been a member of the Southern Sea Fisheries Committee for more than forty years and studied the fishing industry in [...]
Musical premiere for West Bay melodrama
COMPOSER Rachel Leach has created a dramatic score to bring to life a silent film made in Bridport in the late 1930s. Dope Under Thorncombe, a melodrama based around West Bay, was made by local people under the direction of amateur filmmaker Frank Trevett. His daughter, Vivienne Smith, pictured with the camera that captured the [...]