NovemberMarch 2021 2019 IssueIssue no.no. 254238 FREE WHEREYou can DELIVERED also read. POSTAL online SUBSCRIPTION or download AVAILABLE the entire at: www.purbeckgazette.co.uk/catalogue.aspx magazine in book format at: Magazine Archive at: www.purbeckgazette.co.uk FeelingPurbeckHelp Frayed? Christmas Save RexYou’re TheChallenge! Not Brave. Alone... PgPg 1223 Pg - 3723 CaringOur For Flag Primates Is Now Though Official! Covid. Pg Pg16 31 StayingBanish ThoseAfloat Winter During Blues!Lockdown. Pg 24 Pg- 35 36 OtterEyes Deaths Along TheOn The Coast... Increase. Pg 19 Pg 37 SWANAGE & PURBECK TAXI SWANAGE TYRES This spaceCall Martin is now Williams available! Advertise to our readers! on 07969 927424 NOW TESTING CLASS 4 & Let them know you’re QUAY CARS TAXI CLASS 7 VEHICLES! 4-7 seater. Airportsout there! - Docks - Local Tours 6 Victoria Avenue Industrial Estate, Swanage CallCall: KAY07788 on 01929 2345424239 ext.145 01929 421398 2 The Purbeck Gazette Editor’s note... The Purbeck Gazette is elcome to the March 2021 edition of your Purbeck Gazette! delivered by: WIt’s still Corona-lockdown 3.0! After speaking to many of our advertisers, the decision has been made to publish online only this month as there is We distribute 20,000 copies of the Purbeck no advertising revenue to enable us to physically print Gazette every month to properties in Purbeck and distribute this edition (costs around £12,000 per utilising Logiforce GPS-tracked delivery teams. month to print and distribute). Well over 90% of our advertisers are currently shut and have nothing to advertise and (Residents in blocks of flats, or who live up long driveways or in lesser no funds to pay for advertising to tell you they’re shut - obviously, populated areas will not get a door-to-door delivery. You will not receive all events have also been cancelled for the forseeable future too. a copy if you display a ‘no junk mail’ sticker on your letterbox) Purbeck has a population of approx. 45,300, we print & distribute 20,000 During lockdown 1.0 we averaged 70,000 readers online, which copies for Purbeck and further afield (Crossways, Broadmayne, Bloxworth etc). was amazing and kept our advertisers and columnists in contact with the wider world, able to communicate effectively and keep You will not therefore ALL get a paper copy! 1 in 3 properties get a copy. We our community in touch. One of the wonders of the modern ensure a good spread of distribution throughout the whole area to get the world - the amazing ability to connect, even in times like these! best response for our advertisers, who are our business customers. Mental health is an issue for many at the moment - the simple stress of not being able to plan and of having no control is really hurting many people right now. The only advice is to keep breathing, try We publish in-full online for those households who do and still your mind, deal with one thing at a time and accept we not receive a paper copy through the door. do all face a lack of control over our daily lives at the moment. Kindness is so very important - everyone you see is probably See: www.purbeckgazette.com strugging in some way or another, so smile at one another despite the mask (you can see it in the eyes!) and be aware of those in The March 2021 edition has adeadline of 9th February. your neighbourhood who may be alone, unsupported or just feeling really down right now. Thanks so much to the volunteer team The April 2021 edition has adeadline of 10th March. who have been putting the Gazette together whilst we’re online only - your hard work is much appreciated! Public Notices & Information Swanage Town Council Meetings - March 2021 ALL ‘IN-PERSON’ MEETINGS PREVIOUSLY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ARE SUSPENDED DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS - PLEASE CONTACT THE COUNCIL DIRECTLY FOR INFORMATION Wareham Town Council Meetings - March 2021 ALL ‘IN-PERSON’ MEETINGS PREVIOUSLY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ARE SUSPENDED DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS - PLEASE CONTACT THE COUNCIL DIRECTLY FOR INFORMATION Dorset Council For details of council meetings, councillors and decisions please use the web address: www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/committees Alternatively, if you use the old 'Dorsetforyou' address: www.dorsetforyou.gov.uk/committees - you will be redirected to the same link called 'committee meetings and papers'. About Purbeck Media Ltd The Purbeck Gazette prints 20,000 copies every month and delivers throughout the region from Swanage to Dorchester, Lulworth to Bere Regis. The Purbeck Gazette is published by Purbeck Media Ltd. All editing, graphic design and lay-up is completed in-house by Purbeck Media Ltd. The Purbeck Gazette is printed by Blackmore Ltd of Shaftesbury and delivered by Logiforce GPS- tracked distribution. The Purbeck Gazette website is managed and edited on-site by Purbeck Media Ltd. Purbeck Media Ltd also publishes The Purbeck Guidette, the Purbeck Visitor Guide. All rights reserved. OUR TEAM: The Gazette team consists of: Nico Johnson, Editor, Kay Jenkins, Sales & Accounts Executive, David Hollister, Columnist, John Garner, Columnist, Regula Wright, Columnist. Purbeck Designs (some graphics), Kim Steeden, Spotlight Diary Editor. VOLUNTEERS: A massive thanks to our volunteers, whose help is invaluable each month. Our proof readers are the very professional: Gerry Norris and David Holman, with volunteer Photographer, Tim Crabb, also on-hand. Telephone Sales & Client Contact We reserve the right to maintain contact with our advertising clients, past and present, through the use of telephone calls and emails. We retain customer’s names, addresses, emails and telephone numbers on file. If you do not wish to hear from us to be reminded of upcoming deadlines, please do let us know! The Purbeck Gazette 3 Learn about our Lookouts on page 12! Wonderful picture (above), by Mary Counsell - limited print edition sold in aid of Coastwatch CONTACT US 17b Commercial Road BUSINESS MATTERS 26 Swanage, Dorset BH19 1DF www.purbeckgazette.co.uk COMMUNITY MATTERS 6 THE OFFICE IS NOT OPEN COUNCIL MEETINGS 2 TO GENERAL PUBLIC. ADVERTISERS ONLY PLEASE! FEATURES Arti cle: Feeling Frayed? 23 - 25 Editorial Enquiries: Editor, Nico Johnson Blast From The Past - returns next month 01929 424239 Embrace Young Voices 16 [email protected] Gazett e Gardening 30 Advertising Sales: at: www.purbeckgazette.co.uk Have Your Say On Our Future 8 Kay Jenkinsor 01929 email: 424239 ext.1 John Garner writes - Returns next month [email protected] Nati onal Coastwatch 19 TO ADVERTISE Silver For Durdle Door! 22 See our website shop at: Swanage Medical Practi ce Update & Info 34 www.purbeckgazette.co.uk for rate card, booking & payment Telling It Like It Is - David Hollister writes 6Prices from £25.80 (inc VAT) Touring Arts Kept Alive 13 Discounts available VIP Bulk Stockists Of YOUR Purbeck Gazett e! 42 The legal stuff ... Virtual Day Hospice Launched 15 Every eff ort is made to ensure the accuracy of informati on Volunteer Centre - Join Up! 17 contained in this magazine, but Wareham Town Council News 10 the Editor is unable to accept responsibility for any omissions HEALTH & BEAUTY 32 or errors that may occur. The inclusion of any arti cle LETTERS 4 or adverti sement does not consti tute any form of MOTORING 29 accreditati on or approval by the Editor. NATURAL MATTERS 30 No part, writt en or visual, of this publicati on may be TRADE ADVERTS 39 reproduced without writt en DIARY SPOTLIGHT 37 permission of the Editor. DEADLINEDEADLINE FOR FOR APRILJULY ISIS NOON, NOON, SAT FRI 20th 10th MARCH JUNE 4 The Purbeck Gazette The The clue is in the heading above - these are our readers’ letters. They are NOT articles, they are letters. By you. Our readers. They are not our letters, they are yours - your letters. Simple! Beer, Ale & Cider Specialists Please send all letters to [email protected] with ‘letter to the editor’ in the email subject line. Please do not exceed 350 words. If Food served 12 noon - 3pm, 6pm - 9pm handwritten, please ensure it is short and legible. PLEASE DO NOT DUPLICATE LETTERS TO OTHER PUBLICATIONS - High Street, Swanage. 01929 423533 WE DO NOT PRINT MULTI-PUBLICATION LETTERS. information and evidence when discussions occur. With the added worry APRIL deadline: noon, 10th MAR of Covid, and that Swanage may expect exceptional visitor numbers this summer, the Paramedic car is a service we cannot afford to lose. The petition is now over 4,500 signatures - please continue to sign and Dependent On Father State? share: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-swanage-ambulance-car Dear Readers, Thank you, kind regards, Thelma Deacon RGN Well, January has come and gone, thank goodness and the winter blues are on the run. I hope that 2021 will see us once more having fun. The saddest day for me in 2020 was the day I heard we’d lost John Prine. If you don’t know him look him up on YouTube. You won’t be sorry. Help With Coal History I bought a doorbell after thirty years but it only plays Big Ben chimes... Dear Readers, middle class at last. I’m waiting for my jab and getting nervous. Just my luck to die just when I can hear the cavalry bugle call. I am writing to see if any of your readers may be able to help me with research into the history of the coal delivery trade in Purbeck. I love crows and rooks, they sit up in the trees and natter away to each other and sometimes the conversations get heated. Haven’t done a damn A friend of mine who has now moved from Dorset to live in Sutton thing all winter but sit and read and count the hairs on the back of my Coldfield in the Midlands has asked for my help in researching about his hand, but I’ve got my good friend Tullamor Dew to keep me company.