French hospitality ‘extraordinaire’

Dateline: Normandy, Sunday, June 6th 2010

THIS week’s edition of “Lyme Matters” comes to you from a a typical French cafe in the quaint Normandy village of Creully.

There’s a few locals enjoying the late afternoon sun and an early evening drink outside the Saint-Martin hotel opposite.

I have to admit there’s a certain ‘Allo ‘Allo quality about the scene.

The street would have been very different 66 years ago today when Creully was one of the first Normandy villages to be liberated - by the Canadians from the east and the Royal Dragoon Guards, who came ashore on Gold beach, from the west.

They may well have met right outside the cafe where I am writing this column.

Over the first crucial days following the Normandy landings Creully played a vital role in communications as the Allied Forces embarked on the liberation of Northern Europe.

The BBC set up their recording studios in the tower of the Chateau de Creully to report on the Battle for Normandy.

Churchill met Montgomery in Creully on D-Day+7 to review the campaign. This is a village with serious modern history.

Earlier in the day I was privileged to be among a few footballers from Lyme who placed a wreath at the war memorial of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards who lost 87 men in the fight for Creully.

The Lyme club has done so every year since the 50th anniversary of D-Day when, on our bi-annual twinning visit to US Creully (the village football club), we were asked to do so by the Royal Dragoon Guards Regimental Association (known at the Creully Club).

Our wreath was laid with great dignity by our oldest member, 82 years-old Ted Bignall, former landlord at the Angel Inn.

The Rattenbury brothers - Stephen, Brian and Stuart - stalwarts of this unique twinning arrangement - were present. US Creully were represented by Patrick Marie, a great friend of the Rattenburys and a regular visitor to Lyme over the years.

After a weekend of ceremony and great festivities, I have just waved goodbye to the party from Lyme who travelled over in three mini-buses. They are catching the ferry back from Quisterham this evening.

I travelled independently and will fly back tomorrow from Paris and plan to spend the next couple of hours writing this column and reflecting on a weekend in which the French have entertained their English friends with usual gallic bonhomie and hospitality.

I came out primarily because I wanted to be part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, having enjoyed many visits to Creully over the years, although I am no longer one of the organisers, and also I wanted to report on this unique milestone in British and French grassroots football.

My report with photographs recording the occasion will appear in next week’s View from Lyme Regis.

I was a member of the original party of Lyme players back in 1980 on the very first trip to Cruelly, organised by David Cozens MBE, who was our club manager, and captain Richard Austin.

We were just a bunch of young blokes looking for a good time. We beat the French 8-0, although they improved greatly over the years, and enjoyed a barbecue after the game. We were also introduced to the lethal delights of the local tipple, Calvados, pure fire water which most of us now try to avoid at all costs.

I didn’t actually play in the game because I broke my leg two weeks prior to that first trip in the final of the Axminster Hospital Cup and my left leg was in plaster.

Because of this I was billeted in the local bar, The Renaissance, run by a typical French bartender called Moustache (for obvious reasons). I didn’t get much to eat but rarely went without a full glass in my hand.

One of the highlights of this weekend - apart from beating the French 4-1 (always a pleasure!), was the naming of the road to the Complex Sportif “Allee Lyme Regis”.

It was a simple but memorable ceremony at which the Lyme club chairman Howard Larcombe made a brilliant speech in French with town crier Phil Street, in full garb, contributing a special cry, also in both French and English.

I am pleased to report that the boisterous boys of Lyme Football Club conducted themselves in exemplary fashion - a credit to their club and their country.

Don’t miss My Postcard From Creully in next week’s edition.

No shortage of talent in Lyme

FROM the various theatrical and school stage events I have covered in Lyme over the years, I know that there is plenty of talent in the town.

So I’m hoping that the “Lyme’s Got Talent” contest we are organising as a family as our contribution to this year’s Regatta and Carnival programme will be a great success.

The first auditions take place this coming Sunday (June 11th, 10 am to 12 noon) at the Woodmead Halls with two other auditions being held at the same venue on Sundays June 13th/20th.

The best 12 acts will be invited to participate for the £200 first prize at the “Lyme’s Got Talent” finals to be held on Tuesday, August 10th as part of Regatta and Carnival Week. There will also be runners-up prizes of £100 and £50.

On the finals night, the best three acts will be selected by a panel of judges (to be appointed) and then the audience will pick the final winner.

We have made one change to the original format. Originally we decided that all the acts should be aged 14 and over but due to popular request we have lowered this to ten.

Entry forms are available from the View From offices in St Michael’s Business Centre or acts can just turn up at one of the auditions. They will be given five minutes to give an interim panel of judges an indication of their talent.

The auditions are not open to the public although the acts can bring along friends or parents for support.

Tickets for the finals, priced £6, will go on sale next month.

The whole event is loosely based on the popular TV programme “Britain’s Got Talent” , although it is not our intention to have a “Mr Nasty”, like Simon Cowell, on the panel of judges.

The event is being held at no cost to the Regatta and Carnival Committee who will receive all profits (guaranteed at £250).

www.viewfromonline.co.uk

60 SECONDS INTERVIEW: Tanya Bruce-Lockhart

TANYA Bruce-Lockhart is an impresario of local festivals playing a major part in both the Beaminster Festival and the Bridport Literary Festival. Having moved to Dorset from the capital 12-years-ago, Tanya didn’t want to grow old gracefully and became influential in the local cultural scene.

Having spent a career in TV, working mainly on live shows and arts documentaries, Tanya was the perfect person to handle the pressure of organising a yearly, event packed festival.

In her time in television Tanya worked on 'The Russell Harty Show' and 'The South Bank Show' with Melvyn Bragg, making vital contacts when it comes to bringing the biggest names to West Dorset.

WHAT are you looking forward to at this year’s Beaminster festival?

I have the band of the Coldstream Guards coming down here and they are terrific. They were top of the Classic FM charts for weeks with their album Heroes, which wasn’t just band music it was popular music as well so I’m really looking forward to having them here. Also the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain who are terrific. They are wonderful musicians but they are also very funny. They did a prom last summer in the Royal Albert Hall. Also we have our family Ceilidh which is very important, people always associate Beaminster with the golden oldies but there is a huge youthful community here as well.

WHO does the festival appeal to?

I hope it appeals across the board. There are things like the celebrated conductor Sir Neville Marriner who is one of our patrons, he will appeal to the music connoisseurs. Then you have things like the Ceilidh, which is very much a family event and then we have music workshops for the primary schoolchildren. We also have the Armonico Consort coming down who are going into Beaminster Secondary School to do a musical in a day.

WHAT will be new this year at the Bridport Literary festival?

Last year we had Alexander McCall Smith who was an amazing sell out and I have never seen so many people pouring into Bridport. This year I am trying to get Barry Humphries because he is bringing out a biography of Edna Everage and so he will hopefully talk as Barry about Edna as a sort of psychological profile. Hopefully Barry Humprhies will be the star this year. It’s still in the planning phase but we have got lots of different ingredients.

WHAT have been your highlights in your time on the festivals?

Every year there is a different quality, you think that was a good year and I’m not going to be able to do the same next time round. Sometimes it’s the most surprising things which turn out to be very popular. Last year there was a young man called Horatio Clare who did a travel memoir about following the swallows from southern Africa back to northern Wales and he followed them by foot, by train and by air and managed to get home as they arrived. It was the most enchanting talk because it was a memoir, very much about him but also about this migratory journey. In terms of the musical things I always like the opening ceremony in the square because it brings everybody together. That’s what festivals should be about, you want to bring everybody together.

WHO would be your three dream guests at a dinner party?

I’d have Jonathon Miller because he is a polymath and he can talk about almost anything and I feel an evening with him would be like doing a crash course at university. I could ask him anything and I’m sure he would answer me in a very accessible way. I’d also have Robert De Niro who I did a film with once as a filmmaker and ever since I’ve rather fancied him. The other person who is a great enthusiast is David Attenborough.

WHO are the most interesting celebrities you’ve worked with?

David Niven, who was delightful and charming and everything you’d expect him to be. David Bowie who is probably the most intelligent man of popular music I’ve had to interview and spend time with.

WHAT was the last book you read, film you watched and CD you listened to?

The last book I read was 'Three Cups of Tea' Greg Mortenson, the last CD I listened to was Nick Drake and the last film I watched was The Ghost. I think Pierce Brosnan was a little miscast as the Tony Blair character but it’s a good film and an arresting film but the book is much better, a real page turner.

www.viewfromonline.co.uk

VIEW PROFILE: Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance - Part 2

Flying to the rescue at a moment’s notice

IN the final part of a week feature on the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, View reporter PAUL CROMPTON talks to the pilots and paramedics who respond to thousands of call outs each year.

The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance crew are resting on brown leather sofas, the kettle is starting to boil and the television is switched to a channel no one is really watching.

Apart from their overalls and the model helicopters adorning the shelves the room looks like any other new-build studio flat – then the phone rings, and quickly the ordinary becomes the extraordinary.

A homemade wall chart utilising a plastic toy helicopter and string is checked to see how far in time and nautical air miles the “job” is. The second paramedic gathers together a collection of cutting-edge emergency medical equipment; the pilot has already started the engines; the first paramedic, who took the call, is plotting the route to the accident.

Aircrew Paramedic Jon Penny said: “When we get a shout to a job we get the basic details, type of incident and where it is by a six figure grid reference.

“The pilot and the first paramedic get to the helicopter. Then the second paramedic walks out to it, then we get a quick brief and the pilot goes through the pre-flight checks. This all takes about a minute.

“The first paramedic becomes the flight navigator. At anyone time there is about five or six things going on as well as discussions on what’s happened, what hospital to go to and the treatment needed.

“We re not always the first on scene. It’s not often we are there first so we talk directly to the land crews to make sure the landing is clear and they give us up-to-date reports on the patient which determines if the air ambulance lands.

“We try to get as many up-dates as we can, the more critical the incident the more we get. If it’s on the coast or where there isn’t anyone we might just get one call. So sometime we land and take it as we see it.”

This happens three to four times a day on average in Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, however during the summer months they can be called up to eight or nine times a day.

Approximately once or twice a month the charity run service for the people of Dorset and Somerset get a call to a really critical situation. It’s a service, which more often than not means the difference between someone surviving that critical situation or dying.

One pilot and two paramedics work every day and go out on all shouts during their morning to dusk shift. The helicopter cannot run past those hours due to the nature of the service, which is legally entitled to land anywhere. The helicopter will often circle the landing spot a couple of times to “recce” the area to ensure it is safe to land. Past dusk the possibility of hitting power-lines and other obstacles become a very real threat as visibility decreases.

“I was paramedic on the road and there are different routes you can go such as become a Clinical Support Officer, or one of the options was to become an air crew paramedic,” said Jon, who has been a paramedic with the air ambulance for three years and nine years in total with the NHS.

“I choose that because the air crew get a lot of exposure to the real jobs; quite regularly, we’re involved in an awful lot of trauma incident, and I thought that was the one for me. I love the job I do. The harder the job the more I get out of it.”

On any given day the crew will attend anything from heart attacks to explosions and road traffic accidents which is where the serious injuries occur and the air ambulance becomes a vital tool in saving the critically ill.

Specialist hospitals save lives but the speed and access to victims afforded by the air ambulance in transporting patients to those hospitals, especially in coastal and road accidents, is key to the services 10 years of success.

Jon explains many of the roads in the two counties are single vehicle width, so the helicopter benefits from its ability to “drop” into the field next to the road, whereas a road ambulance could be caught up in traffic, which slows it down.

The charity provides the paramedics with everything they need, including training beyond that required by land based paramedics and cutting edge technology. One devise, the Intro Ostrius, was perfected during the middle-eastern conflict.

Jon said: “We use these devises on critically ill patients when, more often than not the land crews cannot gain intravenous access, because these are poorly people. The IO is a last ditch piece of equipment and something’s going really wrong if we need it. And that’s just one piece of equipment, we’ve got lots.

“The good thing with the air ambulance is we have two paramedics whereas a land ambulance has one driver and one paramedic. Both of us might have to work fairly hard with a critically ill patient, so we don’t take two patients because it’s not fair. In the case of a road traffic accident where there is three or four people in each car that obviously delegates the ambulance service in the area because there is not an ambulance per person. So what we can do is shuttle round and take the critically ill person to hospital and go back for more.”

Currently two pilots work on a rolling rota of five days on and five days off, but if both are on holiday a registered pilot is brought in for the day or week to fly the helicopter.

One of the regular pilots, Phil Merritt, always wanted to the job and previously spent 19 years flying a number of different types of helicopters for the Royal Air Force.

Then when he left the forces he thought of the possible jobs he might apply for, the role and operation of air ambulances seemed the most interesting and most suitable for him, given his previous experience.

Now employed by Bond Air Services, he says he hasn’t looked back since starting the “immensely satisfying, challenging and enjoyable” job.

He explains the key role the helicopter plays is in allowing the service to take a patient from the scene of the incident to the most appropriate hospital very quickly.

“This means that the patient will start to receive the required definitive care sooner than might otherwise have been the case,” he said. “Their pain can be managed more quickly and specialist medical care provided which will allow a speedier recovery.

“The speed of the helicopter can reduce the time that the patient is in pain and can, by bringing them to hospital quickly, save lives.

“This means that even in the most dire of situations people are very pleased to see us and are appreciative of our assistance.”

“It gives me great job satisfaction and pleasure in being able to help people who are hurt or unwell by bringing the medical experts to them.”

The Air Ambulance will be celebrating their 10th anniversary on Saturday, June 12th.

For more information on the service visit www.dorsetandsomersetairambulance.org.uk

PICTURE: Former Royal Air Force pilot Phil Merriot enjoys the challenges faced everyday working for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance

www.viewfromonline.co.uk

Please slow down

QUIET residential streets are no place for drag racing but that is what residents in one area of Weymouth faced the other day.

Admittedly it was drag racing with a difference – a car dragging a trailer – but it was still searing pace where there should be no pace at all.

Conservative estimates from angry householders put the driver’s speed at 50-60mph – double the speed limit — and all that in a road where children were playing in front gardens.

One chase to recover an elusive football and it would have been tragedy because the driver would have struggled to spot a child nevermind stop in time to avoid hitting them.

You’d have thought that towing an attachment would have forced the driver to slow down but the way the trailer rattled, bounced and shook about didn’t show much care to me.

Being cynical, nothing will happen to such drivers unless they run over Downing Street’s coalition cat and even then they’ll probably make a fortune from selling their story.

The luminous glow of lobsters

LOBSTERS are in season again and I mean the human kind.

Just a glimpse of sunshine and people shed clothes like a bad case of dandruff.

Some of those I saw heading for the beach up St Thomas Street and St Mary Street in Weymouth were already on the way, their Mohican haircuts, slashed sundresses and designer cut-off camouflage shorts fetchingly set off by already pink shoulders, backs and glowing faces.

Women displayed wonderful examples of a short memory since some had clearly been recently basking before because they had one and sometimes even two white stripes down their backs. That’s half way to being able to play noughts and crosses!

If it’s like this now then Weymouth has wasted thousands of pounds on new seafront lighting.

The council could have spent the money on a new “car park full” sign and instead illuminated the Esplanade by attaching a couple of crocodile clips to overheated sun worshippers.

Everybody got that?

OFFICIAL jargon has long been a thorn in the side of clear English.

Below is an awful offering involving Portland which is available from the Admiralty under their website list of Frequently Asked Questions, believe it or not as an official explanation for tides.

It reads: “The technical reason for the migration from a double LW to a double HW is the rapid change in the phase of the principle lunar semi-diurnal harmonic constituent (M2) between Portland and Southampton, which then directly affects the higher harmonic constituents of the Shallow Water Tide. The presence of the degenerate amphidromic point lying to the northwest of Bournemouth results in further complexities of the local tidal regime.”

Everyone got that? I certainly didn’t, so it was interesting to note the response of one English master who believed the word “principle” had been used incorrectly.

He also pointed out that anything “northwest of Bournemouth” was, in fact, inland and so unlikely to be of much use in a discussion about tides!

My favourite comment came from a friend who read it and said: “I think I met a degenerate amphidromic in a Bangkok bar once!”

Beware: Fresh cream ahead!

COUNCILLORS have to be a fairly durable bunch of people but I recently saw a whole bunch of them looking extremely nervous indeed.

Was it some irate public group lashing into them about traffic congestion, town centre trading or anti-social behaviour? No it was not.

The civic fearful were actually at a Weymouth Pavilion celebration welcoming in one of their number, Paul Kimber, as the new Mayor. So why were they so frightened?

Well the group I saw had every reason to look worried because they were trying to stay out of the way of an enormous tottering pile of rich creamy deserts being gingerly wheeled towards the central food area!

The Ocean Room was so packed there was little room for manoeuvre and the councillors concerned were clearly worried that they could end up with a hefty dry cleaning bill!

No missing this one!

THERE was a time when public conveniences were sturdy brick buildings lined with tiles but not any more.

Surely there has never been a loo like the one which was being transported on the back of a lorry through the town.

There was no other description for it but lurid pink and more and more heads turned to look at it as the loo made its stately way down King Street.

I couldn’t begin to guess at the thinking behind such a colour scheme but at least it achieved one thing. No one would ever have trouble finding it no matter how dense the crowds at its destination.

www.viewfromonline.co.uk

Why Whistler’s Wood must be saved

FEELINGS are running high in the Pound Street area of Lyme Regis over the possibility of Whilster’s Wood being developed by eco-homes.

This is not a new story.

The owner of the land, Quentin Craven inherited the land from his parents who were passionate about the wood which runs from Little Place in Silver Street, down to Pound Street - the only green area left in the town, once referred to as the “Lung of Lyme”.

The wood is known locally as “Whistler’s Wood” after the Whistler family who used to live in Little Place.

Sir Lawrence Whistler was a man of great reknown, being the Queen’s official glass engraver and an accomplished writer and poet.

He tried to bequeath the wood to Dorset County Council to protect it for all time, but negotiations finally foundered because the county felt it would be too expensive to protect and maintained.

I was lucky enough, as a little lad, to play ocasionally with the Whistler children in the wood because my mother was in service at Little Place.

My interest in this may be motivated by nostalgia but I am fully behind the group of residents who are contemplating forming a trust to protect the important amenity.

Mr Craven tried to get three houses built on the site and then applied for two. He was turned down by West Dorset planners but is now planning to appeal.

Fear that the Government inspector might grant his appeal has mobilised the residents into trying to protect the wood for all time.

They held a public meeting last week at which Daniel Whistler, the son of Sir Lawrence and Theresa Whistler, returned to his home town.

Mr Craven’s representative, design consultant Stuart Case, bravely attended the meeting and put forward the view that the best way to protect the wood would be allow the two units to be built, generating the necessary funds for its protection.

It was an argument that did not wash with the concerned residents.

They are now planning to meet Mr Craven in the hope of coming to an amicable arangement which will not include the building of homes, no matter how eco-friendly, in this charming and essential town centre open space.

Bad news week for Lyme

A DAY rarely passes when Lyme Regis does not feature in a national newspaper or in an obscure website, sometimes with the most bizarre references (some of which I have highlighted in this column in recent years).

Last week I discovered, via Google Alerts, that a German shoe manufacturer has named one of their boots after Lyme!

Most references are of a highly complimentary nature, underlining Lyme’s reputation of one of the prettiest towns in England.

But it’s not been a good week for Lyme on the publicity front. First we read that our town is one of the most expensive to live in, property-wise.

Then there was Lyme being named as one of the most unfriendly in England by a Virgin survey (I wouldn’t take much notice of that) and then the big one - the annual report by the Marine Conservation Society placed Lyme in a list of resorts where the bathing water was of a very low standard.

This appeared in The Times and prompted a quick response from Lyme Regis Town Council as a damage limitation exercise before the Bank Holiday. TV cameras were then in town on Monday, allegedly filming raw sewage flowing into the River Lym.

We should not underestimate the damage that this may do to the tourist trade in Lyme but we should remember that we pay the highest water rates in the country so our ire should be directed at South West Water.

Having spent millions on a new sewage treatment plant there can be no excuse for raw sewage being deposited into the sea in this day and age.

EVENT OF THE WEEK

I NEVER tire of looking at old photographs of Lyme so the Old Lyme exhibition being staged at the Malthouse at the Town Mill was a must event for me this week.

As always, Ken Gollop and Graham Davies have done a superb job on behalf of Lyme Regis Museum in presenting a photographic record of all sections of the town over the last 100 years or so.

There were countless images that brought many childhood memories flooding back, especially the Searchlight Tattoos in the 1950s that Cecil Quick used to organise on behalf of the Royal British Legion at Middle Mill.

I can well remember our family sitting on Bumpy Field, along with hundreds of others, watching the spectacular events such as motorcyclists riding through hoops of fire. My dad was a firemen so there was an additional interest for us as the Lyme Brigade always staged some sort of exercise.

It was a hugely ambitious event, brilliantly organised by Mr Quick and the Legion members, which necessitated the building of a huge wooden bridge to get the vehicles onto the tattoo site.

Other photos that caught my eye were of the over 60s walking race from the Dolphin Inn held on Regatta Day. It all started with a bet between customers at the cider house. Huge crowds gathered in Mill Green to see the race in which characters such as Chaffey and Winkle Solway competed.

Another event which I had forgotten about was the “Chinatown” children’s sports, also in the 1950s. As all locals will know, “Chinatown” was the Colway Mead estate, so called because the first residents were mainly from the laundry in Mill Green.

I suspect the exhibition is just as interesting to visitors as locals but if you have not seen it, it is worth a stroll down to the Town Mill.

Well done to Ken Gollop and Graham Davies for putting the exhibition together and to the museum for staging it in their usual professional manner.

It was the first event held in the new Malthouse, due for official opening on Saturday, an impressive venue which will be greatly used in the coming years.

www.viewfromonline.co.uk

VIEW PROFILE: Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance

Saving lives for 10 years

IN the first of a two part series to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambuance, View Reporter PAUL CROMPTON talks to the people behind the valuable service.

Here he talks to the fundraisers that keep the helicopter flying 365 days a year and hears survivors’ stories of how the air ambulance helped saved their lives.

FOR Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance there are no holidays; lives need saving 365 days of the year.

From Hospital transfers to life threatening road traffic collisions the iconic yellow helicopter and its crew are just 19 minutes away from any incident, anywhere in the two counties.

However, this month sees the charity organisation taking a rare moment to relax as they celebrate 10 years of saving lives. In the past decade the service has responded to over 7,000 incidents, last year alone saw the crew attend 982 incidents, whether it’s a Sunday morning or a Wednesday afternoon the two pilots and four paramedics are on call.

Having recently moved to a new, purpose built airbase headquarters on the Henstridge Airfield the charity is now a fully integrated member of the rescue service family. Teaming up with hospitals and land based ambulances to provide vital help to Dorset and Somerset’s residents.

Dorchester County Hospital is the main emergency provider the helicopter flies to because it takes all emergency cases, and with its helipad right outside A and E, it is the perfect place when seconds, never mind minutes, can make all the difference.

The helicopter flies to specialist hospitals such as Exeter and Bournemouth only when the patient can be stabilised enough to make the extra flight time.

Very often it’s the patients whose lives have been saved that regularly get together to hold coffee mornings, bring-and-buy sales and various ingenious fundraising events to generate some of the £1.4 million a year needed to keep the service running.

With the cost of fuel going sky-high the daily expense of running the service has risen by £300 to £3,800 a day. That’s without the paramedic’s salary, which is the only part of the set up that is paid for by the National Health Service. Even the paramedic’s up-to-date and extensive training is paid for by the charity.

DSAA’s marketing and communications officer Tracy Bartram said: “We basically rely on volunteers to help. 100 per cent of the costs have to be found by the public.

“I think of initiatives that will raise funds for us without the public having to give us money. We have a textiles recycling scheme where people can throw away old clothes or another one where we collect old bras. At the same time we are always trying to raise awareness of the charity.

“Our volunteers give so much time and effort for the charity. They are asked to form groups and societies and we rely on volunteers to do that for us because the paid people cannot be in 10 places at once. We want to support people who are supporting us and show support to people donating money to us.

“One thing we do really, really well is support people who support us. I can hold my head up and say that with the small amount of staff we have.

“A lot of people love working for such a good cause. In my job you come across so many different people and every single one of those is special in a way.

“It’s an emotional job but so rewarding. You speak to the guys and they’re telling you stories every day about their call outs. I think people feel proud and privileged to look up and see the helicopter and say that’s ours. I think they feel proud to be helping something that’s running so well.”

The helicopter is leased from Bond Services, who provide most of the ambulances throughout the country. By renting the helicopters they are up-dated every few years and repairs are fixed within a day or a replacement helicopter is brought in.

The current airbase, which visitors say is one of the best in the country, is run on a peppercorn lease from the airfield’s owner, who charges a minimal rent to the organisation which gives them tenants rights.

With its head office in Wellington, there are nine permanent staff with two dedicated fundraisers co-ordinating the organisations bank of about 80 volunteers of which around half tend to be active and do activities for the charity. However, recruiting is vital for the charity to carry on moving forward.

For the charity’s 10th birthday they have put together a DVD featuring 10 accident patients whose lives have been saved by the organisation.

One of those featuring on the DVD is 15-year-old Sophie Pope, who was airlifted to hospital when her horse kicked out, fracturing her vertebrae and knocking her unconscious.

Because of the location of the accident a land ambulance would have taken an hour and half to ferry her to hospital. The then 11-year-old was taken to Southampton hospital in less than eight and a half minutes by helicopter where she spent 10 days in intensive care.

Sophie is one of those who felt inspired to raise money for the charity after her convalescence, despite admitting to not knowing about the service before her accident.

Sophie said her family were now great supporters of the air ambulance and were so grateful they were thinking of becoming volunteers.

“We didn’t know the air ambulance existed before the accident because I don’t think it’s as well promoted as the police or land ambulance. Most people don’t know it exists until they need it,” she said.

“I don’t know what would have happened if I would’ve had to go the hour and a half by land ambulance. I would say this service helped save my life. I don’t know what you can say to someone who saves your life, just thank you.”

www.viewfromonline.co.uk

60 SECONDS INTERVIEW: Amanda Streatfield

BRIDPORT Food Festival is just around the corner and with that in mind we caught up with one of its leading players, Amanda Streatfield.

Amanda has been involved with the festival since its second year and this year there are plans to make it the biggest yet.

As well as working hard to organise the festival Amanda is also a Director of major local food producers Denhay Farm alongside her husband George and recently helped out the town by offering up land to help ease the local allotment waiting list.

Amanda is also passionate about her village of Symondsbury where she is Chairman of the parish council. In her remaining spare time Amanda relaxes by singing with the Broadoak Village Choir.

The Bridport Food Festival runs from Sunday, June 13th to June 20th.

WHAT do you like most about Bridport?

It’s a town with a great community spirit. The actual town itself is very attractive and the big wide streets and wide pavements make it a special town. The fact we have a very vibrant market on a Wednesday and a Saturday is great and there are so many activities going on.

WHAT would you like to change about the area?

We have this amazing food culture here with lots of good places to eat and lovely food shops, which I think are very special to Bridport. But, i’d love to see more independent shops in the centre of Bridport, that’s something that could make Bridport even more special.

WHAT can people expect to see at the food festival this year?

This year I’m really thrilled because we are doing more things in the town in the week beforehand. We’ve got the Electric Palace, Waitrose and the community orchard all doing special events. There is cider tasting in Bucky Doo square on the Friday and a chutney competition on the Wednesday and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall is opening it up on the Friday. On Saturday we are very much focusing on the real local people and local chefs. We have got a new seafood tent this year where people will not only be selling seafood but talking about it and demonstrating different things you can do with it. I think that will be very exciting because part of Bridport is being so close to the sea.

WHY did you recently decide to offer land to the council for allotments?

The council have taken that on and I’m really pleased about it. It has been a nice area but I feel it could be appreciated more. I hadn’t realised there was quite such a waiting list for allotments so it would be great to help that.

IS IT important to grow your own then?

Oh yes, it’s terribly important. I’m lucky I’ve got a garden where I can grow things, or rather George does, and I pick them, and it’s a real joy to be able to do it. There is nothing better than being able to go out in the evening, dig up a potato plant and cook those potatoes straightaway. I think the more people who get the chance to do that the better.

AS chairman of the parish council, what are the issues affecting Symondsbury at the moment?

Well obviously there is the dreaded waste transfer station. We attended the recent exhibition and looked at the sites which are proposed in the Symondsbury parish and we are not very happy with them. We feel they are really not suitable for our very rural landscape. Affordable housing is the other thing. We are trying to get some schemes together for more affordable housing either in the village or very close by.

WHAT are your favourites songs to sing with the choir?

We did “The Lord Is My Shepherd” which is the theme from “The Vicar of Dibley” which we all enjoyed singing. We are very lucky that our choirmaster is the composer Chris Reynolds and he writes some really lovely contemporary music which we all enjoy.

WHO would be your three dream guests at a dinner party?

Stephen Fry because I think he is one of the most entertaining people ever who has such a huge knowledge of just about everything there is. David Attenborough, I worked for him at a distance when I worked at the BBC, he made such an impression on me as a child on wildlife issues. Betty Boothroyd, she was a such a brilliant example of how you can be a real diplomat as speaker of the house of commons and to be the first woman speaker was a brilliant achievement.

www.viewfromonline.co.uk