Dorchester Voice
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Issue No. 8 March-April 2014 Dorchester SPRING Voice first anniversary issue! VoiceAlso serving local villages Arts & crafts, healthy living, alternative therapies, what’s on Volunteers prepare for Community Play £2m Charles Street subsidy slammed Your independent community magazine Featuring Gig Guide and Out & About – full local listings Supporting Dorchester’s independent retailers, craftspeople and practitioners Community News £2m Charles Street subsidy under fire Dorchester campaigner Alistair “The district council’s gift of Council, said the redevelopment Chisholm has hit out at plans by this valuable town centre site of the site, bringing new, bigger West Dorset District Council to should have been the beginning Marks & Spencer and Waitrose subsidise the planned Charles and the end of its involvement in stores, would create around 600 Street shopping centre develop- the Charles Street project. new jobs and provide a real boost ment to the tune of £2 million. “The two other developers in to the wider local economy. He says it is wrong for the the county town – the Duchy at “The benefits of the scheme council to underwrite the devel- Poundbury and the developers of are significant for the local opment when other projects such Brewery Square – have managed area but unfortunately the poor as Brewery Square have gone to deliver both their develop- economic climate of recent years ahead without any public money. ments in the teeth of a howling has caused progress to stall,” said The move follows the earlier economic gale and without a Cllr Gould. decision by the council to pick up penny of precious public money. “Councillors agreed to use the tab for preliminary works, in- “All this is bad enough, but capital reserves to underwrite the cluding the removal and rebuild- unfortunately there’s more. The financial viability gap to help give ing of the Community Church, at district council is almost certain the developer confidence to take a cost of another £2 million. to agree to the wishes of Simons the scheme forward. “I do not believe this huge [the Charles Street developers] to “By agreeing to underwrite expenditure to be in the best remove the 14 affordable housing the scheme, the council has also interests of the people of West units in phase 2 and replace them been able to keep to the original Dorset,” said Cllr Chisholm. with private market housing units. plan for two basement levels of “£4 million of hard-working “What an appalling example parking, providing extra parking.” people’s council tax could and for your local authority to set.” The council has also promised should have been spent on 40-50 However, Cllr Robert Gould, a further public consultation affordable homes. leader of West Dorset District exercise. High-tech parking scheme set to start A revolutionary new parking scheme is set to go “Every year traders lose thousands of pounds in ahead in Dorchester within the next few weeks. lost sales because of people coming into town to The high-tech, pay-on-exit scheme should be shop and then running out of time on their prepaid in place in Dorchester’s Wollaston Field car park ticket,” he said. soon after Easter, and will use number-plate-recog- It is hoped an electronic version of the shopper’s nition cameras to monitor parking. discount will also be rolled out at the car park. Drivers will have the option of either paying Shoppers currently get a 50p discount in partici- their parking dues when they leave – using cash pating stores by presenting their parking voucher. or cards – or, if they sign up for an online account, While this will not be immediately available they will be automatically billed in a similar way in Wollaston Field, it will be implemented as to the London Congestion Charge. soon as possible, with drivers entering a four-digit There will also be a short period of grace on code given to them by storekeepers. The existing entering the car park, in case drivers have trouble voucher system will continue at other car parks. finding a space. Meanwhile Mr Gordon has secured the use of Dorchester Business Improvement District (BID) a private car park in Colliton Street for BID levy director Phil Gordon said the move, funded by the payers on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone BID from the business levy, would revolutionise wishing to go on the waiting list should email parking in the town centre. [email protected]. www.dorchestervoice.co.uk 3 Dorchester Voice Old Hardyeans set for annual reunion For many decades, on the third Saturday in March, Old Hardyeans have met together for their annual reunion dinner, when the old boys of Hardye’s School and Dorchester Grammar School remember their schooldays and talk of old times. In recent times, the annual dinner has been at the modern Thomas Hardye School, this year on Saturday, 15 March at 7pm, with a reception hosted by president Peter Foster. The guest speaker is Garry Batt, chairman of the governors at Thomas Hardye School and a local auctioneer at Duke’s. “We know some Old Hardyeans are coming to the reunion dinner from other parts of the UK, but it would be good to attract more local old boys The Prince of Wales opens the new school at Fordington in 1928 from Hardye’s School,” says Old Hardyeans Sec- retary Michel Hooper-Immins, who studied at the Michel Hooper-Immins says an announcement Culliford Road school from 1958 to 1965. will be made at the dinner about the Colin Lucas “Some of our older members were at Dorchester Memorial Fund, a tribute to the Old Hardyeans’ Grammar School in the war years and they mingle late chairman, who passed away in August. happily with the young students of Thomas Hardye The cost of the three-course annual reunion School. It’s a very happy event and we would dinner is £21. Enquiries should be made to Chair- appeal for more local old boys to join us on 15 man Godfrey Lancashire at godfrey.lancashire@ March.” virginmedia.com or telephone 01308 485688. Next year, the annual dinner moves to the King’s Arms Hotel in Dorchester, again on the third Satur- day in March 2015, and will mark the 110th anni- versary of the founding of the old boys’ association in 1905. Old Hardyeans meet at the King’s Arms every last Thursday of the month for lunch. Founded in 1905 as the Old Grammarians, the Old Hardyeans – also known as the Hardyeans Club – is one of the most successful old school as- sociations in the county, bringing together the old boys of Dorchester Grammar School and Hardye’s School, plus ex-students of the modern Thomas Hardye School. In the times of Queen Elizabeth I, it was Thomas Hardye [with a final ‘e’] de- scribed as an yeoman of Frampton, who endowed Dorchester Grammar School in 1569. Hardye’s shopping arcade today stands on the site. The grammar school moved to Culliford Road in 1928 and was renamed Hardye’s School in 1954. The new Thomas Hardye School in Queen’s Avenue opened in 1992, encompassing the best traditions of the two previous schools – and admit- ting girls for the first time since 1569. Writer Thomas Hardy – no relation to the founder – who lived at nearby Max Gate, laid the foundation stone of Hardye’s School in 1927. Dorchester Voice 4 March-April 2014 Beer festival raises £11,000 for charity Drinkers celebrate at the Dorchester Beerex ore than 1,300 ale lovers sampled the delights on offer at the Dorchester MBeerex over the two days of the annual festival at the Corn Exchange and raised more than £11,000 for charity. As well as supporting the local breweries in Dorset, beers came from the length and breadth of the British Isles, including the Duke IPA from the Highland Brewery in the Orkney Islands, which was awarded the title of Champion Beer of the Festival, with the new brewery in Dorset, Gyle 59, coming 2nd with its 5.3% IPA. The strongest beer of the weekend was specially brewed for the event – Big Bang at 8.5%, from the main sponsors of Beerex, the Piddle Brewery. The main charity this year is Gully’s Place, a special unit coming to Dorset County Hospital that will provide a private area for a family with a child receiving palliative end-of-life care. The unit will be built within the existing children’s ward at the hospital. The raffle raised over £1,700 for RTCW (Round Table Children’s wish), that grants wishes for seriously ill children. The Beerex organisers, West Dorset CAMRA and Dorchester Round Table, are again indebted to the companies and individuals that support the event every year either by sponsoring a bar- rel or donating a raffle prize. Ellis Ford, chairman of Dorchester Beerex 2014, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that helps to make this event possible, and also Dorchester Ellipse for catering for everyone’s needs.” www.dorchestervoice.co.uk 5 Dorchester Voice Sponsored feature Plenty to see and do in Damers Road If you want to pop out and do some shopping, but don’t want the stress of trying to park in the town centre, then why not try out the shops in and around Damers Road? The little parade of shops offers free on-street parking just round the corner in Dagmar Road and is ideal for that quick visit without having to deal with the traffic. Businesses include Profile Hair run by Tracy Baker, with its own loyalty scheme offering up to 10% discounts.