As I write, we’re in the midst of the World Cup (and England are still in. Just.), so it seems fitting that sport has found its way into this month’s issue.
As many of you will remember, publication week last month ended with me stumbling into my second-degree kickboxing black belt grading fuelled almost entirely by caffeine and optimism. Against all odds, I passed. If you’d told me six years ago that I’d become a second-degree black belt because my daughter dared me to join her Zoom kickboxing class during lockdown, I’d have laughed at you. A lot. But earning my belt wasn’t even the best bit.
A couple of weeks later, at our presentation evening, I watched our daughter collect her third-degree black belt. I was proud of mine. But I was absurdly burstingly proud of her.
We all know sport is good for us. Better hearts. Stronger muscles. Allegedly sturdier knees.
But anyone who’s found ‘their’ sport knows that’s almost beside the point. When you commit and start showing up, it’s the changes on the inside you notice even more. You gain confidence, build resilience and discover new friends. You have a new ability to keep going when something is difficult, because you’ve practised doing exactly that.
Olympian Carl Hester MBE talks about it to Tamsin Doar on p.90. And it’s exactly the quality I see in two of this month’s other features. Ruby White, North Dorset’s own Pocket Rocket boxing sensation, has been selected for the Commonwealth Games this month (P.8). And Jess Rimmer, our equestrian columnist and writer of Tales of Jimmy, Max and Basil, has been long listed for Team GB U25 Internationals this month (P.86 – we have all our fingers crossed, and will share as soon as the team is announced). Both women are hugely talented, of course they are. But talent is only part of it. I’ve seen enough to know how hard they’ve worked for it. The freezing Tuesday mornings when nobody else is watching. The training session they’d really rather skip. The discipline to keep turning up, week after week, year after year. That’s what gets you to the point where representing your country becomes possible. So if you’ve been thinking about trying something new, perhaps this is your summer. In fact, on p.22 North Dorset RFC are inviting girls to come and give rugby a go in a free taster session this summer. No pressure, no expectations – just see if you enjoy it. But it doesn’t have to be rugby. Or kickboxing. It might be skipping. Or pickleball. Go find the thing that makes you look forward to Tuesday evening. Take your child if they’re willing. Go on your own if they’re not. Find a club where you’re welcomed the moment you walk through the door, where the coaches are properly qualified and safeguarded, and where you leave looking forward to coming back. You never know where saying yes once might take you.
Laura x
On Simon Hoare’s trip to Palestine
Bravo Simon Hoare. I have been speaking to as many Jews as I can to hear their stories. Not one has told me that they are a supporter of Netanyahu, and all tell me they are horrified by Israel’s actions in Palestine. Many of them do not support the occupation of Gaza or the settlements over the borders.
Truth and Reconciliation has worked where it has been employed and involves – as you imply – sitting down with those who might be regarded as terrorists or oppressors.
Mark Farmer, Facebook
Very disappointed with the piece by Simon Hoare MP. Although written with compassion it’s very one sided. Over the years how many times has a two state solution been put on the table but the Palestinians refuse. Most days Israel was intercepting missiles fired at them long before October 7th. Who voted in Hamas. When October 7th happened who celebrated in the streets. To separate the Palestinians from Hamas is at best naive. The tunnels they built were for invasion purposes not for peace, for the total destruction of Israel which is on their charter after all.
Ana Chambel, Facebook
Changing the Blandford bypass speed limit
I have seen mention online that Dorset Council is consulting on reducing the speed limit on the Blandford bypass from 60mph to 40mph and 50mph. Upon fact checking, it is true and I urge all North Dorset residents to respond to the consultation by its 10th July deadline here .
As a retired man who has driven that road for decades, I find the whole thing absurd.
The point of a bypass is to bypass. It was built to keep traffic moving around the town, not to become another slow, stop-start road serving yet more housing.
Now a large estate has been approved on the outside of it, suddenly the road itself must be downgraded to fit the development. That is completely backwards: infrastructure should shape where housing goes, not be weakened afterwards because planning has created a problem.
If there is a genuine safety issue, show us the figures. Show us the collision data for those exact stretches of road, and explain how many incidents were caused by vehicles travelling between the current limit and the proposed new one. Then show us what reduction is expected.
Without that, this feels less like road safety and more like tidying up the consequences of overdevelopment.
And if drivers decide it is quicker to go through Blandford instead, then congratulations: the bypass will no longer bypass anything.
Name and address supplied
On The Grumbler’s opinion on new pub taxes
Brilliant, and so totally true. They forget that when you invest in hospitality the return on investment is well beyond the date they see the potential.
When will governemnt learn? Small businesses don’t become big ones unless they are allowed to invest, grow, support more entry level jobs, and – most importantly in this case – support the health and wellbeing of their community.
Anne Griffiths, Facebook
The rate at which we’re losing British Pubs is a national scandal.
Lloyd Barwick. Facebook
You’re not grumbling at all. Just stating the reality. Of course reality is an unknown to most politicians.
Philip Whitty, Facebook
On Lloyd Hatton MP
I have been watching our MP, Lloyd Hatton, continue to defend Sir Keir Starmer, and I have to admit I no longer understand why. Loyalty is an admirable quality, but only up to a point. Politics is supposed to be about serving the country, not protecting one individual when things are plainly going wrong. Labour had 14 years in opposition. Fourteen years to prepare, develop ideas, recruit talent and arrive in government ready to hit the ground running.
Instead, the government has lurched from one row to the next, ministers appear to be making policy on the hoof, and confidence seems to drain away by the week.
The country faces enormous challenges, and nobody imagined they would be solved overnight. But there should at least have been a sense of direction and competence. Instead, there is an impression of constant firefighting.
South Dorset deserves an MP who is prepared to tell his own party when it is getting things wrong. It was absolutely time for Labour MPs to start discussing what came next. Most of us suspected that conversation would be postponed until after the May elections so the leadership question didn’t dominate the campaign. Now that Sir Keir has announced his resignation, I genuinely hope things start to move. Andy Burnham may not have all the answers, but at least he gives the impression of knowing where he wants to take the party.
Name and address supplied
On Gillingham parking
Why is there two tier parking enforcement policy in Gillingham? If I park outside Waitrose to nip in to the store and get a pint of milk or overstay my welcome on the High Street, I am highly likely to get a ticket. If I stop to let my passenger go in then I am likely to be asked to move on.
I have no complaints about this – basically I’m a rule
follower. But if I park across the pavement in Peacemarsh by the roundabout entrance to Marlott Road, blocking line of site to the roundabout and forcing pedestrians to step into the road then it seems I am immune from prosecution.
I have approached Dorset Council, the police and my MP to try and stop what is clearly a dangerous and
illegal practice with no success whatsoever (apart from a letter sent to the offender). Yes it was brought up at council meeting, and I was told a letter was sent: but no action taken.
If that friendly traffic warden who patrols Gillingham were to put a ticket on either of the two regular offenders it would stop immediately. As it is, the verge is a muddy bog and you take your life in your hands coming out of Marlott Road.
Graham Hart, Gillingham
From the other side of the globe
Thank you so much for emailed editions of the Dorset Life. I am a Kiwi but had the privilege of living in Fifehead Magdalen and Kington Magna for about eight years before returning to New Zealand.
I do miss our little corner of England and all the wonderful friends we made.
Dorset Life is a welcome reminder.
Tracy Simms
On George Butler
Thank you so much for your feature on the war artist George Butler. I hadn’t been aware of him before, but I loved his work instantly. I promptly booked to come and listen to his talk in Sturminster Newton at the Stur LitFest – and what a fascinating and powerful talk it was!
AG, Sherborne
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