A real community asset

ALL credit to Axminster Town Council for stepping in with a bid to save the Pippins centre, home of Axminster Youth Club for so many years.

The youth centre has fallen foul of the stringent cost cutting by Devon County Council.
In trying to save the building for continued community use, the council say they are investing in the youth of the town.

With other interested parties also trying to put together a plan to protect its future, it is to be hoped that such a fine building, on which so much money has been spent in the past, can be utilised as a real community asset.

To their credit, the town council is leading the way.

CARNIVAL  time is upon once again and, as always, Seaton kicked off the 2014 season with a packed week of events, culminating in a splendid grand procession of Saturday evening. 

I was unable to see the finale procession  but regular carnvalities tell me it was one of the best for several years.

With the stringent health and safety rules in place these days, it becomes increasingly difficult for carnival clubs to meet the ever increasing cost of building and insuring floats.

This year’s East Devon circuit will certainly miss the magnificent tableaux which the Sid Vale Carnival Club has created over the years. They slimmed down with a mini entry in the Seaton procession but still won a prize.

Favourites for the overall East Devon prize will be the Nunsford Nutters, from Colyton, who live up to their name every year with hilarious entries. This year’s “Formula Tubs” is no exception.

There was a real fun atmosphere around Seaton last week with good support for all the carnival events. 

Carnival Queen Laura Fisher and her Princesses, Amanda Mettam and Louise Tyne, threw themselves into the occasion and even agreed to an ice bucket challenge, the craze which is sweeping the country and raising huge sums for motor neurone disease.

Well done to the hard working Seaton Carnival Committee, led by President Roger Woolland, for staging another splendid week.

Next up: Colyton Carnival starting this coming Saturday with their procession on September 13th.

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60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Megan Dunford

MEGAN Dunford has always lived in West Dorset with a keen interest for art. After getting A-levels in art, photography and textiles at the Thomas Hardy School in Dorchester, Miss Dunford went on to study a Fine Art Foundation at Somerset College of Art and Technology for a year and completed a Fine Art Degree in Cardiff in 2011. Since finishing university, Miss Dunford has volunteered for various arts organisations and worked as a gallery steward at Bridport Arts Centre. She now works as the exhibitions assistant at Bridport Arts Centre, helping to manage the Allsop Gallery exhibitions, liaising with the artists and helping Dorset Visual Arts run Dorset Art Weeks. This year she was also the event co-ordinator for Bridport Open Studios.

WHAT inspired you to work in art?

For as long as I can remember I have loved drawing and learning about art and artists. I love meeting and working with artists and helping them to realise the intentions of their work and deliver these ideas for an art event or in a gallery environment. It is hard work and not a black and white job, but I think that’s what I enjoy. You have to be willing to put the hours in and be very flexible but it is worth it in the end.

WHAT do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Are you a part of any community organisations or groups?

I try not to do anything too mentally exhausting in my spare time. I like to get outside and cycle and swim a bit. I try and make as much work as I can of my own, although this gets put on the back shelf! 

WHAT three things would you like on a deserted island with you?

A pencil and a huge pad of paper, you will never be lonely if you have these and your imagination! Plus a bottle of Frangelico for cold nights! 

WHAT would you do if you won the Lottery?

If I won the Lottery I would go travelling around the world, particularly Italy and South America, for 18 months, and bring my friends, family and partner with me! Then I would put my money and efforts into opening a centre or space that would help and encourage younger people to get into creative industries. We would teach music, art, languages, and writing courses generally having fun whilst inspiring the minds of the future! 

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

The thought of a dream dinner party fills me with dread it would have to be a damn good menu to impress. I would invite Nellie Bly (or Elizabeth Jane Cochran), a revolutionary journalist from the late 1800s/early 1900s who not only went round the world in 72 days but also faked insanity to report from an insane asylum. Nicolas de Staël, a Russian born French painter whose work I love, who committed suicide at 41-years-old. Last but not least, Amy Winehouse, she’d be a laugh I reckon and hopefully give us a tune after pudding. 

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Council give red card to stadium plans

WEYMOUTH FC was soundly beaten when plans for a new stadium home at Lodmoor were given a red card by the council’s planning committee.

They and Wessex Delivery had argued that the new stadium would “sit comfortably” in its surroundings, but some councillors felt there was no need for a new one when a perfectly good stadium already exists at Southill.

And residents living near Lodmoor were singularly unimpressed with the prospect of having a large new football ground suddenly mushroom close to their homes.

There was also derisive laughter when Wessex suggested stadium lighting would be no more intrusive than existing street lighting.

There was certainly a wealth of conflicting views on the future stadium including those of the club itself which felt Lodmoor was the way to put Weymouth FC on a sound footing… despite opposing a stadium at Lodmoor last year!

When I arrived in Weymouth several decades ago the Terras played their football in the heart of the town centre at a battered stadium near the bottom of Boot Hill.

That land is now the site of the Asda supermarket which moved in and levelled the place for its new store as Weymouth FC moved out into a rose-tinted sunset and headed off to a new life at the Wessex Stadium off Radipole Lane.

Even the most ardent of Weymouth FC supporters will be forced to agree that since then the club has had the odd internal dispute or three which brings us to present times and the current proposal to relocate the stadium again, this time to land near Lodmoor tip.

I don’t carry a torch for the club but I talk to people who do and they make one very telling point: a Weymouth FC in the heart of the town centre knew its market and knew its fan base.

So moving to the Wessex, now known as the Bob Lucas Stadium, gave the club a new stadium but forced every fan in the densely populated centre of town to make a pilgrimage some distance out to Southill to watch matches.

That hit potential crowd gates, something supporters said would be even worse if the club moved to Lodmoor and played its football at a ground surrounded by Lodmoor Country Park, Lodmoor tip and Lodmoor Nature Reserve.

They point out there would be no big nearby fan base which could walk a few yards to matches nor would it be like the Bob Lucas Stadium with the Southill community on its doorstep and Westham within three-quarters of a mile to draw fans from.

Instead any new Lodmoor stadium would have relied on fans driving there since only Melcombe Regis is relatively nearby while parts of Radipole are more than a mile away and parts of Preston are more than two miles away.

A Weymouth FC at Lodmoor would have faced the same fan travel issue that it does at the Wessex or perhaps even worse.

Finally there are the views of the cynics that the whole scenario – which included proposals to build 170 homes on the Bob Lucas Stadium site - was just a classic example of people lining their pockets.

Nearly 100 people packed the planning meeting, opposition to the stadium was fierce and councillors ended up unanimously voting against it.

But this is Weymouth FC and I doubt very much whether we have heard the last of the “new stadium” saga.

WEYMOUTH Carnival went off gloriously, everyone had a great day and the Red Arrows spectacular high-in-the-sky display was perhaps the best they have ever done.

The town’s biggest day of the year brings tens of thousands of people in from a huge area, but things did not go smoothly for every visitor.

One non-local radio station, keen to air the atmosphere and key figures of the day, found itself left with egg on its face.

They lost no time getting down to work and swiftly set up an interview with the Weymouth carnival queen.

Fortunately radio cannot show embarrassment so station blushes were spared when it emerged they had just interviewed not the carnival queen… but a woman down for the event from Wolverhampton!

Condor sets sail from town

CONDOR has set sail from Weymouth, perhaps never to return.

The puppetmaster of the high seas has tried to pull Weymouth’s strings for years. But its relationship with the town reached an all-time low when the council carried out £4.4million worth of harbour wall repairs only for Condor to say Number 3 berth wasn’t good enough for its shiny “new” Austal 102 vessel.

For once Weymouth found some steel in its spine and said it wasn’t prepared to pay the £10million cost of adapting Berth 1 to meet Condor’s requirements.

Condor said it wasn’t going to pay and the Mexican stand-off was abruptly ended when Condor announced Austal would operate from Poole from Spring 2015 when it would also pull the plug on its Vitesse vessel’s Channel Islands service from Weymouth.

Condor recognised this would be “disappointing news” for the town but encouragingly said its “medium term” arrangement with Poole would give Weymouth time to establish its long term plans for the port. How gracious of them!

Perhaps now the town can concentrate on what it wants to do with the whole of that peninsula including whether it wants to talk to a totally different ferry operator.

As for Condor? Well, I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the increased fuel cost bill for the longer Poole-Channel Islands run drops with a thud on their boardroom table.

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Tigers will roar again soon

I WAS privileged to get a sneak preview of Axminster Town’s new football ground in Chard Road last week, courtesy of a personal tour by club chairman Ray Self.

As someone who has failed miserably to bring new and better facilities to my own home town club, I left the site a very jealous man. The Tigers’ new stadium is nothing short of breathtaking in design and quality of finish.

As always with such major projects, there’s been a few hiccups along the way, especially with the laying and drainage of the pitches. 

But Axminster Town players will soon be running out on what I consider the best football pitch  for an amateur club in Devon, perhaps further afield.

As a former player for the Tigers (I played for the club in the late 1960s and have never lived it down in Lyme Regis), I  always had a fond regard for Sector Lane.  It was always considered to be one of the best football pitches in the area and there were many who opposed the demise of their beloved Sector and the move to Chard Road.

Those who ran Axminster Town FC many years ago made the brave decision to buy Sector Lane - a decision which has enabled to club to sell the land to developers who have, in return, provided the new facilities at Chard Road.

This is a project that has dominated chairman Ray Self’s life for 12 years and during that time he has had to overcome many problems and a good deal of resistance. But he has never wavered from his dream of providing the town’s footballers with the very best facilities. That dream will soon become a reality and when that day comes Ray Self should be a very proud man indeed.

There will be work still to be done rebuilding the  football structure, especially the development of a youth section, so very necessary today.  That will be the club’s next challenge and I have no cause to believe they won’t meet it. 

If they get the football structure right, I believe every top player in this area will want to play for Axminster Town.  It’s the nearest they will get to playing at a professional club.

And with wonderful  facilities, the new ground will become Axminster’s premier venue for social events.

Chard Road will soon become the new Sector Lane - but much better. I wish them every success over the next few months in their transition to a new home of which they can be justly proud.

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A Walk Through (generous people’s) Time

OUR new eastern seafront - from Charmouth Road car park and along the seawall - is nearly ready. Protecting a critical part of town, this magnificent engineering also brings a new seaward dimension: a coastal walk from the eastern car park all the way to Monmouth Beach, with barely a glimpse of road traffic.

It offers, too, a fresh way into my periodic pursuit of volunteers who keep Lyme Regis thriving - for it’s not coastal protection alone that sustains the town and guards its future. 

Let’s walk this route one imagined day in late November when the footpath and steps are open.

First, look across to the vibrant Lyme Regis Football Club - voluntary to the core, everyone working for free. Howard Larcombe chairs a 15-strong fully-involved committee which, representing all club aspects and ages, keeps a busy show on the road. 

Secretary Rob Thom deals with league matters: player registrations, referees, fixtures, correspondence. Teresa Golesworthy keeps the books in order. Others focus on youth football, marketing, fundraising, match programmes, bookings for the clubhouse... and all roll up their sleeves for the nuts-and-bolts: bar staff, gate-keeping, the social events that feature so strongly.

Volunteer groundsman, handymen and willing helpers keep the Davey Fort and its clubhouse shipshape. Four “tea ladies” providing refreshments for players and spectators also walk the touchline collecting donations at home games: life-member Kath Wellman, a founder of the LRFC Ladies Supporters Group, to give them their proper title, has 30 years of doing this.

And the football? With three teams - almost, now, enough players for four - the Seasiders buck the trend towards playing on screens rather than on grass. 

“We’re stronger this year than ever,” says Howard. 

Well-led by first team manager Tim Edwards, the other managers and their assistants, and training twice-weekly throughout the summer (weekly in the season), they play to demanding standards, with a high profile and reputation for quality.

Moving the first team to the Devon & Exeter League is strengthening the club’s attraction for players some way from Lyme. 

In this, it reflects what I saw with B Sharp and Lyme Regis Majorettes: ambitious excellence in a small town creating the “critical mass” of a larger population.

Before descending the path, imagine the soon-to-be skatepark, admiring (in my case, envying) agile displays of fitness and skill. Persistence by Lucy Campbell and her young helpers over recent years - researching, consulting, planning designs and equipment, building momentum - has turned decades of wishing into a coming-reality.

Alongside, a small volunteer band led by Pat Campbell and Cheryl Reynolds put long hours into gathering an important £13,000 for the project. Starting with a Nag’s Head auction (£3,000 in one night), their effort embraced duck races, quiz nights, produce stalls, and other events. 

My Sundays in the Jubilee Pavilion last summer always saw Cheryl and one of the team on Marine Parade, determinedly selling tickets for a skatepark lottery linked to Guitars on the Beach and raising £3,000 from advance sales, with over £750 on the day.

Fundraising is tough - not just when the open-air disco coincides with heavy rain. Each event is backed by many hours of imploring, planning, organising, and getting the legalities right. Name me a town organisation without its hardy fundraisers: there can’t be many.

‘Lyme punches above its weight’

Now down and along the seawall - relish the view while resting on a seat, its timber backrest recycled from the old groynes.

Above is St Michael’s Parish Church, no longer at risk of losing graves to the sea. A prime example of the cliché that “Lyme punches above its weight” is the new Skrabl organ. 

Reputedly the finest new organ in the south of England, it’s outstanding in the beauty of its sound and of David West’s carved pipe shades - also for meticulous preparatory research and an astonishing funding effort. Andrew Nicholson’s group raised nearly £350,000 during five (financially hard) years. Some grants and many concerts helped; but most came from individual donations - a remarkable achievement.

The founding of the Lyme Regis Organ School, a non-profit trust chaired by Andrew with Dr Richard Godfrey as music adviser, is one consequence. The trust runs an annual residential and several day courses, and promotes a series of early autumn concerts.

This special church organ complements, but mustn’t overshadow, the quiet voluntary work underpinning an active community. The 12 elected Parochial Church Councillors have broad oversight: finance; policy - whether liturgical or organisational; administration; liaison with St Michael’s School. 

Two churchwardens, Margaret McConkey and Linda Nicholson, manage the building, its upkeep and the activities within it, meeting the regulations of Diocesan and civil authorities. The Church Hall, too, is voluntarily managed.

Retired clergy assist with services, while lay assistants from the congregation help with, for example, administering Holy Communion to the housebound and in care homes. A dozen bell-ringers, on duty each Sunday, practise one evening a week, as do a similar number in the choir. 

Then all those on the various rotas - flowers, collections, readings, intercessions, brass-cleaning, coffee-making, locking and unlocking a church that’s (uncommonly) open all day, welcoming visitors, Sunday public cream teas during the season... weekly pew-leaflets must be prepared, website maintained, Parish Magazine compiled and published ten times a year.

So the life of the parish church draws heavily on a tradition of centuries - the offering of time and talents by friends as well as church members inspired by their faith, with some helpers having multiple roles. Such support is vital in keeping this historic building, and the communal spirit that it fosters, in good order for our town.

Reliance on people who volunteer for several jobs, within and between organisations, characterises so many voluntary groups. (Who at the football club is vice-chairman? Reserve team manager? Occasional player? Bar supervisor? Maintenance overseer? Regular labourer? Gerard Hitchcock, one and all. You’ll know equivalents all around town.)

We’ll meet this theme again next month as we pass the Marine Theatre, the museum and beyond. It’s admirable - but with serious implications. 

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Who dares gets battered!

I’VE always looked upon Colyton and Colyford as one community - and indeed it is.  I’ve always been aware, of course, that Colyford is an ancient borough but the village and town have always been run by Colyton Parish Council on which Colyford has  representation, currently four out of 13 councillors, although this is not a statutory right.

There has been murmurs for a long time, however, from Colyford that the village does not get a fair deal, which has encouraged the current Mayor of Colyford, Howard West to “bravely” raise the issue at a recent council meeting.

I say “bravely” because it takes a bit of guts to go against the grain at Colyton Parish Council meetings. They are, as demonstrated frequently in recent years, a close-knit group who close ranks whenever anyone dares to challenge their modi operandi.

This newspaper is the only one that takes any interest in Colyton Parish Council by sending a reporter to every meeting. Indeed, we have done that for many years.

From time to time, however, we have upset councillors by reporting on matters that they would prefer not to be publicised, despite such matters being discussed in open council, the inference being that we should only report on the positives and never the negatives. That view, of course, is contrary to the basic principles of democracy and we have resisted any attempt to stop us doing our job responsibly.

We really upset the council recently when we had the audacity to record their deliberations at a particularly controversial meeting, to ensure we got it exactly right. To do so was contrary to the council’s standing orders (rules). We had never been sent a copy of those standing orders and they are not listed on the council’s website, at the library, on the council notice board or any other public place.

The council threatened to report us to the Press Complaints Commission for contravening their rules but common sense prevailed and if we want to record meetings in the future we have to seek permission which, from time to time, we will do.

The parish council defended its commitment to Colyford at its last meeting and Howard West took a bit of a battering over his claims about the village not getting  its fair share.  

But it was his democratic right to raise the matter and he should not be unnecessarily castigated because he did not tow the party line.

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Get off the open register if  

you don’t want the junk mail

THE Government has effectively ordered Weymouth and Portland council to open itself to ridicule.

Some might say this isn’t too difficult a job, but this time the council is the innocent party.

Thousands of us recently had a leaflet popped through our letterboxes entitled: “Your vote matters. The way you register to vote is changing.”

Now the council, no stranger to controversy, immediately spotted the ludicrous way the Government-backed leaflet had been written and contacted Westminster for permission to change the wording. That permission was denied and the council was forced to issue the leaflet as it was.

It told the residents of Weymouth and Portland that “you do not need to do anything else” over election eligibility because “you have been automatically re-registered under the new system”.

That’s all right then… but it isn’t.

Sadly, as with so many decisions the Government makes, all is not quite as it seems.

Lower down the same leaflet we are told our details are on an open register, an extract of the electoral register which is not used for elections but which can be bought “by any person, company or organisation”..... “to confirm name and address details”. 

Then comes the key sentence: “Your name and address will be included in the open register unless you ask for them to be removed.”

So, despite what the Government-backed leaflet says, unless you want an avalanche of “special offer” and charity mail pouring through your letterbox, you do need to do something.

Specifically you need to look at the bottom of your letter where there is a long security code of more than a dozen numbers and have that handy when you call 0800 197 2327 and ask to be removed from the open register.

I view the whole letter as a stealthy approach which could in many cases lead to businesses and charities being able to confirm precisely where you live and the only reason they can have for doing that is to send you “junk” mail or begging letters.

If you still haven’t made your mind up then more information on both registers is available at www.gov.uk/yourvotematters

But be warned. This, too, is top heavy on information about how easy the voting change is.

Only by going to Section 3 and pursuing that relentlessly do you finally arrive at what the open register is really about.

It includes a list of who uses the open register such as alcohol and gambling businesses, charities to help with fundraising, debt collection agencies and “direct-marketing firms when maintaining their mailing lists”.

So now you know. The Government says you do not need to do anything else. That’s fine for the election side of things but people who choose to ignore removing themselves from the open register only have themselves to blame if they then get a lot of unwanted mail.

A RECENT visit to the cinema underlined the impact weather is increasingly having on all our lives.

We joined 30-40 other film fans who packed into the excellent Plaza Cinema in Dorchester to see Guardians of the Galaxy.

Our trip included £4 in town centre parking fees and nearly £6 inside the cinema for nibbles, tea and other drinks on top of our cinema ticket bill.

Then we relaxed in our comfortable seats and waited for the usual burst of colourful adverts to herald the start of the entertainment.

We were still waiting nearly 40 minutes later after several false starts of music but no pictures when the manager came out in front of the audience and said that regretfully, due to technical problems, everyone would have to leave and be given a refund or similar option.

It emerged that the problem was believed to have been caused by a lightning strike during a recent storm over the county town. Typical! There’s never a Guardian of the Galaxy about when you need one for a spot of projector repairing.

Check my name tag!

IT was a simple trip out to Bristol by a Weymouth man and his friends which all went horribly wrong.

He drove up to the city and they had a good time, but he didn’t know the place and set off home by driving the wrong way up a one way street.

Then to get out of trouble… he drove the wrong way up another one way street. And to get out of that dilemma… he drove the wrong way up a third one way street!

It is perhaps no surprise that police eventually spotted him and pulled him over. The officer asked him how old he was and the young man replied: “17.”

He was also asked if he had been drinking and he replied: “Yes, but only a couple of pints.”

By now the policeman was determined to check the young man out and asked if he had any form of official identification on him.

The young man thought about that for a while and then admitted that he didn’t but, before the policeman could speak, the young man’s face lit up and he said he had just realised that he did have some form of identification.

He then got out of his car, rolled up a trouser leg and showed the officer his name stitched to a label on the inside of his sock! The officer was still laughing when he waved the young man on his way!

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