Outside Edge, Studio Theatre, Salisbury

WATCHING Richard Harris’s cricketing farce Outside Edge 47 years after its premiere, and holding a programme that contains the message “Please be aware that Outside Edge is a classic late 20th-century comedy which reflects the language and attitudes of its time. Some audience members may find this content offensive,” I found myself asking exactly what…

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Can Brazil nuts save the rainforest

PROFESSOR Sir Ghillean Prance, the former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, is one of the world’s leading tropical botanists and rainforest explorers. He is also the founder of Dorset’s Help Our Planet project and HOP talks. On Thursday 26th March he will be talking at Sladers Yard gallery, West Bay, about Brazil…

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Looking back, looking ahead – at Dorchester

DORSET’s county town has many things going for it, but theatrically it is a national record-breaker. There have been seven community plays and now Dorchester Community Plays Association is looking forward to an eighth. Meanwhile, there is a nostalgic weekend ahead, from 27th to 29th March, with a look back at the fifth community play,…

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Swanage’s Fortes Ice Cream wins 2026 Golden Scoop

FORTES Ice Cream, a Swanage-based family business that opened its first creamery in 1926, has had a rather special centenary celebration, winning Best Chocolate Ice Cream at this year’s UK and Ireland Golden Scoop Awards. Hosted by the Ice Cream Alliance, the UK and Ireland’s only trade show focused on ice cream, the awards crowned…

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Pavé Cobble back on cheese counters

AN outstanding sheep’s milk cheese, White Lake’s Pavé Cobble, is now back on cheese counters following huge demand after the Somerset-produced ash-coated cheese was placed 12th overall in the 5,244 entries for the World Cheese Awards. Produced at Bagborough Farm by third generation farmer Roger Longman, Pavé Cobble is White Lake’s take on a classic…

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Let there be light

WE wouldn’t exist without the sun – but how much do most of us know about it? Installation artist Luke Jerram asks visitors to come and discover the bright star that gives us light and life in his new touring project, Helios, which will be at Dorchester Corn Exchange until Monday 6th April. Helios, like…

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Pipeline chosen for national tour

SOUTH West-based theatre company Pipeline has been awarded funding to develop a new play, George and the Drag Queen, for a national tour this autumn. The company has been commissioned to develop the project by the Create Tour Connect partnership. The Falmouth-based company won the commission after a competitive application process. The selection process for…

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A pioneer of modern British art

ROGER Fry, painter and member of the Bloomsbury Group, is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Museum of Somerset,Taunton, on until 4th July. A Life in Art: Roger Fry is a major new exhibition exploring the life, work and influence of one of the most important figures in 20th century British art. The exhibition…

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Former Wells Cathedral scholars return for Bach masterpiece

TWO former pupils of Wells Cathedral School return to Wells Cathedral on Friday 27th March to take part in a performance of Bach’s masterpiece, the St Matthew Passion, with the Armonico choir and baroque orchestra. The ensembles are conducted by their founder Christopher Monks. He and tenor soloist Nathan Vale were organ and choral scholars…

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