The May 2022 edition of the Bride Valley News can be read HERE

BRIDE VALLEY NEWS

The deadline for copy for any month’s issue is mid-day of the second Thursday of the preceding month. All material for publication must be sent to the Village Correspondent. For Litton Cheney this is: John Firrell, Tel: 01308 482313 email: jfirrell20@gmail.com

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The Bridport Local Area Partnership (BLAP) is here for the community. Current members of the partnership include Bridport Town Council, 13 Parish Councils and more than 140 community organisations and individuals working to improve the social, economic, and environmental wellbeing of Bridport and surrounding areas. For information or if you have a piece for the bulletin please contact Claire Peters-Way on 01308 456722 or by email at: Claire.Peters-Way@bridport-tc.gov.uk more information can be found on our leaflet. Helplines NHS Dorset Health Care - 0300 123 5440 Dorset Together Helpline - 01305 221000 Dorset Adviceline - 0800 144 8848 Harmony Mental Health Support - 07597 379290 Dorset Digital Hotline - 01305 221000 (Mon-Fri 10am -12noon) Public Health Dorset The latest newsletter can be viewed here. This includes information on the Every Mind Matters campaign, Easter activities, scarlet fever and more. Bridport Leisure Centre Bridport Leisure Centre is holding children's multi activity day camps. This will include a number of sports and team activities and will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8.30am to 5.30pm until Thursday 21st April. £20 per child per day. For more information please call 01308 427464. West Bay Discovery Centre West Bay Discovery Centre are holding Easter drawing activities everyday until the 24th April. The centre is open from 11am - 4pm and admission is free. On Thursday 21st April at 2pm storyteller Martin Maudsley will be giving a performance on folktales and myths that celebrate the wildness of West Bay. Bridport Town Mayor's Quiz The Mayor's big charity quiz night will be held on Friday 22nd April from 7pm- 10pm at the Bridport Town Hall. £30 per team (maximum of six people). All money raised will go to the Mayor's charities which are the Borough Harmony Centre and The Living Tree. For more information call the Bridport TIC on 01308 424901. The latest edition of the Mayor's blog 'Covid, cycles, community and water voles' is now available. This also features community support and mass litter pick. Bridport Museum - Historic Guided Walk Bridport Museum's historic guided walks will take place every Thursday. The volunteer guides will lead walks around Bridport, sharing some of their fascinating insights into the town's unique past. The walk will start from outside the Museum at 11am and will last around one hour. All are easy level walking and cost £5 per adult, whilst under 21s are free. For group bookings please email or call 01308 458703. There will also be an Easter dinosaur trail around the museum. This will be held until Saturday 23rd April. Bridport Museum’s volunteers have displayed some special objects around Bridport for you to discover. The 'Love My Object' displays can be found at Bridport Library, Bridport Leisure Centre and in the Museum. These will be on display until the 4th September. Bridport Cohousing The next 'Meet the Neighbours' meeting will be held on Sunday 24th April at 10am. Meet in the car park at Symondsbury Kitchen for a walk up Colmers Hill. Alternatively meet in the cafe at 11am. For more information please click here. Fraud Safety Webinar Ashley Jones, who is the Regional Fraud Protect Advisor with the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit is hosting a webinar on Tuesday 26th April at 2pm. The 45-minute session will cover the dangers caused by fraud in the UK, discuss the most common frauds, and the 'Golden Rules' to avoid fraud in daily life. This session has been created for any person who may seek to raise their general awareness of the current fraud landscape, while enhancing their understanding of the way many frauds work to help them avoid fraud in the future. To register for a place please click here. Bridport's From Page to Screen Film Festival Bridport's From Page to Screen film festival is to be held from Wednesday 27th April to Sunday 1st May at Bridport Arts Centre. There are 20 films to choose from, as well as special events and speakers. To view the films and to book tickets please click here or call Bridport TIC on 01308 424901. Sponsored Musicathon Calling all musicians, singers, performers, groups, schools, choirs! This year's Musicathon will take place in the Bridport United Church on Saturday 11 June 2022 between 9am and 5pm. The event format is similar to previous years with individuals and groups being sponsored by relatives and friends to perform their choice of music to a public audience during a 15 minute slot. This year the team are also planning to run a performance stage mainly for young musicians in Bucky Doo Square from 10am to 12.30pm. To book your slot please email: Vince O'Farrell, Pat Crawford or Richard Toft or call 01308 427851 (Vince), 01308 456297 (Pat) or 01308 424103 (Richard). For more information please view the poster or sponsorship form. The charities chosen to share in the money raised this year are the Richard Ely Trust for Young Musicians and Weldmar Hospicecare. West Bay Car Boot West Bay Car Boot sale has now re-started. Traders can attend from 6.30am and must vacate the car park by 12noon. Costs for this car boot sale are £6 for a car, £8 for a car and trailer or small van, and £15 for a large van. The car boot sale will be held every Sunday until the end of October. Bridport Sculpture Trail Bridport Town Council and the Arts Development Company are seeking expressions of interest for new pieces to be added to the Bridport Sculpture trail this summer. This is the third year of its development. The Expression of Interest form can be viewed here. The submission deadline is Tuesday 19th April at 9am and the installation will take place in Mid-May. Bridport Food Matters Bridport Food Matters is working towards establishing a community food hub in Bridport town centre. This could include a number of facilities such as a café, event space, social supermarket and refill shop. For further information and to provide your thoughts please complete the short questionnaire. Bridport Skatepark proposal Bridport Town Council has been working with skatepark designers Maverick and, young people to develop an exciting new proposal for a multi wheel skatepark to replace the current provision at Plottingham. A public consultation has now been launched to seek wider community views on the proposed multi wheel skatepark ahead of Bridport Town Council submitting a planning application later this year. The skatepark proposal can be viewed here. Comments should be provided via an online questionnaire. An open public session will be held on Saturday 30 th April between 11am and 1pm at Plottingham. This is a chance to view the multi wheel skatepark plans and talk to skaters and Town Councillors about the proposal. The closing date for comments is 13 th May 2022. Free‘Startup School for Seniors’ course for Dorset residents Starting on the 6th May 2022 Startup School for seniors are offering a free online 8 week programme to help Dorset residents who are unemployed and over the age of 50 to start a business, build confidence, increase resilience and learn ways to create an income. For more information please click here. Support for Ukraine - Dorset Council Dorset Council are working alongside the NHS, Public Health Dorset, the emergency services, faith groups, Volunteer Centre Dorset, Dorset Race Equality Council, Help and Kindness, and other local groups to coordinate the county’s response. This includes support for Ukrainian individuals and families and for local sponsors offering accommodation. Dorchester-based group Help and Kindness is helping to signpost and promote local community groups that provide advice to refugees and local sponsors. For more information please click here or call Help and Kindness on 01305 595958. Dorset council - Digital Dorset Digital Dorset have launched a new Digital Champion training programme to help more people get online. This provides free training to anyone in Dorset who works closely with residents to help them become digital champions within their organisations. For more information and to book onto a course please email edc@dorsetcouncil.go.uk Healthwatch Dorset Healthwatch Dorset are asking for views on experiences of non-emergency patient transport provided by Ezec. The feedback will help to shape the way the service will be delivered in the future. If you use the Ezec service and would like to share your experience, please contact 0300 111 0102 or email enquiries@healthwatchdorset.co.uk. All the feedback will be anonymised so comments received cannot be traced to individuals. Please click here for further information. Rural Services Network This month's Rural Funding Digest is now available. This includes the Urban Tree Challenge fund, grant schemes for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the local action fund, Queen's Platinum Jubilee, farming in protected landscapes programme and more. Bride Valley News The April edition of the Bride Valley News is now available. This issue includes updates from Burton Bradstock, Litton Cheney, Shipton Gorge, Puncknowle & Swyre, Bride Valley car service, Burton Bradstock community library, Bride Valley gardening club, Litton Cheney litter pick and lots more. The Bridge magazine This month's Bridge magazine features updates from the local churches, the Home Library Service, contact details for local groups and organisations, Easter church services and more.

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Parish Council The Annual Village/Parish Assembly was held on 10 th May at which those attending discussed their thoughts on how they envisioned the village developing in the coming years. Thoughts expressed can be found in the minutes of the assembly and on the village website The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on Tuesday 12th July, 7.30 pm at LATCH. As always, local residents are invited to attend. Presently there is a vacancy on the council, and we are looking for a person willing to do their bit for their local community – no qualifications necessary other than wanting to make a difference for the benefit of others. Interested? – contact Clerk Maggie Walsh or Chairman Bill Orchard – contact details can be found on the village website. Platinum Jubilee Jubilee celebrations will have already begun by the time you read this! From 26 th May there will be an exhibition representing 70 years of HM The Queen’s reign, and put together by the children of Thorner’s School, a scarecrow and history trail through the village. On Thursday 26 th May there will be a display of vintage vehicles representing many of those 70 years. Over the Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday period (2 nd June to 5 th June) there is much going on in and around the area. On Saturday 4 th June, there is the Jubilee Duck Race at 12 Noon, and then its all down to The White Horse for a day of fun and frolics including a day-long BBQ, live music, bouncy castle and so much more! Celebrations continue on Sunday 5 th June with the Platinum Jubilee Village Picnic at LATCH from 12 Noon. Raise a glass to Her Majesty from the wine list of our own Bride Valley Vineyard, bring your baking confection and compete in the Great Litton Bake competition. Bridport Big Band will serenade us whilst we picnic in splendour, and towards the end of the celebrations winners of the Grand Draw will be announced. A leaflet will have already been dropped through your letter box setting out the list of Jubilee events, and also providing maps of the scarecrow and history trails. Also available on notice boards, village website and Facebook Pages A huge round of thanks and applause to all who contributed in some way to Litton’s Jubilee celebrations. It has a been a wonderful community effort, with many creative talents on display and a willingness to get involved. We know who you are! Litton Cheney residents, friends and visitors – This is your Jubilee too - Enjoy! Events at Litton and Thorner’s Community Hall – for June Weekly: Mondays: 15.30 Big Q Church (term time only) Wednesdays: 16.30 – Table Tennis (Ron Davidson 482661) 19.00 – Yoga with Anna Forrest (annaiyengaryoga@gmail.com) Fridays: 10.00 to 12 noon - Art Class in Meeting Room – 6-week course starts 17 th June. (Ann Gray: annvgray@hotmail.com) Specials: JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS Thursday 2 nd to Sunday 5 th – see separate listings, notice boards and village website + leaflet through your door! Coming Saturday 2 nd July Bride Valley Garden Club Show Village Cafés: A reminder that the hall is available for hire free of charge on Saturday mornings for a Café to raise funds for any group. It’s a good social event for the community and always popular – contact me to book a date. Hall Bookings: Wendy Firrell 01308 482532 wtlitton@gmail.com Village Exchange – A Plea As you are aware we have our very own excellent Exchange housed in the Village Kiosk. Please note it is not a depository for boxes of unwanted books; its primary use being an exchange – you bring along a book and exchange it for another book you think you might like to read – the same mechanism is in place for children’s toys and seeds. Please consider the willing volunteers who look after this superb facility – they are the ones who have to sort out anyone’s misuse of the kiosk. Many thanks. Full Fibre Broadband Openreach have informed us that they will shortly be continuing the Voucher Pledging Scheme they initiated in 2021 aimed at providing the means of eventually financing the installation of full fibre broadband in the village. Bench Fund Plans are now in place for benches to be located on Pins Knoll, Chalk Pit Lane and the Vineyard over the coming weeks/months to allow walkers to dwell a pause whilst perambulating our beautiful valley. This has been made possible by donations to the Parish Bench Fund. If you would like to donate or would like to know more about the scheme please contact Quentin Blacke at quentin396pc@yahoo.com The White Horse – The Queen’s Jubilee & Beyond! So here we are rushing towards the summer season and we are excited to be part of the village Jubilee festivities. Friday 3rd is, as always, traditional pub night with fish and chips, happy hour and a grand Jubilee meat and cheese draw. That will be the last meat draw until September. On Saturday 4th June the Blue ducks get another outing as the village is organising another duck race at around midday and to support this we have two live bands booked, N.U.M.B. (Never Underestimate Musical Belief) from around 1pm and 20th Century Boys from around 4pm. We have booked a bouncy castle to keep the children amused although they should be supervised by their parents for safety purposes. We will also have the BBQ going all day. We are in the process of organising live music every Sunday afternoon from 3pm from the end of June through to the end of the summer holidays. As always, keep and eye on our Facebook page and blackboards for who's playing when and other events. Wishing you all well and have a great Jubilee weekend. Andy and Liz