60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Bernie Fallon

AFTER spending most of his working life in Central London, Bernie Fallon moved to Lyme Regis in 2003 to be with his partner Rachel Thom.

Bernie set up his business Doodle Computers that he runs from an office in Charmouth and still spends two days a week in London where he works on a number of popular TV shows.

Closer to home Bernie is now in his third year as a retained fire fighter in Charmouth. Bernie is also a trained musician and has been involved in musical theatre since the age of 15, even working on some professional productions.

Bernie, along with friend Maria Herbert, established his own theatre group, Marvellous Amateur Dramatics (MAD), earlier this year.

He is currently busy with rehearsals for MAD’s first show Summer Holiday on which he is the Musical Director. The show will be performed at Axminster Guildhall in February 2010.

How does life in London compare to life on the coast?

The one thing I sometimes get a bit frustrated with down here is that if you run out of milk after 11pm then you’re stuck. Or when I used to smoke and you wanted to nip out and get cigarettes at 1am you couldn’t. Tesco opening in Lyme is a bit of a godsend really because they stay open really late. The pace of life is a lot slower. People are a lot more chilled out and there is no pressure. When I go up to London I have to spend a couple of hours gearing myself up because the way of life is so much faster. Everyone has got somewhere to go and something to do and it's high pressure all the time.

What are the best TV shows you’ve worked on?

My favourite was Friday Night with Jonathan Ross because they always had a good mixture of guests and it was a good, fun production team. They are no longer my clients as Jonathan Ross set up his own production company and took the show with him.

What are the best musicals you’ve worked on professionally?

I would say 42nd Street was my favourite because I love all the big band swing music. I played on that when it was touring the country.

What made you decided to become a retained fire-fighter?

When I moved down here everyone was really nice to me and went out of their way to help me feel settled and comfortable and I felt that I would like to give something back into the community. I thought the fire service would be quite a good way of doing that.

Why did you decide on Summer Holiday for your first show?

We had a committee meeting and put it to a vote basically. It was one of four potential shows. We shortlisted The Buddy Holly Story, Summer Holiday, Back to the Eighties and Disco Inferno. Summer Holiday got the majority vote and that’s why we went for it.

What do you like about the show?

I like the music. Cliff Richard gets such a bad press for his music but I think some of its really good. I don’t know why all of a sudden people turned on him. I like the music and I like that era. I’m not a huge fan of rock and roll but I like the style of 60s music, and The Shadows aren’t that bad either. It’s a nice story, quite cheesy but a fun story and I think people will really enjoy it.

Who would you recommend the show to?

I think it appeals to everybody really. You’ve got a nice simple story for younger kids to understand, you’ve got the music for lets say people in their 30s to 60s who remember and appreciate it. And for the older people there are no scares. We have a cast of good looking lads as well of course so all the ladies will love it. I don’t think you could say that it targets a particular audience because it’s a family show for everybody.

What shows would you like to do in the future?

There are quite a few shows that I would like to do. One of them is Rent but I am not sure whether our small communities are ready for such a wild story. We have ideas on what we are planning on doing but I will just reserve that for a no comment at the moment.

How are preparations going for next year’s show?

We are a strictly non-profit organisation so all the money that we make will go into this show and future shows and as such we need to do a lot of fundraising. Our next event is this Friday, December 11th where we have a Westlife tribute act, but they also do Take That and Boyzone and all sorts of things. My brother is in the band and they are coming down from Manchester for free to do the gig for us and help us raise money to put on the show.

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

My first would be the drummer Buddy Rich. I’d like him at my dinner party so I could steal a few ideas from him and get some lessons because he is a legend. My second would be Freddie Mercury. Although I wasn’t a great Queen fan when I was younger, I am now. I think that he was a tremendously talented man and I’d like to find out where he got his influences from. He was such a character that he would make the party quite wild. Finally it would be Stephen Fry because I love his intellect, he could entertain anybody.

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LYME MATTERS with Philip Evans

Dynamic duo’s last ‘sold to’

THE curtain came down on 14 years of fundraising around the bars of Lyme Regis on Saturday when that dynamic duo, Phil Street and Mike Higgs, conducted their last charity auction.

It was appropriate that their ‘last hurrah’ was held at the Football Club for it was back in 1995 that they conducted their first “Harvest Home”, raising £1,200 for the club’s youth section at the Ship Inn.

“Harvest Homes” are unique to Lyme Regis and have been held in the town for many years. At one time they were just a auction of harvest-type produce and, in the main, it was the late George Curtis, father of former mayor Ivor Curtis, who wielded the hammer.

Whilst there is still a smattering of produce which goes under the hammer, these days the auction items are far more varied and interesting and have raised many thousands for local organisations.

In fact, over the last 14 years that Phil and Mike have been uttering the immortal words “sold to ...” they estimate that they have raised in excess of £70,000 for local good causes, a magnificent total.

There’s always been a lot of fun at these events. A few years ago when I was playing cricket regularly I was conned into buying my own cricket bat - several times!

Phil and Mike, who are the best of pals, have always added a great deal of fun to the auctions over which they presided. They always started with a couple of pints to get in the mood and finished in similar vein.

The football club, I am pleased to say, gave them a superb send-off on Saturday night, the players making an archway to the bar after they had sold the last lot which brought the total raised that night to £1,600. Another fantastic result.

Over the years Phil and Mike have been involved in all sorts of crazy fundraising events but their best and biggest earner was coming up with the idea of “Candles On The Cobb”.

If you were to add up the amount they have raised over the years it would probably exceed £250,000.

Whilst they may have hung up their auction hammer for good, they will still be doing their bit for the community in the years to come.

And having more fun along the way, that’s for sure.

PICTURE: BEST PALS - Phil Street and Mike Higgs pictured at the Football Club on Saturday before their very last auction

Ron would have loved it so much

I SHOCKED my daughter last week when I returned home, slightly squiffy, and said: “That was the most enjoyable funeral I have ever attended.”

I had been to the thanksgiving service for Ron Baker, the former Lyme hairdresser and RAF veteran who had died suddenly a couple of weeks ago.

As expected, St Michael’s Parish Church was packed and the Reverend Keith Vivian, who conducted the service, made it clear from the outset that he wanted it to be a “joyous occasion”.

Joyous? It was positively hilarious and Ron would have just loved it.

He was the type of man who would not put up with any form of sychophancy and did not suffer fools gladly in life - he left specific instructions to his family that he did not want a eulogy full of flowery prose - and he certainly had no intention of doing so in death.

Well, he did not get any flowery prose, although there were a few choice expressions that you rarely hear in church. The job of producing a tribute which was not a eulogy fell to eldest son Geoff, a talented journalist who had us all in fits relating some of his father’s idiosyncrasies that made life growing up in the Baker household so much fun.

It was the most irreverent, outrageous but brilliant speech I have ever heard in a church but no one felt it crossed the boundaries of decency in any way.

Geoff, the most talented reporter I every employed, very cleverly paid the most tender of tributes to his father without it seeming that he was actually saying anything good about him. It was very cleverly written and the Reverend Vivian, to his great credit, like the rest of us, had a big smile on his face throughout.

Afterwards we celebrated Ron’s life in the way he would have wanted - down at the Pilot Boat - and watched, some of us with a little lump in our throats, as the Baker boys fired a rocket into the sky containing a lock of Ron’s hair - the former Lancaster bomber pilot’s very last flight.

Live longer in Lyme

HERE’S another reason why we should thank our lucky stars that we live in Lyme Regis and its idyllic surrounds.

According to a survey published in last week’s Daily Mail, Lyme Regis is among the top ten town’s with the best mortality rate.

In other words, we are likely to, live longer.

In the Mail’s list of the “Ten Longest-Lived Towns” Lyme was placed equal fifth with Colyton with a mortality rating of 6.9. Top place went to Montacute, near Yeovil, with 6.4.

Chard was not placed.

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WEYMOUTH MATTERS with Harry Walton

Please sort out this design defect in the road drainage

FIVEWAYS has become a nightmare in the rain for drivers trying to negotiate the corner of the junction between Chickerell Road and Radipole Lane, Weymouth.

The drain there just doesn’t do its job and the result is that vehicles turning in to Radipole Lane suddenly plough into a large pond up to a foot deep.

Worse came recently when one of many cloudbursts coincided with the rush home from school.

Traffic was busy, the road flooded and every few seconds a car or lorry sent a wave of floodwater over the pavement where children were trying to cross, much to their angry dismay.

I’m sure there might be authority arguments about the wrong kind of leaves blocking the drain, but there is one inescapable fact.

This site lies on the side of a gentle hill. The road rises up Radipole Lane and descends down Chickerell Road, so why does it always flood at this point?

There has to be a design defect somewhere since gravity is clearly on the side of drainage. Tyre pressure from turning vehicles has undoubtedly created something of a hollow, but surely this could be levelled at the same time as a better culvert was being put in.

Christmas trees to rent - a great idea!

DON’T laugh. This really is a local true story about a Charminster company, near Dorchester, which is offering Christmas trees for rent.

The idea is so unusual yet so obvious that you wonder why no one thought of it before. All you do is contact the company and rent your living Christmas tree in a pot for the festive season, then the company comes round and collects it later.

This environmentally friendly solution to throwing dead Christmas trees away in the New Year after they’ve outlived their usefulness could be a real winner.

I was chatting with shoppers and shopkeepers in Weymouth about the idea and they all loved it because the potential landfill saving must be enormous and they liked the idea of doing their bit for the environment.

Trees For Rent, which has been going less than two years, takes back the trees and keeps renting them out until too large when they are offered for corporate sale or planted out for landowners.

Anyhow, if you fancy a Christmas tree which could still have a useful life come spring, then the website to log on to is www.treesforrent.com

Reindeer in danger!

WEYMOUTH is now decked out in all its Christmas light finery which really annoyed one little boy walking past the Fire Station roundabout at the bottom of Boot Hill.

On the roundabout were glowing renditions of several reindeer, but the boy was very angry at the risk the reindeer were running from all the passing traffic.

He told his mother: “If I was Father Christmas I wouldn’t leave them there where the cars might hit them. I’d park them in the multi-storey.”

A wonderful sentiment, little boy, but I think Santa might be a bit horrified at the bill for 24-hour festive parking in Weymouth for a month or so.

Buy a local turkey

AS mentioned in an earlier column, Christmas turkeys are available now but are in short supply due to recession-reduced ordering by two major supermarket chains.

However, if mass produced turkey numbers are down then the Weymouth area remains strong in the number of free range turkeys for sale.

Mine is nicely tucked away in a freezer ready for the big day and I understand from my supplier that more people than ever are choosing to go to a farm or small private supplier for their festive bird.

I was given one word of warning. Make sure the giblets are stored frozen with the bird and not separately in the fridge to ensure no one winds up with an upset stomach.

Holiday gift

A FORMER Weymouth woman was drawing towards the end of her holiday in Australia and she wanted to take back a present for her work boss.

She knew he liked a beer and decided to help him keep his drinks cool by buying him some insulated can sleeves decorated with three kangaroos.

Her gift was a great success and the boss promptly used them at his next barbecue. It wasn’t until a second barbecue was held that the boss’s son noticed the can sleeves.

He then quietly pointed out to his father that the kangaroos on them were doing a bit more than just decorating the sleeves. They were actually having sex!

Fortunately for the woman, her boss saw the funny side of things.

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WEYMOUTH MATTERS with Harry Walton

It’s easy to support this really worthwhile charity

A STROLL round a recent health day saw me stumble across a really great little charity called Tools With A Mission.

They take everything from old typewriters to sewing machines or garden tools and give them to less fortunate people all over the world so they can earn a living and support themselves.

Items sent recently ranged from knitting machines, computers and printers to kits for mechanics, metalworkers, leatherworkers, plumbers, carpenters and builders as well as bicycles and repair kits, wheelchairs, drills, school books and sewing kits. The list is endless.

What struck me was how useful this charity really is.

For instance, many people who love gardening have tools standing idle in a shed or garage when they finally have to give their pastime up. So why not give them to TWAM and take pleasure in somebody else putting them to really good use?

If you feel the same way and have any of the items mentioned then give John and Wendy Hilton a ring on 01305 267098.

Feeling partial to a Polish plum

CHRISTMAS can be a time for treats if you can find what you like.

Some time ago I became very partial to Polish plums in chocolate which could be bought from a shop in Weymouth town centre.

Then they suddenly became unavailable and I was told that the Poles had woken up to how good they were and the amount being exported had plunged.

I tried everything to get a box from asking friends going to Poland to get me one to ringing up expensive outlets in the hope its rarity value might have encouraged them to stock a box, but not a nibble.

Years went by and I had almost forgotten about them, but times change and the Polish community in Weymouth is strong enough now to have seen a Polish delicatessen open in King Street.

I had a few minutes spare the other day and dropped in to ask about the chocolates.

Yes they had some in, I was told, and two boxes were promptly snapped up on the spot before the mirage could disappear. Thank you, Santa!

Completely sick of the new gold rush

IF I see one more advert for scrap gold on the television I shall scream!

Gushing tributes from this “lucky” divorcee flogging off her first wedding ring to that expert talking about the rocketing price of gold have left me really brassed off.

You can’t watch a commercial station without being importuned for your spare gold and I’ve lost count of the conversations I’ve heard round Weymouth between people who are wary of the gold grab and others who are quite clearly tempted by the prospect of what seems to be easy cash.

Naturally I’ve got tons of the stuff lying around in the garden in heaps just beneath my rainbow.

Things are now so bad that, even though Christmas is barely three weeks away, there appear to be more gold adverts than toy adverts and that takes some doing.

We’ve even had flyers through the letterbox offering to buy any unwanted gold we have. I mean, I ask you! Unwanted gold!

So I’d like to announce that I’ve carefully gone through the entire house, put all our spare gold into sacks and done a fantastic swap deal with a very nice man who knocked on our front door.

I’m now waiting for our magic beans to grow….

I’ll stick to the Bordeaux!

SEX can now be bought on a coat hanger in Weymouth.

Two women were in a store’s fashion department and the key topic of conversation was the weekend’s night out in the town.

Both were apparently in the market for new outfits but neither wanted to appear “tarty” and so were asking each other’s advice.

“Do you thinks this shows my boobs too much?” asked one and was reassured she was OK only to be asked in turn for her opinion on a skirt which, to say the least, appeared to be slashed some way beyond daring.

The reply was: “All men want really is beer and sex, so if you buy that all you’ve got to worry about is the beer!”

This convulsed them both and each headed for the till leaving me to contemplate a somewhat less racy evening in with only a rather nice glass of Bordeaux to shield me from the hysteria of Strictly X Factor. It’s a hard life.

Harry Walton can be contacted on 01305 787843 or email hdswalton@yahoo.co.uk

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LYME MATTERS with Philip Evans

It takes more than a storm

IT WAS nine years ago that Councillor Barbara Austin decided to do something about Lyme’s pathetic Christmas lights.

In her usual enthusiastic style, Barbara set about raising enough money to make the Lyme Christmas illuminations something special.

Since then our festive lights have consistently been the most spectacular and admired in the area.

These days it costs around £8,000 to put up the various illuminated displays and Barbara and a small committee raise this through grants, donations and fundraising.

The turning on of the lights has marked the beginning of the Christmas season in Lyme and over the years has attracted a huge crowd in Broad Street.

Down the years the weather has been kind to the switching on ceremony – until Saturday.

Driving rain late afternoon severely reduced the lantern parade prior to the switching on by Mayor Michaela Ellis and the Junior Band and Majorettes had to drop out of the procession.

But as is always the case in Lyme, the show did go on and I was amazed so many people turned out to see the lights flicker into being to give the town centre a festive look.

The heavy winds have played havoc with some of the displays and there will be some running repairs this week.

Covering the switch-on, particularly from a photographic point of view, was a nightmare and I ruined one camera which got a soaking.

Thankfully, local photographer Peter Wiles was on hand to help me out.

Barbara and her team are to be congratulated for raising the money for the lights and a special word of thanks goes to Colin and Judith Pothecary for their support of the lantern workshop and procession.

Judith introduced a very nice touch this year by providing baskets festooned with fairy lights for the helpers to give out sweets to the children.

Judith is a perfectionist but shies away from publicity. Her organisational skills, however, and enthusiasm for all things Lyme, supported by Colin, should not go unrecognised.



New look for shelters is essential

THE news that Lyme’s application for funding from the Government Seachange programme for the regeneration of the Marine Parade had been rejected was disappointing but not wholly unexpected.

According to its website, Sea Change aims to “drive cultural and creative regeneration and economic growth in seaside resorts by funding inspiring, creative and innovative projects, bringing a sense of pride, enjoyment and celebration”.

The £1.2 million Lyme project certainly met most if not all of these criteria but there was a big demand for the available funds. Seven projects up and down the country have just won financial support, including St Ives and Plymouth, but unfortunately Lyme was not among them.

But the project is far from dead. The working party set up by the town council, designed the regeneration scheme so that that it could be phased and the council will come up with £750,000 for the shelters to be given a new lease of life. Further funding to complete the full scheme may be forthcoming in the future.

The necessary cash to start the project has come from reserves of £250,000 built over a number of years, some of which has been allocated for design costs, and a loan of £500,000 which will be financed by the leasing of two seafront retail outlets included in the new-look shelters.

Following the remodeling of the public gardens above the beach, as part of the coastal protection scheme, the parade’s 1970s shelters are in dire need of a facelift and will complete the new look seafront which has proved so popular with visitors.

Hundreds of man hours have been put in by the council’s working party which includes non-elected volunteers, people like Stephen Wilkins and Chris Boothroyd, who have given their services free, saving the council taxpayer many thousands.

A good example of the council utilising skills and experience of residents for the wider good of the town.



Junior Band and Majorettes do the town proud

THE storm that erupted just before the lantern parade, prior to the Christmas lights ceremony on Saturday, resulted in both the Junior Band and Majorettes having to drop out at the last moment.

Lyme owes much to these two youth organisations.

The Majorettes are enjoying a period of great success, although I hear a new chairman will soon be appointed to take over from Sue Higgs, who is standing down after doing an excellent job.

The Junior Band is going through a period of rebuilding and is looking for new members.

With the town band a non-marching outfit, the job of leading the various parades in the town has fallen to the Junior Band for several years.

Despite being low on numbers and repertoire, they nevertheless turned out for the recent Remembrance parade and did themselves proud.

When I was secretary of the Regatta and Carnival many years ago neither organisation was in being and we had to bring in marching bands. These included the famous Dagenham Girl Pipers on one occasion and the Romford Drum and Trumpet Corps, who stayed in the town for the whole of regatta week.

Hiring in bands and marching troupes can be financially prohibitive these days which makes the existence of the Junior Band and Majorettes essential in a town where parades and processions are so prevalent.

Long may their reputations go before them.

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