Miscellany

Sample delights at the Bath Vegan Festival

AS more and more people reduce their meat consumption and explore vegetarian and vegan food, the Bath Vegan Festival on Saturday 3rd June provides a great opportunity to learn about what is available, not only in food and drink, but skincare, homewares, crafts, clothing and a healthy lifestyle. The event, at Bath Pavilion, will feature…

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The art of the convent

THE 2023 annual Shaftesbury Abbey lecture on Thursday 27th April looks back to life in medieval convents, through the eyes of contemporary artists, when art historian, Dr John Renner, of the Courtauld Institute, gives an illustrated talk on Art in the Medieval Convent – the Pictorial Life of Nuns in Italy. The spring lecture takes…

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Wild about Wilding

THE new series of Help Our Planet talks, by leading scientists, environmentalists and writers, continues at Sladers Yard, West Bay, on Wednesday 29th March, when Julia Hailes will discuss the practicalities and necessity of rewilding. Julia Hailes is a sustainability pioneer with more than 35 years in the green sector. She’s a campaigner, writer, speaker,…

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Launch event for sustainable farming project

PLANS to create an Avalon Agroecological Area, within a five-mile radius of Glastonbury, bringing together farmers, growers, conservationists and local councils will be launched at Glastonbury Town Hall on 19th March. The aim of the project, called 5FF (5 miles farming and food), is to support local farmers and food growers to embrace more nature-…

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Support willow planting at Bere Marsh

THE national conservation charity, the Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT), is planting fast-growing willows (osiers) on Bere Marsh Farm near Shillingstone in Dorset and is appealing for public donations to help protect the young trees. Deer cause catastrophic damage to trees by stripping the shoots, foliage and flowering buds. The fence will protect the recently planted willow…

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Stories of Salisbury women

THE winter exhibition at the Salisbury Museum in the Cathedral Close is Her Salisbury Story, running until 16th April 2023. It has been inspired by the Her Salisbury Story project and website, which aims to bring Salisbury’s heritage alive by exploring women’s stories, celebrating the lives of the city’s women past and present. The aim…

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Autumn talks at the Museum of Somerset

THE autumn and winter talks programme at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton continues on Remembrance Day, 11th November, with Richard Cooper-Knight talking about the Commonwealth war graves of Somerset. Richard published Death and Service which explores some of the stories behind the 800 First World War graves found across the county. Somerset Wildlife Trust’s…

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Cathedral peregrine finds her own parish

FLO, one of the 2021 Salisbury Cathedral peregrine falcon fledglings, has set up home in the centre of Hertford, 90 miles from home as the crow (or the falcon) flies. British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) ringer, Nigel Jones contacted the Cathedral peregrine team to let them know that Flo (named for Florence Nightingale to mark…

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Chinese drama at Tollard Royal

TOLLARD Talks return to the village on Cranborne Chase on Friday 14th October with an unusual and exciting event, Chinese Boxing, a performance by Mark Kitto, an expert on the vast but mysterious country. The play is also being performed at Martock’s beautiful parish church on Thursday 13th October, at 7.30pm. The event is organised…

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Helping the planet in Dorset

SLADERS Yard gallery at West Bay and Dorchester Arts are joining the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis in an ongoing series of events on the theme of Help Our Planet, beginning on Tuesday 27th September with Saving Butterflies and the Amazon. Proceeds of the event, which begins at 7pm, will go to the conservation charity…

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