A popular village pantomime which has been staged for more than 40 years has been cancelled halfway through rehearsals due to concerns over ‘cultural insensitivity’. Ansty has enjoyed four decades of its annual show, and local children had been busily learning their lines for this year’s show – Aladdin, which was due to be staged […]
By Dan Goater An avid fossil collector has slated the failed £5.5m Seaton Jurassic World Heritage Site Visitor Centre as ‘not only a waste of money, but also a wasted opportunity’. Geologist and fossil guide Richard Edmonds says the visitor centre, which opened in 2016, lost £500,000 in running costs due to ‘poor visitor numbers’ […]
A young chef from West Dorset has wowed the judges and critics on MasterChef: The Professionals and looks set to go far in the BBC1 competition. And the good news is that Charlie Jeffreys, 24, aims to return here and open a fine dining restaurant of his own one day. Charlie’s love of good food […]
The Boundary Commission has issued new proposals for the division of constituencies in Dorset, which would see several West Dorset communities move into the North Dorset constituency. Under plans unveiled online, Cerne Abbas, Puddletown, Tolpuddle, the Piddle Valley and Cheselbourne would be shifted into North Dorset constituency, as the commission seeks to increase the number […]
A well-known teacher, musician and composer is holding the biggest event of his life in hopes of finally hearing his works performed by a professional group of musicians before his illness stops him in his tracks. Rick Birley, 68, who lives in Dorchester, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 15 years ago. The disease hasn’t stopped him […]
A metal detectorist from Dorchester has been helping reunite people with their lost jewellery. When he’s not unearthing ancient coins and artefacts in Dorset’s fields, Keith Brown has been stepping up to help people desperate to find their lost jewellery. Retired prison officer Keith recently helped a woman named Jenny from Cattistock find her Victorian […]
An extraordinary collection of rare and vintage equipment has been sourced to establish a fabulous recording studio just outside Dorchester – and it’s all fully accessible. Grace and Nick Capaldi started to establish Echo Town studios just before lockdown. While covid presented many challenges they battled through, fired up with passion for vintage sound. Nick, […]
For both good and ill, Weymouth’s connection to the sea has always been critical to its place in history. The Black Death famously entered the country through the town’s port in the 1300s while, centuries later, Allied forces would set out from that same port to liberate mainland Europe from the Nazis on D-Day. The […]
A young chef from Dorchester who now works at The Dorchester is going into battle with some of the finest cooks around in the BBC’s Masterchef: The Professionals. Charlie Jeffreys, 24, cut his teeth as a teenage apprentice at Yalbury Cottage Hotel in Lower Bockhampton before making the move to The Dorchester in London, where […]
“I am always getting asked for fork handles,” says Simon Larcombe, grinning. Larcombe’s of Beaminster is 20 years old this month, and it’s the type of shop that really does make you feel you’ve stepped into that scene from The Two Ronnies. Everything is here. Around 36,000 items, to be almost exact. And if it’s […]