7^th February – Bridport Pantomime Players – 60^th Anniversary!

 An excellent production of The Wizard of Oz, to celebrate 60 years!

We were invited to attend this excellent performance by the Bridport Pantomime Players at the Electric Palace.

The audience was almost all Brownies and Cubs from our local groups – and from the noise and excitement, it was easy to tell how much they enjoyed the show.

It was so well put together – amazing scenery, costumes, music, acting, dancing, singing, local references (of course) – all in all everything you could hope for.

It is always a pleasure to see so many youngsters on the stage as well as the familiar faces of the slightly older participants.  Great to see everyone getting involved.

A big thank you to all – another triumph!

Visit Bridport Pantomime Players on Facebook – lots of pics to enjoy.

13^th February – Bridport Business Awards

 A lovely invitation to attend and witness so many of our local businesses receiving awards for their successes and big contributions to our town’s ongoing success.

The awards ceremony was hosted by us at the Town Hall, and included one of Will’s excellent videos of Bridport doing what it does best, ie providing for the locals and visitors.  It is all about recognising success, contributing to the local economy and of course the fabulous community spirit Bridport is so well known for.

It encourages our most innovative and successful businesses to attract more customers and hence enhance their businesses, it builds a good morale for the staff in the workplace.

The top award went to the Platform Restaurant in West Bay, who were more than delighted – and very well deserved.

Our Town Council award went to Luke Hayter Fitness for his fabulous work.

Our thanks to everyone involved – a really excellent event.

March 2025 Blogs

1st March  – Crewkerne’s “Big Top”

This was their Mayor’s “Community ‘thank you’ event” – a really delightful afternoon where we were warmly and expertly entertained by Crewkerne’s  groups and societies – solo performances, choirs, dance, boxing, self-defence, with many very young participants included.  It was a real pleasure.

7th March – Dorchester Civic Day

A very interesting and full day in our County Town.

We visited the History Centre, which holds records for all of Dorset whilst working with other Dorset towns to advise and help where they can.  An amazing and fascinating collection of documents carefully conserved and protected and well worth a visit if you haven’t been.

Next was Shire Hall – (ex home of West Dorset District Council) – again lots of history – the courts, the cells, and it has a popular restaurant/café too, which provided a very good lunch for us.

After that we went to the Corn Exchange and the municipal buildings which are undergoing their “Fit for the future” renovations.  This is a really massive upgrading of the whole place which is currently still very much ‘work in progress’ but the work done so far and what we were able to see was really impressive.

This is a large, Grade II listed building, which has managed to secure solar panels, new windows (with double-glazing!), redesigned layouts including moving some walls, sound bafflers….and more.  Maybe there’s hope for us in Bridport yet?

The day was completed with a visit to the Museum, where we were given a talk (I hasten to say NOT a ‘talking-to’- we were all very well behaved!) and freedom to wander at our own pace to finish the day, making sure we didn’t miss their current ‘gladiators’ exhibition.  Scary times!  This is definitely a good place to visit with the family.

8^th March – Bridport Mayor’s Quiz

 The main fundraiser for my chosen charities which was held in the Bridport Youth and Community Centre in Rax Lane.    Many thanks to them for hosting it, helping to set up the space, and manning the bar – also for lending us their PA equipment when ours had a mysterious break-down!

Thanks too to our wonderful BTC team who were there aiding and assisting as they always do – Will, Jill and Grace – so grateful to you.

Huge thanks to Dave (my husband, consort and a co-counsellor too) who wrote the quiz and has received many lovely comments on its quality, so it must have hit the right level.

Our local businesses and friends were very generous with gifts of raffle prizes – they were amazing.  Big thanks to all of them too.

Prizes were presented for the best-dressed table, in tune with this year’s theme “Spring”, the winner of the ‘True or False’ round, and of course the winners, who this year had to share as they got equal points!

28^th March – Weldmar Hospices’s Elephant Stampede

 What a wonderful idea as a way to encourage and put Weldmar Hospices ‘out there’ as their need for funding is huge.  They are asking us all to be mindful of the level of care which their hospices give and that the expression ‘elephant in the room’ is often used when avoiding awkward or sensitive subjects, like the loss of loved ones.  The other expression ‘elephants never forget’ is a reminder to us all that our loved ones are never forgotten.

Being asked to attend the launch of Bridport’s part in this tour of stampeding elephants at West Bay was a great pleasure – even brought out my son’s elephant hat’ for the occasion!

I hope Weldmar will be able to continue the wonderful work they are famous for – we must give generously where we can to support them.

Photo of At the launch, sporting my elephant hat, outside the Salthouse, West Bay, with Philip Evans, the Mayor of Lyme Regis, and one of the elephants.  Photo from Bridport News