Sherborne welcomed 140 delegates from 24 partner towns, each a different EU country, to the Douzelage General Meeting, an annual meeting which takes place in a different country every year. The local committee of Sherborne Douzelage produced a comprehensive programme of meetings, workshops, musical entertainment and excursions exploring the Dorset landscape to connect with nature. […]
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Feast your eyes on these delicious Weymouth offers for two weeks in May
Feeling peckish? We have glad tidings! Weymouth restaurants are offering a simply scrumptious set of dining out offers for two weeks in May – see details opposite. This FEAST fortnight is running from May 10-24 at 12 venues around Weymouth, with a wide range of cuisines to try, from French to Turkish to Indian and […]
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Wiser, tougher and ready to fight a General Election
“Beware the quiet man. For while others speak, he watches. And while others act, he plans. And when they finally rest… he strikes.” Anon West Dorset’s MP Chris Loder is about as far from the constituency’s usual politician as it’s possible to be. He grew up in an ordinary farming family in Folke, near Sherborne, […]
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Dorchester mum speaks out over gender and puberty blocking drugs
“You can’t get a tattoo, you can’t drink – you can’t even buy Tippex under 18,” says a Women of Dorset spokesman. “Yet you can be referred to a gender identity clinic and given irreversible drugs to stop puberty, compromise your ability to have children and affect the rest of your life.” A Dorchester mum […]
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Golden couple win our competition associated with Groves Nurseries
A stylish summer awaits Marion Toucher from Bridport, who has won the stunning Zest Jasmine Folding Chair after winning The West Dorset Magazine’s Mother’s Day competition in association with Groves Nursery and Garden Centre. Eagle-eyed Marion, who along with her husband Tom retired to Bridport 28 years ago, counted our brightly coloured bouquets in February’s […]
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Dismay as hopes for Weymouth Carnival revival are dashed
Hopes to bring the once iconic carnival back to Weymouth in August have been dashed. The Weymouth Carnival Committee, formed in 2022, needed to raise £100,000. But they have been unable to secure the necessary approvals and funding to resurrect the colourful cavalcade, which dates back to 1856. Kallum Gethins, director and chairman, said: “I […]
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Church Beach in Lyme Regis is one step closer to being bather approved
An application by local water campaigners for Church Beach in Lyme Regis to be re-designated as a bathing beach has been approved to go to the next stage. The River Lim Action group had to show at least 100 people swam at the beach each day in season, to convince Defra to consider the site […]
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Social care charity Encompass appeal for new bench
A charity which has provided social care and support to adults and young people with learning disabilities and mental health needs for more than 32 years across Dorset has launched an appeal to provide wheelchair- accessible picnic benches for public areas. Encompass Care, based in Poundbury, was initially being established to support people out of […]
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Oyez! Oyez! In with a shout to be new town crier
It’s a crying shame! Champion town crier Alistair Chisholm, who has been proclaiming and pontificating his way rather noisily around Dorchester for the past 27 years, is hanging up his bell and his tricorn hat. Now the hunt is on for his successor – but you’ll have to get in quick, as entries close on […]
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Our Renaissance Man: How Lyndon Wall was drawn to a life of creative brilliance
A few days before Christmas, my esteemed editor Miranda and I had the pleasure of a very leisurely lunch at the home of our illustrious cartoonist Lyndon Wall, who has been toting the WDM pencil since we launched two years ago. We felt it was about time we celebrated the work of this prolific and […]