Month: February 2025

March 2024 Mary Caddick trained in art and design before taking a sideways step into psychotherapy and exploring the therapeutic benefits of creativity. She runs workshops in creative process and self-expression, the latest of which is planned for this month in central Bridport. We met Mary at her home to find out about her career…

March 2024 Living in a coastal community, we’re all familiar with the wonderful work of the RNLI and the Coast Rescue Teams. Many of us are involved with these valuable organisations, and some even serve as crew or rescue personnel. What you might not realise, however, is that there’s a third link in the chain…

February 2024 Nikki Northover runs Bridport Youth Dance (BYD), a dance school for young people aged 5 to 21. She studied dance and dance education in London and Surrey, and her career in the field has taken her across the world, but she has continued to work here in her home town alongside jobs elsewhere. …

February 2024 If you’ve ever been taken ill at a large event – maybe a music festival, county show or league football match – the chances are you’ve met someone from St John Ambulance (SJA). These trained volunteers provide first aid cover in all sorts of settings where large numbers of people are expected. From…

December 2023 / January 2024 The hullaballoo earlier this year over the felling of a sycamore along Hadrian’s Wall is a stark reminder of our relationship with trees. The Hadrian’s sycamore may not have been old enough to be remembered by a lonely second-century Roman guard, but it had stood for many generations and created…

December 2023 / January 2024 The Revd Neil Robinson is the Salisbury Diocese’s Chaplain to the Deaf Community. He was ordained deacon in 2016 and priest the following year. His job is to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of Deaf* and Deafblind people, and this includes conducting baptisms, weddings and funerals in British Sign…

December 2023 / January 2024 Artist Grace Crabtree – who painted this issue’s beautiful cover image – is looking forward to her first solo exhibition, which opens at Bridport Arts Centre (BAC) in January. We caught up with her to learn about her creative process and find out what inspires her… The Covid pandemic changed…

November 2023 The Bridport branch of the Burma Star Association (BSA) was founded by Les Rose in the 1980s, when he and his wife, Phyllis, moved here. Les had previously worked at the headquarters of the BSA in London, and soon set about setting up a branch in Bridport. He put a notice in the…

November 2023 Robin Stapleton takes a look at the history of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission… The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) was originally called the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC), which received its royal charter on 21 May 1917. Its name was changed in 1960 to reflect the changed times, and the organisation is…

October 2023 Patrick Barkham is the author of The Swimmer, a biography of writer, environmentalist and polymath Roger Deakin. The book is written mainly in Deakin’s own words, interspersed with quotes from the people who knew him best, and is truly compelling, even for readers who haven’t come across him before. We had the great…