60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Jane Burt

JANE Burt owns The Happy Cupcake Company, based in Lyme Regis, with her husband Chris, and has just opened a second premises in the town – The Blue Sea Café on the seafront. Originally from Birmingham, Jane joined the Army at 17 and was posted to Salisbury, which is how she first came to the South West. She then lived in Somerset before moving to her dream home in Lyme Regis with her family eight years ago, having previously visited on holidays. Jane and Chris have three grown up children, Laura, Jake and Joe, and two grandchildren. Their two sons will be helping them to run the new café over the coming months. 

HOW did you first get into baking?

I started baking at a very early age. The person responsible for getting me into baking was my auntie Lynne who sadly passed away at the age of 62 last year. She used to make lovely puddings on my visits. Queen of Puddings was a favourite and I wanted to be just like her.

WHEN did you open The Happy Cupcake Company?

I started what is now The Happy Cupcake Company with Chris as a market stall at Wells Market. It was called Absolutely Cupcakes then and it was very successful but we always dreamed of having our own place and so we opened the cafe in Silver Street, Lyme Regis. 

We could see that there was a market for the decorations that I was using on my own cupcakes and so started sourcing and importing unusual sprinkles, etc. from all over the world. When we opened the shop on Broad Street we felt it was better to focus our energy into that to get it established and now we also sell a much wider range of items, which include ceramics such as Jersey Pottery, beautiful homeware and the odd piece of vintage furniture.

WHAT did you do before this? 

I am a Bachelor of Laws and before I had my own business I was a local government officer working in the legal department at Somerset County Hall in Taunton. I enjoyed my job but I much prefer being my own boss and working with my husband.

WHAT will your new seafront café be offering?

The new seafront cafe will be called The Blue Sea Café and will be showcasing my homemade cakes and scones, as well as savouries like quiche. We have chosen to stock Purbeck ice cream, as this is fabulous quality and will use this in our sundaes also. In the summer holidays we are planning to offer a pudding club in the evenings to give people the opportunity to try my homemade puddings whilst enjoying the magnificent location.

WHAT do you enjoy about the job?

I love the compliments I get about my cakes. It’s lovely that we already have regular customers at the cafe and people even coming back a second time in one day because they enjoyed their cake in the morning so they come back for my freshly baked scones in the afternoon.

WHAT’S your favourite type of cake to bake?

This would be cherry and marzipan cake because it is my husband’s favourite and so I enjoy making it for him. It is a lovely high cherry cake with a layer of marzipan through the middle like a simnel cake.

WHAT are your other personal interests?

Going on holiday and travelling. I love touring around France, although because we can’t really holiday in the summer any more we haven’t been able to do this as often lately. I also love going out for meals and when I am on holiday and I’m a keen photographer. We went to Barcelona last April and I got some really great shots there.

WHAT do you like about the local area?

I was brought up in a big city so, living here, I love the sense of space and the quiet. I have seen dolphins swimming in the sea and I can sit up in bed and look at the ocean. What more could you want?

WHAT do you think it’s missing?

Personally for me, I think it’s missing a proper sports complex. Please could I have one?

WHAT would you do if you won the Lottery?

Easy! Buy all my children houses and a holiday home in the south of France for us, and a big donation to some well-deserving charities of course.

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

I have two wonderful grandchildren who live about an hour away. I don’t see them as often as I would like to due to my daughter’s and my own work commitments, so I would invite my daughter, Laura, and Tilly and Milo for dinner and we would have giant prawns and ham sandwiches (Tilly’s favourite), and pizza (Milo’s favourite) and then lots of chocolate and strawberry ice cream, which they both love. I cant think of anyone that I would rather eat dinner with.

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60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Jennie Ann Rake

DORSET author Jennie Ann Rake has been delighted with feedback from her debut novel, Deception, Lies and Chocolate Muffins – mostly receiving four and five star reviews from her readers. Writing the book was hard work – only to be followed by a struggle to get it published. Why then would she want to do it all over again? The sequel is already underway with eight chapters written. Many may know her for other reasons – she has been speaking throughout the county promoting the concept of Fair Trade goods, something she remains passionate about together with her love of knitting, sewing, her cats, family and husband… although, as she points out, not necessarily in that order.

YOU spent much of your life out of the area, bringing up a family and teaching. What was it that made you want to settle in Dorset? 

We have been in Dorset for nine years now. When we came back to the area it felt like we were coming back to our roots. David’s (husband) maternal grandma, Florence Bartlett, was brought up at the Crown Inn at Uploders, where her mother was the licensee, and there are other family members around. When Florence married Joseph Rake they went to live in the Stourpaine area.

HOW did you both meet? 

We met through the church choir. He was also a bellringer, and still is. We married in Buckinghamshire in 1971 where we had three children and where the book is based. It was our move to Dorset in 2005 which had all sorts of problems which inspired the book. I had one of those conversations with our solicitor who said ‘you could write a book about this’ – and I thought ‘why not?’. I suppose I always thought I had a book in me, but it was that which got be started.

AS A youngster were you always keen on books? 

Yes, although I wasn’t really fixed on any particular books. I do remember a series of stories about a brother and sister who went for holidays in different countries, although it seems a little implausible as an adult. I loved writing at school, what we used to call ‘composition’ in those days and I would illustrate some of my stories with drawings. I continued to be interested in writing while I trained as a teacher at Rolle College in Exmouth and tried my hand at poetry and writing music.

NOW you are published, how much does it matter to you what people say about the book? 

For my self-esteem I like to know that people like it. It’s nice that most people do seem to like it and that a publisher thought it was worthwhile. The other aspect is that I had set writing it as a personal challenge, so I enjoyed achieving that and knowing that it’s out in print and that even if they don’t buy it people can borrow it from a library. Getting feedback is encouraging and people have been asking what happens to Hattie next, so I’ve made a start on the next one and I am up to chapter eight at the moment…I had one of those ‘light bulb moments’ and came up with how to do it.

WHICH writers have inspired you? 

I used to read Ruth Rendell under the name of Barbara Vine and in the past I’ve been keen on Thomas Hardy and Jane Austin. Then I discovered Katie Fforde, Joanna Trollope, Jill Mansell and Catherine Alliott. At the moment I like Joanna Trollope because she goes a bit deeper and deals with real-life issues.

DO YOU have a favourite word?

Yes, I like ‘chuckled’ – it’s a charming word, sort-of cuddly and good fun. ‘Chuckled’ has got something about it… but I do have to make sure that I don’t use it too often.

AND assuming you have some spare time what else do you like to do? 

I knit. I’m currently working on my third patchwork quilt. I like to sew, like one of the characters in the book. I’m a fairweather gardener and I love cooking for my husband and looking after my three pampered cats.

WHAT would your perfect Dorset day be? 

A mid-morning walk by the sea at Ringstead Bay followed by a cup of coffee and then, later a picnic lunch and a paddle at Burton Bradstock and finally fish and chips at West Bay watching the sunset – food, fresh air and sea breezes.

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Memories of the American troops

AS mentioned in this column before, Lyme Regis is pulling out all the stops to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

In fact, of all the Dorset towns, Lyme will be leading the way in honouring those  who never made it past those Normandy beaches in the liberation of Europe, with the focus on the American soldiers who were billeted in the town before the big day.

A report in this newspaper of the commemoration plans over the weekend of June 6th/7th/8th has stirred the memory of our senior citizens who were children when the Americans arrived in town. One such person is Pam Kaxe (nee Hallett) whose father Rex lost his life in Italy during the war.

Pam was 12 years old when the American troops were stationed in Lyme in the build up to the greatest invasion ever staged and has many happy memories of the kindness shown to local children by the American GIs.

Many of the American soldiers were billeted in tents on the fields where Anning Road is now built. 

Twice a week after coming out of St Michael’s School the pupils would dash to the fields where the troops were cooking ring doughnuts. With strict food rationing in place, this was a rare treat for the Lyme youngsters who had never tasted doughnuts before.

“They were lovely,” says Pam.

Pam also has fond memories of the Christmas party the GIs organised for the kids, held in the Church Hall.  The hall was decorated for the occasion and each child received a present as well as a traditionally Christmas dinner served on metal plates and including a fresh peach (another rare treat) placed alongside the turkey and stuffing.

When they heard that the troops were about to leave town, Pam and some of her friends, including Janet Sweetland and Joan Bird, put on a variety show  up at the copse at Timber Hill where the troops constructed a stage for them out of pallets.

The next day they were gone so their last memory of England for many of those brave men will be an act of kindess by the children of Lyme Regis.

If any of our senior citizens who have similar memories of the Americans’ stay in Lyme, we would be pleased to hear from you and record them in this column.

Mike Hartley - ‘simply the best’ greengrocer and family man

IT was an appropriate and fitting touch that at last Friday’ s memorial service the coffin of former mayor Mike Hartley was adorned with boxes of organic vegetables.

Mike will be best remembered for running his fruit and veg shop in Broad Street for many years where he made many friends and carried out numerous kindly deeds for his customers.

Before moving to Lyme, Mike worked in publishing in South Africa and London. On moving to Lyme he and wife Lin took over Sturch’s and introduced Lyme to a variety of what seemed like exoxtic fruit and veg, the likes of which had not graced the dinner tables of Lyme hitherto.

Always keen to introduce new varieties, Mike was rightly proud of his shop and built a business which is still greatly missed.

I first got to know Mike as a Round Tabler, always good company and keen to get involved. He went on to join the Rotary Club, serving a term as president and also won a seat on the town council, being elevated to mayor from 1989-1991.  He was a popular First Citizen and an excellent council chairman, giving a great deal of support to a number of organisations, especially the majorettes and pantomime society.  He was also a leading light in the chamber of trade.

With Mike suffering from advanved dementia, life was very dificult for Lin and their children, Alan and Jo, in the last couple of years. But Jo gave a touching tribute in church, recalling  the many happy family occasions and describing her dad as “simply the best”.

I can think of no better description.

Guildhall Gossip

MAYOR Sally Holman is keen to improve the council’s image after all the in-fighting of the past year.

So I am pleased to note she has dropped one traditon from next week’s ancient mayor-making ceremony - the toast to the press.

The relationship between the council and the press (at least with the View From) is at an all-time low, mainly because of the stance taken by this column over the behaviour of certain councillors.

It would be unfair to include the Lyme Regis News in this, although we have always managed to get Mark Gage’s designation correct and not referred to him as “vice-chairman of the parish council” as happened recently.

None of the councillors really want to be seen toasting the press and we certainly don’t want to reply. It would be hypocritical on both sides to do so.

It’s not the role of the press to be pally with our elected representatives. We’re here to hold them to account - and that’s exactly what we intend to do.

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My 15 minutes of fame

EVERYONE, according to Andy Warhol, gets 15 minutes of fame… but fame comes at a price.

My recent major operation for cancer created a storm because of the poor aftercare I received at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, so I wasn’t too surprised when Wexham was recently put on “special measures” and the BBC did a major news piece on it including an interview with myself as a former patient there.

But if you are thinking Lights! Camera! Action! you can forget it, because all the filming was done by a simple link via the computer camera in my dining room!

Interestingly all the curtains had to be drawn and all the doors shut to block out daylight, I had to take my glasses off to avoid screen reflection and I had to angle my face away from the camera in order for the filming to be effective.

Everything went well apart from the room being so dark I stumbled over a cable and the interview duly went out over the airwaves for the London area where it was watched by millions of people including friends of mine who live just a few miles from Wexham Park.

I later had to explain that the strange bearded man they saw for five seconds was actually me without my glasses, but they didn’t seem convinced. There was never this problem with recognition for the staff of Casualty!

Lights cause yet more hold ups

IT has been said that down the years Bank Holiday periods have left an indelible mark on the fabric of Weymouth… and didn’t we know it the other day.

Motorists driving along Dorchester Road or trying to enter Weymouth from Dorchester found themselves grinding to a halt because temporary three-way traffic lights had been introduced near Morrisons supermarket.

Queues swiftly built up right back and along the relief road, right back beyond the Spa on Dorchester Road towards Lodmoor and even along the far side of Dorchester Road towards Upwey.

I got caught up in this chaos on my first journey through the area and wisely dodged it by going down Spa Road on my second. And what was the cause of this gridlock?

Somehow a motorist collided with and knocked out the permanent traffic lights near Morrisons and temporary ones had to be brought in until they could be repaired. Bet they don’t put up a blue plaque for that!

PC gone mad

WHEN I first started out as a journalist in 1975 people knew that when I mentioned a spade in my articles it was linked to gardening, that when I talked about tools it was not a sexual reference and that any story about cows was not a slight on womanhood. Not so now.

The era of being politically correct has unfortunately been with us now for some time but I was – until recently – unaware just how much it had impacted on professions other than my own.

For instance, take the world of medicine, a veritable minefield if you believe half of what nursing staff have told me. A chance conversation in hospital revealed just how careful staff now have to be. In this modern world of almost instant litigation they really do have to watch almost everything they say.

The procedure I was told about, that of giving a person an injection, has been with us for several hundred years, yet only recently the reassuring words which went with that procedure had to be scrapped because of political correctness.

Apparently warning a patient just before their injection that they were about to receive “a little prick” was suddenly deemed potentially offensive! Believe it or not, nursing staff now have to warn the patient that they are about to get “a sharp scratch” or “jab” in order that they don’t take offence.

Good God! If I was about to have an injection I would be focussed on the needle not whether the poor soul administering it had chosen legally acceptable words to tell me! So, when you can, strike a blow for common sense and resist ludicrous political correctness.

Fond memories of school dinners!

PORTLANDERS recently held a school dinner at the Community 2000 hall and I wonder how many revolting memories were dredged up by this sold-out hugely popular fundraising event.

For me – even now – I can still remember my gorge rising when we were served “drainpipes”, our name for a watery mince concoction riddled with little one-inch sections of hollow spaghetti, hence its nickname.

By and large, the rest of what I had at school was pretty good, the only other dish to be viewed with grave suspicion being school custard, so thick you could stand a spoon up in it.

The spoon was there because you needed it on good occasions to ladle out enough to help make that day’s desert palatable, but on bad days even the spoon was no use. You could safely upend the large jug and the custard inside didn’t even make the skin bend far less break.

It perhaps has some psychotic significance that the school bullies all loved drainpipes and doted on the custard, always taking more than their fair share of both. I for one was not going to tell them that they were doing me a favour!

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60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Tracy Stagg

TRACY Stagg was born in Gosport, Hampshire, and was variously a wages clerk, an optician’s receptionist and a bookmaker’s clerk. She married, had a son and moved to Weymouth in 1987, working as a clerk at Ladbrokes before she came to the current CLIC Sargent charity shop as deputy manager in 1994. She has been manager since 2008.

WHY do you live on Portland? 

I just love it there. I think it is the best place in the world, wonderful. Every time I go home from work, Portland seems a bit different when I arrive back.

WHERE do you go for your holidays?

My husband and I usually try to take a break in Devon or Cornwall. That is our favourite part of the country. It is lovely down there.

WHAT is your favourite time of the year?

I love the spring. The emerging growth, all the flowers. I love flowers and everyone is so cheerful to see the sun again.

WHAT is your favourite film?

Any Harry Potter film. I really love them all because it is pure escapism and good triumphing over evil.

WHAT is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?

My son having cancer. He was eight when he got it, he is clear now and 32 years old, but it still makes me cry now to think of what happened.

IF YOU could live your life again what would you do differently?

I would go to university. I don’t know what I would do there, but I have always wanted a better education.

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

I would invite Jesus because I am a committed Christian and I would invite the author Ken Follett because I read a lot and he is my favourite author. The third person I would invite would be Richard Branson because he thinks outside the box and he has some great ideas.

WHAT would you do if you won the Lottery?

I would buy a nice new house on Portland, have a wonderful holiday visiting relatives in America and I would make a big donation to charity.

WHAT do you hope the future holds?

Better health for me because I have arthritis and a better world for everyone.

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And so the confusion begins…

IT has started already and there are some very confused visiting motorists out there.

Weymouth’s much vaunted new traffic system – the one so called transport experts say is easy and they don’t know what all the fuss is about – is already dismaying tourists and other summer newcomers.

They aren’t traffic experts but they know what they’re used to and they certainly aren’t used to a traffic light system designed by someone on magic mushrooms.

In just a few days I came across not one but FOUR examples of motorists left so muddled they had completely lost their way.

The first involved the King Street lights which proved too much for the driver of a large people carrier who, torn between two lanes to take him up King Street and another two lanes to take him up Commercial Road, hedged his bets and opted to wait parked at 45 degrees across both routes!

The second incident involved Mr and Mrs Argument who, so confused by the notorious Boot Hill-Asda junction, just stopped driving altogether in the middle of the junction to rail at each other about which was the correct way to proceed forward. They may still be there.

Thirdly – at the same jolly junction – seasoned campaigners of this blot on the traffic landscape derived a certain enjoyment from watching two drivers slowly meet head on, fortunately without damage. The humour came from watching them try to work out who should give way so they both stood some chance of survival.

Finally, my heart goes out to the nervous tourist who actually stopped me as I was walking in to town past the old fire station site.

She wound her window down and asked me if I could help. Did she perhaps want to go to the attractions at Lodmoor, maybe the Pavilion, Portland or the RSPB centre?

No, she actually said this: “Sorry to bother you but we came through this junction last night and I’ve forgotten how to do it. Is it that little bit in the middle to go to Dorchester?”

I did my best and then watched as she bravely inched her way through the traffic light minefield and successfully reached Westwey Road. And we’re told this system is simple!

How town bus prices have changed

NEARLY a century ago the then Prince of Wales visited Upwey Wishing Well in Weymouth to taste the waters.

Drop in at the modern day tearooms there and you can see any amount of photographs of his visit and memorabilia of the age including one poster advertising charabanc rides from Weymouth out to the well and back.

It was a nostalgic whiff of times gone by and of prices gone by as well.

Incredibly, the cost in those days for a return trip was the princely sum of one shilling. That’s five pence to you and me in new money.

Stack that up against modern, shorter single bus trips in to town for the best part of £2 – about eighty times the cost of the charabanc ticket – and it makes me wonder what passengers all those years ago would make of modern prices.

When is an illegally parked car not illegally parked?

I HAVE recently discovered a possible answer to the age old question, when is an illegally parked car not an illegally parked car.

The answer would appear to be when it’s a Bank Holiday in Weymouth.

Organisers trying to set up the annual Quayside Music Festival near Town Bridge found themselves forced to work round a car parked in a bay just feet from notices warning that the event was taking place, that parking was not allowed there during it and that vehicles would be towed away if drivers ignored the warning.

So you can imagine the frustration of organisers when one driver parked in such a bay...but escaped both a parking ticket and an immediate towaway.

The answer turned out to lie with its location in a tiny section of private road which meant traffic wardens couldn’t touch it.

Worse, organisers couldn’t get it towed away because parking wardens didn’t control that function which was operated by a different council department which wasn’t working that day!

As one organiser told me, they wouldn’t have paid hundreds of pounds for a scheme for the festival which included a towaway facility if they’d known they couldn’t get cars towed away for breaching the “No Parking” notices. Music definitely wasn’t “the food of love” in this situation!

Pleasure pier is in need of makeover

TAKE a walk out along the Pleasure Pier in Weymouth and you don’t have to go too far to see its face needs make up applied by the trowel full.

Metal piling is heavily rusted and various areas of concrete are either badly cracked or have crumbled away altogether to be replaced by crude repairs.

Much has been written about the state of quay areas in Weymouth, but I wonder what the true picture is for the whole harbour area.

It is not something people see a lot of since pilings are usually below their feet or viewed from a distance while the structural concrete work, by its very nature, often supports what they are walking on, but the signs of wear and tear are there for anyone who takes the trouble to look.

It is therefore perhaps just as well that the town’s relationship with the Environment Agency has sharply improved because I think Weymouth will need all the help it can get with future flood protection and harbour maintenance work.

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Let’s give our councillors the year off!

NEXT May brings town council elections. So here’s an idea to prepare the ground for Lyme’s effective governance. It’s radical, unconstitutional and - many might argue - undemocratic (though whether the present council is “democratic”, in any real sense, could be questioned).

The thought follows years of observing, and in a small way working with, the council. Individually, our councillors have plentiful virtues; collectively, rather few. Time (and thus money) is wasted by dysfunctional, inward-looking proceedings and mutual distrust. The unhealthy goings-on demoralise and damage the town. Another year of this might best be avoided.

Councillors are, let’s remember, volunteers. They started out with ambitious hopes which, with the exception of the skatepark, are largely unfulfilled. It’s partly a failure in what they do - even more, one of how they do it. (If you doubt this, look up Councillor Mark Gage’s lengthy address to his first Strategy & Policy meeting, printed in this paper on June 22nd 2011.) 

Seemingly in denial about this failure, bemused by the widespread public loss of confidence, and baffled as to the causes of both, councillors in frustration blame each other instead of examining their individual responsibilities for the decline - which may now be beyond reversal. And they seem to be tiring. 

For the first six months of their term, average attendance at full council meetings was 92 per cent; for the most recent six months it’s 78 per cent.

So my suggestion is that they vote themselves a sabbatical year off, for a deserved rest. Let the mayor and deputy mayor continue their civic and ceremonial duties, while the council officers and staff run the town for the year, guided by existing policies and working with whoever is willing to help.

The council’s employees are a pretty good bunch, with more to offer the town’s wellbeing than they’re currently allowed to give. Their potential effectiveness is weakened by councillors’ micro-management, by an excess of committees, by debate not always in command of the facts, and by confused decision-making. 

Senior officers are diverted into calming and refereeing overwrought councillors, taking legal advice and drawing up codes of conduct. Staff time is consumed preparing too many agendas and reports (often inadequately read and understood), attending evening meetings, then trying to make sense for the minutes of what’s gone on.

Why not give the staff their heads for a year, free from muddled oversight, to show what they can achieve? Give them time to concentrate on turning talk into practical action, managing day-to-day town requirements smoothly, dealing with letters, emails and phone messages, and communicating with the public.

Naturally, they would want, and the town would need, fresh democratic links for this exceptional year. We’d all benefit from a reduction in the council’s present isolation - symbolised by the fact that, in contravention of its own policy, the background papers to meetings are suppressed from its website while those in the library cover just 16 of the last year’s 51 main open council meetings.

Woeful at welcoming free help 

How about a quarterly, rather than annual, town meeting with senior officers, chaired by the mayor? How about welcoming free help and advice from citizens and voluntary groups, something at which the present council is woeful? How about sharing ideas on important issues through imaginative use of the council website and newsletters, the local press, email - even (responsibly) social media?

Come to think of it, why shouldn’t such things happen in normal years? Too difficult? Greek city states, two-and-a-half millennia ago, managed strong public engagement with larger populations than Lyme and none of our modern electronic media.

And the benefits, beyond a year of grown-up, efficient management? It would break the cycle of low expectation, cynicism and lack of interest within the town. A higher calibre council could then make a fresh start with crisp, efficient and cost-effective ways of doing business. Aware that the town had been well-run without them, the incoming councillors might be readier to foster staff initiative and responsibility.

Councillors could focus on their proper roles. They could lead, inspire, support and pull together the stimulating variety of Lyme organisations, making the community more than the sum of its parts. They could stand back to see “the big picture”, talking with and listening to residents and visitors in the course of developing policies essential for the town’s future. 

They could monitor (not manage - that’s the town clerk’s job) the work of staff and volunteers in a co-operative spirit. They could liaise energetically with neighbouring parishes and other tiers of local government - not scoring cheap political points off them but reducing confusing and costly overlaps while increasing shared action.

Such a town council, replacing morose aloofness with cheerful engagement, could reinvigorate interest in and support for its activities, restore the optimistic joie de vivre which Lyme intrinsically possesses, and prove a worthy embodiment of the town it serves.

And such a council would be better placed to face the changes in local government that will, eventually, occur; for the present three-level pattern of county, district and town/parish cannot for ever continue its expensively wasteful way.

Of course, there’s no chance of this temporary proposal being adopted. But it could be a revealing thought-experiment. And old men are allowed to dream…

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