Mayor’s Log Number 4 Saturday – August 1st – Loders Fete What a lovely start…
September Log from the Mayor –
Log Number 5
Thursday 3rd September – Hat Festival, Hat Auction
I was invited to attend this brilliant hat auction in the ‘West Dorset Club’. I had no idea, until a few days before, that such a thing was held every year, a couple of days before the ‘Hat festival ‘ itself. I must have led a very sheltered life because it was such a great evening and I had never heard of it before. Anybody can go and if there is a hat that you like, and fits you, you can bid on it and own it. The auctioneer is the very entertaining ‘Jim Rowe’, auctioneer extraordinaire. Jim and I go way back, nearly back to prehistoric times when things were different and we were young. The hats, apparently, are collected throughout the year by Mr Snook’s team.
Unfortunately, although there were two hats that I would have liked for my collection, they were too small. The hats were all modelled by as Jim puts it, The Snookettes, a brilliant team of ladies in Roger Snooks Team.
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 Photos courtesy of Bridport Camera Club
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Saturday 5th September – Bridport Hat Festival and Town Crier, 3 Trophy Competition
Bridport hosted a double event this year. As well as the annual ‘Hat Festival ‘, which was started by Roger Snook in 2010, we also held The Stanley Mansbridge Perpetual Trophy, Town Crier Competition. Because our famous John Collingwood won the competition last year in Blandford it was Bridport’s turn to host it this year. Alongside this trophy is also a cup presented to the best dressed Crier. The Competition was held in Borough Gardens.
In John’s memory, Bridport Town council decided to create a new trophy called the ‘John Collingwood Memorial Cup’. This Trophy will be competed for each year in our town, probably on Hat Festival day and is to be awarded for the Most Humorous Cry. So, the competition was for three cups. There was a visiting team of Town Criers from all around Dorset who performed admirably.
Andrew Fleming, of Swanage, won the Mansbridge Trophy. David Craner, of Verwood, won The Collingwood Trophy and Mike Lofthouse, of Blandford, won The Best Dressed Crier, trophy. It was a fabulous morning.
Our Town Crier, Jamie did an opening Cry at 10.00 in the morning, in Bucky -Doo, and I swiftly followed with a speech to open the Day, and the Hat Festival. There were thousands of people from far and wide in the square for the Festival with all manner of hats on display. There was also live music in Bucky Doo and the Millenium Green all day. The Prize giving ceremony was in Bucky – Doo at 2.15, and there were a lot of entrants. A difficult job it was, for Jamie and myself, to be presented with three finalists from each category and then have to decide who came first, second and third. There was also of course, the Mass photo of everyone in the square in the afternoon. I think everyone enjoyed the day and roll on next year.
Saturday 12th September – 511th year, Birthday Party Celebration of R.J.Balson & Son I was asked to call in by Richard Balson, the owner, to help celebrate their 511th year of being in business in Bridport. This Butchers shop in West Allington is reputed to be the oldest business in the country and it was an honour to be asked to cut the cake and support a shop like this. Bridport has quite an array of different businesses both in the high street and tucked away in side streets for customers from far and wide to explore and enjoy. This is all part of the charm of our little town and together with its two street markets and many art attractions, persuade people to keep coming back again and again. Every customer that morning was offered a glass of fizz and a slice of delicious cake. 
Saturday 12th September – Bridport and District Gardening Club, Harvest Show After a swift lunch break the next job was at the ‘Bridport United Church Hall’ in East Street When I arrived, the hall was filled with row upon row of lovely home-grown vegetables and flowers, on neatly arranged tables , all grown by the clubs’ very keen members. This, organized, green fingered, group has been going since the 1850’s and boasts around 600 members which seems quite an achievement to me. The thriving association has regular monthly meetings through the year with guest speakers , various trips to exciting places and a Xmas lunch . I was asked to present the multitude of various trophies, that included cups and rosettes, to the various lucky, well-deserved winners. The photos show a general view of the show exhibits and the lucky prize-winners. Photos courtesy of Carole Massey (Gardening Club member).
Sunday 13th September – RAF Battle Of Britain Service 3.00 pm saw myself and the Mayoress at St. Johns Church, West Bay, for the annual Battle Of Britain memorial service. St. Johns is a lovely little church on the harbour side at West Bay next to the bobbing boats and amid the late season holiday makers. A moving service was conducted by the Revd Janis Moore with enthusiastic singing by the congregation. This time there was even two visitors from Australia that were ‘just passing by’ and called in to join the bustling throng. Tuesday 15th September – Samaritans of Dorset – AGM I was invited to the AGM of the Samaritans in Weymouth at St Aldhelms Church Centre. This was a good chance to hear all about their valuable work and also catch up with some of the other Mayors from around Dorset. We were briefed on how the Samaritans work, how they do their fundraising, through various events throughout the year, and also treated to a riveting Talk / presentation by one of their members, Shaun, an ex-marine. Shaun and another ex-marine friend sailed , or rather rowed all across the Atlantic. It was really well presented and he told us about ‘flying fish’, storms and deprivation pushing their bodies to the limit. Saturday 19th September – The High Sheriff visits Bridport and Bridport Youth and Community Centre Open Day Helena Conibear, The High Sheriff Of Dorset has recently been walking the 200-mile county line of Dorset to raise £10,000 for the Dorset Shrieval Fund, which provides grants for small grassroots charities across the County. She decided that she would like to include Bridport Youth and Community Centre as one of her charities so I arranged for her to come to see us for a day when the Bridport Youth & Community Centre had their open day. Our Deputy Town Crier, Bill, did a rousing cry to open the proceedings, then I said a few words to officially open the day. The High Sheriff then talked to us about her work and declared her support to Bridport Youth and Community Centre. The day included demonstration of everything that goes on at the centre, including the various clubs and activities available for young and old alike. Bridport Camera Club had a very interesting display of their work on at the Town Hall that day so I was able to show Helena The Town Hall, the display and of course the pictures adorning the walls by Fra Newberry. After a spot of lunch, we visited the Museum and among other things she participated in Rope Making. In the accompanying picture, The High Sheriff is twisting the twine to make a rope. The other group photo shows us in the Bridport Youth and Community Centre.
Saturday 26th September – St Swithin’s Church, Green Day The Revd. Cally Burch met us at the Church Hall where we were all briefed on the morning’s events. Luckily the weather was really kind and warm because the first thing we did was to have a walk around the parish visiting specific points of interest. We stopped at the little stone bridge by Bullens Mead and the nearby Sheep Dip in St Swithin’s Road. Various prayers or poems were read at each stopping place. On returning to St Swithin’s Hall, we had various presentations; The Swift Project, Messy church, Churchyard Management and Art from Rubbish to name but a few. Altogether a very interesting and informative morning.
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