60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Chris Lovejoy

HISTORY enthusiast Chris Lovejoy first moved to Lyme Regis in 1997 and has lived between the seaside resort and Axminster in East Devon ever since. Originally from Newbury, Chris grew up in Kent and London before travelling overseas and spending seven years in an ashram in Pune, India. After varying careers, from lawyer to furniture restorer, he now runs history tours of Lyme Regis and this summer is taking on the town’s popular ghost tours. Chris lives with wife Judy and their two cats.

WHAT did you do before running the Lyme Regis History Walks?

I have had many jobs in my life – lawyer, prison probation officer, therapist, creative arts administrator, furniture restorer, ESL teacher, to name just a few. I used to think it was a defect of my character that I always wanted to do different things rather than sticking with one career, but now I’m grateful for all the knowledge and experience I’ve gained over the years. 

WHY did you start up the history walks? 

One day, walking along Sherborne Lane, I had a sudden overwhelming impression of hearing the tramping of heavy boots and deep gutteral voices. Although over in a split second, this strange “vision” inspired me to look deeper into town history and I later discovered that this area was one of the front lines of combat during the Siege of Lyme in the Civil War. The more I read the more I was amazed at the richness and variety of Lyme’s past and realised that, while its literary heritage and palaeontology was well represented by others, no one, at that time, was presenting the broader history of the town to our visitors. So I started Lyme History Walks. This will be our third season.

TELL us a little about the walks... 

The walks take place on Mondays and Saturdays at 11am from March to September, last an hour and a half and are suitable to anyone with average walking ability. Visitors can now pre-book a walk through the museum. From a humble medieval settlement of monks to a great Elizabethan port, through its subsequent decline and 18th century resurrection as a fashionable resort up to the present day, we meet many of  the remarkable men and women who played their part in Lyme’s evolving story. I tell tales from their lives, recount key events, introducing smugglers and buccaneers, artists, rebels, scientists and philanthropists, the humble and the fashionable who all left their mark on the town.

WHAT’S your favourite Lyme Regis historical link or story?       

I love to talk about Thomas Coram and the Foundling Hospital, and tell the story of Lassie, the Pilot Boat dog who saved the life of a sailor. Henry Fielding’s attempted abduction of a local lass is also a great story.

WHY did you decide to take on the ghost walks this summer?

I decided to take on the ghost walks as an exciting challenge. Despite the great training and support he has given me, I know Carl Salter will be a hard act to follow.

WHAT can those taking part expect from the Ghost Walks? 

The ghost walks are above all good entertainment for all the family. Participants can expect a blend of local folklore, scary (but not too scary!) stories, spooky jokes, sound effects and slapstick. They will start in May, every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30pm for an hour throughout the season from the museum or other named venue.

WHAT are your other personal interests?

Meditation is my greatest joy. I can’t imagine my life without it. I play the piano and keyboard and enjoy all kinds of music alone. I also love being around most kinds of animals.

WHAT do you like about living in this area?

I love the warm, easygoing nature of the local people and the soft blend of rural and ocean landscape, so good for walking.

WHAT would you add to or change about the area if you could?

I would revive the old Axminster to Lyme Regis branch line, closed in 1965. I believe this could solve a lot of our traffic problems.

WHAT would you do if you won the Lottery?

I would start a foundation for teaching meditation in prisons and open an animal rescue centre.

WHICH three people would you invite to a dream dinner party?

I would invite three of my favourite comedians/comic actors - Lenny Henry, Sandy Toksvig and Giles Brandreth.

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Just one of those meetings!

WELL, I nearly got it right. A few weeks ago I offered, somewhat tongue in cheek, odds of 12-1 that Chris Clipson would be our next mayor, although I did say that Sally Holman serving a third term was a good outside bet.

I’ve never been very good at picking winners of the four-legged kind and so it proved with the choosing of the mayor elect.

By the time it got to last Wednesday’s council meeting it was pretty common knowledge that it would be a two-horse race and it seemed that Sally would be first past the post. The big surprise to everyone was that the council’s most influential member, Mark Gage, chairman of the all-powerful Strategy and Policy Committee, would not be present at the meeting.  Councillor Gage tendered his apologies as he was on holiday.

I’m not sure his presence would have altered the decision to give Sally a third term. With Councillor Chris Clipson being one of the “gang of four” that put up at the last election, catapulting Councillor Gage into the top job, it is likely that he would have voted for Councillor Clipson. 

Had he done so, there would have been six votes cast for each candidate so Sally would  have been required to have exercised her right to a casting vote. Not the ideal way to elect a mayor but it has happened on several occasions in the past.

But it was a significant vote. Since the last election the new faces on the council, led by Councillor Gage, have won virtually every vote, many of them ten votes to four. This was the biggest vote they had lost and shows that not everything is cut and dried, which is a good thing for local democracy.

With the council split asunder by so many issues, there were a number of councillors who felt it important to have an experienced and steady hand on the tiller.

If the position of mayor survives, I am sure Chris Clipson, who has thrown himself into the role of councillor with great gusto, will get another chance to serve as First Citizen.

Wednesday was one of those meetings that occasionally happen in the Guildhall. It was not a good advertisement for local government. I don’t know what new member Jill Newton, who has filled the vacancy left by Barbara Austin, thought of it. 

“What have I done?” might well have been her reaction.

Don’t worry Jill, it will get better.

There has been much falling out over the dispute with the Woodmead Halls over the running of the public toilets. When we reported that there was a veiled threat to withdraw the free parking passes for volunteers, I wrote in this column that it was likely to be a huge PR faux pas. And so it has proved.

Common sense has prevailed, as usually happens after a spat like this, parking passes have been renewed and a new agreement is being prepared for signature.

The council now has more important issues to occupy them, not least all the problems at Monmouth Beach.

And there’s a new town clerk and deputy town clerk in place to learn the ropes.

Should our MP be given a column?

AN interesting discussion on Facebook last week questioned whether local newspapers should allow MP Oliver Letwin to write a regular column.

Both Matt Puddy, a keen commentator on local affairs, and  boatman/photographer Doug Chalk were of the opinion that writing a column in the Bridport & Lyme Regis News and in the View From series in West Dorset gave Oliver Letwin an unfair advantage over his political opponents.

It is quite common in publishing circles for local newspapers to offer their MP a regular column irrespective of political persuasion.

Oliver Letwin has been writing in the Bridport News, View from Bridport and View from Dorchester for several years. 

We have only recently extended that courtesy to Mr Letwin to the View from Lyme Regis, mainly because some Tories in Lyme complained that we were showing our political affiliation by not publishing his column.

It is important to make the point that Mr Letwin’s views are not those of this newspaper, which has no political affiliation, nor indeed mine. If he loses the next election, and it could well be a close-run thing, whoever becomes MP will be accorded the privilege of writing a regular column in the View. 

It should also be remembered that an elected MP represents all his constituents, not just those who voted for him, and the column gives all voters the opportunity to see what he is up to at Westminster.

Those who disagree strongly with any views expressed in his column can always put their point of view through out letters page.

Finally, can I make it clear that Mr Letwin receives no fee for his column.

EVENT OF THE WEEK... 

LYME enjoyed a very busy Easter despite it being one of the coldest on record. And with a bitter wind whistling down Broad Street, it was good to see so many entries in the annual Easter Bonnet Parade and a large crowd cheering them on.

This event was the baby of Barbara Austin MBE, sadly no longer with us, so it was essential that the event was as popular as it has always been.

Town crier Alan Vian and his wife Lynne, supported by a number of Regatta and Carnival helpers, and the wonderful Judith Pothecary, who gave Barbara such support over the years, all pitching in to make sure the parade was the usual big attraction.

It always amazes me how many visitors take part in what started out as a purely local event and this year proved no exception.

A special word of praise should go to the Lyme Majorettes who had to brave the cold in their skimpy outfits. Some of the little ones looked positively frozen but won warm applause from the hundreds lining the streets.

Closing Broad Street for the parade turned out to be a real challenge this year with so much traffic passing through Lyme on Easter Day,  but the event went off smoothly and Barbara would have been proud that her special event lives on.

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Don’t worry - just ride on the pavement

THOSE in charge of our surroundings frequently mystify us with their decisions and the new cycle route on Chickerell Road in Weymouth is a case in point.

A cyclist drew my attention to it because he was so confused by all the work that he wasn’t sure where he should be pedalling.

Now you may think there should be little confusion over a nice clearly marked lane for cyclists along what is a very busy road.

But the reason why the cyclist was so confused was because the new cycle lane is marked out... along an existing pavement! 

The stretch from Granby to Fiveways is dotted with little white cycle symbols but they are all on the pavement not the road.

This masterstroke apparently combining pedestrian and cycle traffic on the same stretch of pavement didn’t just bewilder the cyclist but seriously worried him.

As he pointed out, there are numerous old people’s homes, bungalows and facilities just off this part of Chickerell Road.

They must have struck a chord with those installing the new cycle route because, where the pavement dips to allow cars access to be parked outside these homes, a green “carpet” has been laid on the entry road complete with a glaring white bicycle symbol painted on it.

Cyclists clearly don’t need to be alerted to the presence of pedestrians because they are riding on a pavement but, to use the words of the worried cyclist who talked to me, he had nightmare visions of speeding cyclists meeting less than speedy octogenarians thrusting zimmer frames in front of them.

The carnage this could potentially cause when you delicately stir in an occasional vehicle crossing both their paths at right angles makes your eyes water just thinking about it.

Perhaps the authorities know something we don’t... or perhaps we’ve spotted something the authorities have missed. 

Whichever, everyone using this particular stretch of pavement has got a bit more to think about than they did before the works!

Messaging the council from the bottom of a pothole

I’M having to text this story to the outside world in the hope that someone sees it because I’m currently marooned in Weymouth at the bottom of a pothole in Chafeys Avenue.

It was my own stupid fault. After all, when you drive down an ordinary residential road these days you must expect to have your car occasionally disappear without trace into something the size of Jeremy Clarkson’s mouth.

I’ve tried shouting for help, but I’m so far below ground level that it could be days before anyone hears or several years before help arrives if I’m pinning my hopes on being discovered by a passing council pothole repair crew.

Experts tell us that so little has been done to finance staying on top of pothole repairs that it will take years and cost billions just to catch up to where we are now. By that time it won’t be roads with holes in but holes linked by small bits of road.

There are boneshaking experiences to be sampled from Upwey to Easton and it is no wonder garages across the nation are reporting a sharp rise in damage to vehicles caused by potholes which, in some instances, can run into thousands of pounds.

So watch out for a particularly big pothole in Chafeys Avenue and, if you are feeling charitable, could you alert the council to my whereabouts while throwing me down a sandwich or two because I haven’t eaten since last Tuesday.

Definite cause for celebration!

SOME of you may have been wondering why all the churches were ringing their bells in celebration the other day.

So I’d better announce that my new run of blackberry wine has been a great success and seems to promise many delicious glasses to come once all 17 gallons have been allowed to settle for a month ready for bottling.

There were a few hiccups along the way, not from tasting or imbibing but through mistakes I made while racking the wine off to get rid of sludge.

This saw everything happen from wilful jets of wine suddenly squirting free of tubing all over the floor to one nasty scenario where a demijohn was nearly full of racked off wine only for me to realise I hadn’t cleaned the next one to take overflow.

Still, more than 90 percent of what I started to make last August has proved to be just as good as I hoped it would be while the rest is borderline cooking wine-paint stripper.

This wild disparity does happen and I can’t for the life of me work out why since everything was clean and every demijohn of wine tucked away to ferment all came from the same mixing tubs.

Anyway, I tried to keep my success topical and went out to burn a few council press releases, hence all the church bells being rung when they saw my white smoke... at least I think they were celebrating my wine.

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60 SECONDS INTERVIEW: Macarena Galvez

MACARENA Galvez was born in the city of Arica, northern Chile. On graduating, she taught history and geography in secondary schools before coming to the UK in 2008 to study English. Here she met – and eventually married – Englishman Tim Styles, although Spanish custom means she still uses her own family name. Since moving to the South West, the 33-year-old has organised after-school Spanish clubs as well as hosting lessons for adults. She now hopes to expand her Spanish lessons in the Bridport area, where she now lives.


WHY is Spanish a good language to learn?
Any language is good to learn. To learn a language gives the ability to understand another culture and step inside another vision of life. Spanish has become very popular to learn as a second language because it is the third most spoken language in the world after Mandarin and English. The Spanish language is very easy to learn and comes from Latin roots as well as English. Because of this, many words are the same. I always encourage people to give it a go and learn useful phrases for their holidays in Spain or Latin America.

WHAT do people get out of your lessons and classes?
My students learn practical and useful phrases to perform in different situations. I emphasise learning similar words so it is easier to remember. More experienced learners have the opportunity to interact with a native Spanish speaker. Another important thing is that I share my knowledge of native Latin culture and experience with my students.

HOW helpful is it to learn a second language?
I have a degree in pedagogy (the study of teaching). I know that learning a second language helps to develop intellect and creativity, keeps the mind active, and contributes to your sense of self-worth, for example by enabling you to order a meal at a tapas bar. Another benefit is the enhancement of multicultural understanding and tolerance in society. Any age is good for learning a language.

HOW important is language in understanding history and geography?
In terms of history and geography, language is very important for one reason: language is culture. It is built up through our history by different people, cultures and nations. The interaction between local tongues and immigration brings a new way of communication and expressions which became an identity of a group, country, nation or culture. 

HOW has it been adjusting to British culture?
Easier than a thought. People have been so welcoming, helpful, respectful and polite and I will be always thankful for that.

WHAT do you miss about Chile?
Most of all my family, the sunny weather and food sometimes. There is a typical dish called sweetcorn pie, which I love, and “guatia” an ancient cooking method which includes lamb, sweetcorn, local potatoes, sweet potatoes and broad beans all cooked in a very hot oven with volcanic rocks under the soil. 

WHAT do you like most about living in South West England?
The coastline. The amazing views over the fields and the coast. Also I enjoy the long walks with my husband and our dog around the coastal path. Our favorite place is Seatown.

TELL us about Arica...
Arica, the city of the forever spring, is a small city of 120,000 people in the north of Chile. It is very close to the border of Peru which makes it very multicultural and cosmopolitan. It is in the Atacama dessert and has the oldest mummies in the world: 6,000 BC – even earlier than the Egyptians –  thanks to the arid and salty geography. It is very popular for holiday makers who are looking for a nice trip to the Andes, sunshine all year around or a nice wave to surf in the Pacific ocean.

TELL us one thing a visitor to Arica should see...
El Morro de Arica, which is a cliff and a natural fort in the center of the city. From the top you can see a panoramic view of the city, the Andes mountains, the Pacific ocean and the two amazing fertile valleys which makes Arica a beautiful oasis in the middle of the desert.

YOU moved from one coast to another - how do you feel about the sea?
The sea is very important for me. I feel disorientated if it is not close. It is inspirational. 

HOW did you meet your husband?
We met in Brighton five years ago. I was an international student looking for a bedroom to let and I found him on Gumtree! It took quite a while for us to get together. 

TEACH us a Chilean saying or expression...
Huevón (whevon, the stress is in the final syllable) - it has so many different meanings and contexts. Everything depends in your tone of voice. Huevón is your dearest friend, it could be an idiot or someone stupid, or your super rival. I think is the most common word in Chile, it is part of our identity.

WHAT is your earliest memory?
When my brother was born. I was three years old and I remember being in the clinic with my dad in the sitting area. It seems so clear even now. I think I was so excited for having a little brother that I was blessed with remembering it.

Spanish Lessons in Bridport with Macarena start on May 15th at the Beach and Barnicott (morning and evening lessons). Also one-to-one private tuition, groups and GCSE exam preparation is available. Contact Macarena on 07810 622500 or email macagalvez80@gmail.com

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Who will be the mayor?

WHO’S got the most difficult job in Lyme Regis? No doubt about it - it’s got to be the town clerk.

The incumbent for the past 14 years, the second longest serving to Harry Williams, since the end of the last war, Mike Lewis, retires this week and on Saturday evening at Civic Night bowed out in his usual humble manner.

After hearing a tribute from the Mayor, Councillor Sally Holman, Mike was presented with a Richard Austin print of the town he has served so loyally over the years and replied with a speech full of humour and, understandably towards the end, a little emotion.

His successor, John Wright promoted from Deputy Town Clerk, takes over tomorrow (Thursday) and with the council split asunder by controversy his will be a short honeymoon that’s for sure. But he looks like the sort of chap who can cope.

Much of the bar talk at Civic Night was about who will be chosen at tonight’s council meeting as mayor-elect.

It is not cut and dried and I am reliably informed that there could be a contest. Sally Holman is completing her second two-year term, having just presided over one of the busiest years in Lyme’s recent history with the visit from HMS Edinburgh, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration and the Olympic Torch passing through Lyme Regis.

With so many issues dividing the council at the moment, many believe that a steady and experienced hand on the tiller is required.  Deputy mayor Anita Williams has already declared that she is not intending to stand due to her work commitments as a solicitor for Weymouth Borough Council.

So will Sally be persuaded to serve for another year - it’s happened before - or will there be a new face - possibly Chris Clipson, one of the new councillors who came in two years ago whose name has been mentioned in recent weeks?

The next few months will be very challenging for the council with the problems of Monmouth Beach causing much concern and  the declining relationship between the council and the Woodmead Halls Management Committee over the running of the public toilets.

Those who attended Saturday’s Civic Night were greeted with a notice on the front doors of the halls saying that due to a dispute with the council the toilets would be closed to car park users as from April 1st.

I also understand that if a solution is not found before Easter, the halls management committee will also turn off the electricity that serves the car parking machines, which means the council could lose hundreds of pounds in  revenue over the Bank Holiday.

Interesting times.

Civic night was an enjoyable occasion, as always. I was given the honour of paying a tribute to a familiar face missing from this year’s event - Barbara Austin MBE, six times mayor of our town who died after Christmas.

With some councillors determined to downgrade the position of mayor to a ceremonial one, with the appointment of a leader to chair the council, it is unlikely that anyone will ever serve as First Citizen for six years again.

However, that decision might not just rest with members of the council. If there is sufficient feeling in the town, the people of Lyme could well have a major say in how the town is governed in future.

We had so much fun with umpire Jim

LAST week in this column I wrote about the sadness of Lyme’s sporting community following the death of Chris Neale, brilliant golfer and bar steward at Lyme Regis Football Club for many years.

This week I would like to pay tribute another much respected character in sporting circles who died recently. I refer to Jim McMurtry, former RAF sergeant who made his home in Lyme Regis after meeting and marrying a local girl and who was a stalwart of Uplyme and Lyme Regis Cricket Club during my playing days.

Jim graduated from player to committee man and umpire, eventually being honoured with the presidency and being made a life member. Greatly deserved.

We enjoyed so many memorable occasions with Jim out in the middle on glorious hot days (and many rainy ones) as an umpire.

The father of Uplyme opening bat Ian McMurtry, we teased Jim mercilessly if he failed to give Ian out but he always took it in good spirits.

Jim was also a qualified snooker umpire through his connection with the Conservative Club (now defunct) in Lyme.

One unforgettable occasion was when we were organising a two-week sporting festival to raise money for a new pavilion at Uplyme. 

One of the main events was a professional snooker exhibition featuring a former world champion Terry Griffiths. The event was held at the Regent Cinema in front of  a 400-strong audience. We had to put up a light over the snooker table which was built especially for the match, and we did so using a Heath Robinson-type scaffold. 

As the game progressed the light started to sink nearer to the table, resulting in Terry Griffths having to scamper around the table to complete his shots. The sight of Jim trying to keep up with the pros in replacing the balls was hilarious. Happy times.

EVENT OF THE WEEK... 

AFTER covering five pantomimes in February I was in desperate need of a little stage culture. And it came last week with a visit to the Marine Theatre to review Lyme Regis Dramatic Society’s production of “Local Affairs”. 

I’m not sure “culture” is the right word but it was certainly an extremely entertaining evening as the Lyme society enhanced their already considerable reputation with their portrayal of this clever comedy.

I popped down earlier in the week to take a photo at the dress rehearsal and was able to chat to Sylvia Lee who has been connected with the dramatic society since 1962. I was much is awe of Sylvia when I was a young reporter and it’s incredible to think she is still connected wit the society after all these years.

Another long serving member of the society, Anne King, played one of the principal roles in “Local Affairs”. She gave a marvellous performance as the mother-in-law from hell.

Last year the society won an award for “Tons of Money”. Their latest show will surely be just as successful. 

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Cold enough to freeze a horse!

OSMINGTON White Horse now has a stunning new viewpoint but the opening ceremony was more noted for pinched white faces and shaking white hands than for a white Ancient Monument.

Guests invited to the opening looked like they all had bit parts in some obscure western film where the cowboys had circled their wagons ready to fight off an Indian attack.

Conditions were appalling with a 25mph bitter east wind slicing across an exposed hill to send temperatures plunging to minus 8 Celcius with windchill.

So it was perhaps no wonder that vans and cars had been hastily arranged to try and form some sort of barrier so guests could huddle in the lee and try and get a bit of protection from the freezing conditions.

It needed little urging for common sense to take over with the welcome kept to a few brief words before Dorset Lord Lieutenant Mrs Valerie Pitt-Rivers bravely stepped up to the viewpoint’s exposed new information boards to cut the official opening ribbon.

Seconds later everyone gratefully clambered back into their vehicles and adjourned to a warm place indoors where all the delayed speeches were made where they wouldn’t be drowned out by the noise of chattering teeth.

The viewpoint itself is a great achievement and will improve safety in the area no end because drivers previously could often be seen pulling up in the road and causing all sort of dangers.

Now they can turn into the viewpoint parking area, get out and stretch their legs while enjoying the sight of the giant chalk figure of King George III on a horse... provided it is a bit warmer than the launch!

Council slurps 20 milk pints at meetings

SEMI-skimmed and full cream are oiling the wheels of political debate in Weymouth and Portland.

One recent evening saw Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors arrive at the council offices on North Quay to take part in several meetings.

This political chit chat is thirsty work and members made time for cups of tea or coffee to whet their whistles and ensure that throats made dry by doing their party duty received a bit of lubrication.

Everyone survived and duly went home that night, but the really interesting figures from those debates didn’t emerge until the next morning.

It was then that council staff had to replenish refreshment supplies, discovering that the thirsty meetings from the previous night had slurped their way through nearly 20 pints of milk!

The dairy drain was so great that the usual daily order had to be doubled to 40 pints!

You can keep your transport legacy

HE was all decked out in a bright yellow warning jacket and was squatting down near the new Westham traffic lights in Weymouth.

He seemed to be using a clipboard to take notes but he certainly wasn’t recording motorists’ appreciation.

Just hours before at 7.10am I was attempting to drop someone off to catch a train at the station when I arrived at the bottom of Abbotsbury Road.

There wasn’t a single car in sight for as far as the eye could see in any direction yet the lights promptly changed to red as I reached the junction.

They stayed red for ages, all three other junctions remaining totally deserted, and I was just about to cast doubt on the parentage of those who designed this transport abomination when the lights grudgingly changed to green.

This sort of delay happens all the time and can be worse down at Boot Hill where one driver told me his attempts to get through one set of lights there often lasted several minutes.

We know many drivers are avoiding these new junctions like the plague because the county council’s own figures show traffic flows are down as drivers seek another route. 

When is authority going to listen to drivers instead of forcing something on them that they don’t want?

Not soon, I bet, because that would involve admitting that a mistake has been made, forcing drivers to lose hours of precious time every month being held up by Weymouth’s Olympic transport legacy. 

If that’s a sought after legacy you can keep it.

Spring is in the air!

SPRING must be in the air because no sooner did I start trying to clean weeds out from round my raspberry canes than I attracted a colourful little helper.

The robin was bold as brass and sang from an apple tree barely six feet away from me before flying down to see what food I’d uncovered for it with my digging.

At one point the robin was foraging almost within arm’s length and it stayed with me for quite a while until it had pecked up all the available food.

Less welcome were the antics of a flock of gulls which screamed and squabbled, swooped and fought low in the skies above me. It won’t be too long before they become everyone’s early morning squawking alarm clock at 5am. Won’t that be fun!

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60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Simon Bennett

LYME fishmonger Simon Bennett - or Si The Fish, as he's locally known - has become a popular fixture of the town since he opened The Old Watch House fresh fish place at The Cobb. His many customers include top chefs Mark Hix, Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his shop has featured on BBC, ITV and Channel 4 programmes.

HOW long have you been in the fishmongering business? 

I started at the age of 18, working in my Dad's shop in Christchurch, Dorset. So I've been a fishmonger for 21 years - blimey!

HOW did you and your family come to live in Lyme?

I was working on another of my father's stalls in Dorchester High Street and a good customer - Sarah Wilkinson, the daughter Victor Homyer, Lyme's fishmonger since 1934 - came up and asked us if we'd take over the shop in Lyme as her father wanted to retire. So we took on The Old Watch House and after a week in the town I met Jo, now my wife. Our first romantic chat was during a walk around The Cobb - very French Lieutenant's Woman!

IS FISH difficult to cook and what is your favourite easy fish dish?

The golden rule with nearly every fish, so long as it's been cleaned, is you can wrap it in tin foil with lemon, butter and a drop of white wine and bake it for 20 minutes on 180 degrees gas mark 4. That is a general rule but it really works well with any flat fish. Lemon sole or brill would be particularly fine this way - you could ruin the taste of the fish by dabbling with other stronger flavourings. It's difficult to say which recipe would be my favourite as we cook this way seasonally with all sorts of fish, depending on what's in season. But I never get bored of trying something new that a customer may have recommended. Raw wriggling scallops straight from the shell give me a lift. There's more zinc in them than oysters.

WE'VE recently read that some say mackerel is unsustainable - what's the true story on this?

That confusing media sound bite a month ago was put out by the Marine Conservation Society. It was confusing because they clearly state on their own website that south west line-caught mackerel is the most sustainable way of buying this fish which is famed for its omega content. The sound bite was regarding North Sea/Icelandic stocks and wasn't even related to an actual diminishing of fish, just the amount of quota set between Icelandic and Scottish fleets. On the whole a very confusing load of almost-foreign nonsense has been said recently but the golden rule is: if it's been caught on a hand-line then it's sustainable. Which is good news for Lyme as the fantastic omega-packed beauties are traditionally available locally.

WHERE can I get the best advice on what fish to eat and how to prepare it?

All my staff (with the probable exception of Geoff, our zany apprentice) can offer excellent advice of what fish to choose and how to cook it in all three of our outlets (Lyme, Ottery and Exeter High Street). We don't just wear white coats for our Saturday shifts.

WILL you be taking part in the Mackerel and Crab festivals planned for Lyme this summer? And what's this we hear that you've invented a new sport of mackerel tossing? 

The Great Dorset Mackerel Toss could become something quite big but I don't want to be specific here yet. Let's just say it's very original and a TV programme have already said they'd be interested in filming it. It'll be a great festival season for fish in Lyme this year. There are actually three different seafood-related festivals planned, and my team and I are working with Mark Hix on all of them, especially the Food Rocks event for the first weekend in September.

WHAT advice would you give local shoppers who want to eat more fish because they hear it's good for them?

It's really all about where the fish is from. Processed fish has been fiddled with in a factory. If you buy local you have the reassurance that it's fresh, unprocessed and natural. And because of the variety of Omega oils in fish, it’s good for your heart, your mind, memory and blood circulation. Fish will keep you chipper.

WHAT'S your favourite time of the year in Lyme and why's that?

Autumn - after the madness of the season.

WHAT are your leisure pursuits?

I'm a lifelong golfer and at nights I get my telescope out to indulge my study of astronomy.  But my best thing to do on a day-off is to be with my children, Sam and Rosie.

WHAT would you change about Lyme if you could?

Car parking. I'd build either an overground and doubtless controversial multi-storey by Monmouth beach or an underground one in the same place!

IF YOU were planning a dinner party for six people, who would be your perfect guests and what dish would you cook? 

The new Pope and five of his cardinals. I'd cook Monkfish and we could talk all evening about the meaning of Cod.

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