Dear Members
Yet again another busy year turning our
community’s dreams into splendid reality.
Wareham Walls Walk Booklet
As you know in October 2013 HM Lord-Lieutenant
of Dorset officially unveiled the series of seven information
boards created by the Trust and situated alongside the route of
our monumental Saxon walls.
Since then a 16 page full colour booklet,
utilising the material created for the boards, has been designed,
printed and published and is already selling well through numerous
outlets in Wareham, including Horseys, Farwells and the Discover
Purbeck Information Centre within the Library.
The booklet was
funded by Viridor Credits Environmental Company, via the Landfill
Communities Fund, and retails for £2 per copy with at least £1
from each sale going towards further community support projects.
2,000 booklets were printed and it is hoped to raise at least
£2,000, through their sale, over the next two years.
Dorset Tourism Awards 2014
The Trust has entered the Saxon Walls
Information Boards, the Wareham Walls Walk booklets, and the
rejuvenated Town Pound into the Tourism Experience category of the
Dorset Tourism Awards 2014. We hope to hear if we have been
short-listed later in the year.
Dorset Architectural Heritage Week & Heritage
Open Days 2014
The Trust has entered the Saxon Walls and Town
Pound into both these events by creating a Family Fun Quiz based
on both attractions. Entry Forms will be available from the
Discover Purbeck Information Centre between 11th – 18th September
2014.
Redcliffe Riverside Path Information Boards
One of Wareham’s most popular riverside walks,
until recently nothing but a muddy track, was completely
redeveloped in early 2013 by the Trust and is already proving a
great success in creating a better and safer route between the two
communities of Wareham and Ridge, and also a greatly enhanced
stretch of the ever popular Purbeck Way.
Since then the
enjoyment of the path has been added to by the installation, by
the Trust, of three information boards.
Walking from Wareham towards Ridge the first
board, entitled ‘A Walk on the Wildside’, tells the story of the
wildlife that you might encounter along the river and was produced
in partnership with Dorset Wildlife Trust.
The second board, entitled ‘From Rivet to
Coast’ illustrates the changing scene around you, ‘the past, the
present, the future’ caused by rises in sea levels, and what is
being done by man to try and hold back the water. This board was
produced in partnership with LiCCo (Living with a Changing Coast),
and linked to the Environment Agency.
The third board, produced in partnership with
The Westerman Yarns, is devoted to the memory of local author
Percy F. Westerman 1876-1959, and marks the position where The
Barge, his houseboat home, was moored and where he wrote his
numerous ‘ripping yarns’ for boys. The board was officially
unveiled by Eric Axford and Michael Spilman, who as boys both knew
Percy Westerman. The ceremony on Wednesday 23rd July was also
attended by local dignitaries, friends and family, and the
sponsors of the board, and followed by a reception at the
Redcliffe Yacht Club.
Redeveloped Sandford Woods Paths
Following
our success in redeveloping the Redcliffe Riverside Path we have
now been approached by Wareham St Martin Parish Council with a
request to do exactly the same with two of their paths through
Sandford Woods.
All permissions have been granted, there quotes
from local contractors have been received, and funding has been
raised. The work will begin in the late autumn and it is hoped to
have the two paths redeveloped by Christmas 2014.
The Secret Garden
As some of you may already know there is, at
the rear of Wareham Library, a walled garden that is virtually a
‘secret’ as very few within our community are aware of its
existence.
The Trust was approached by the Library, the
Registrars, Discover Purbeck Information Centre, Wareham in Bloom
and Stoborough Women’s Guild with a request to produce plans to
totally redevelop this space and in so doing create a glorious
garden fit for weddings, reading groups, school groups, arts and
craft fairs, indeed anything and everything that the weather will
allow.
Three sets of plans have been presented, containing some
interesting concepts, and the ‘working group’ have selected the
one that they prefer. Three local contractors have now been asked
to quote for the work based on that plan, and in the meantime the
Trust and Dorset County Council will agree the leasing of the
garden area to the Trust, a necessary requirement regarding
funding opportunities. If all goes well it is hoped to start the
work early in 2015.
AGM/Illustrated Talk
This years AGM will be on Wednesday 19th
November, Parish Hall on the Quay, 7pm for 7.30pm, admission £3 on
the door. This years illustrated talk will be by Steve Wallis,
author of ‘The Frome: From Source to Sea’, and enhanced by superb
photographs taken from his book. The evening is kindly sponsored
by Brenscombe Outdoor and everyone who attends on the night will
get a special gift courtesy of Hall & Woodhouse.
In Memory of Our Myrna
Sadly, on 26th July this year, we lost our
very best and hardest working Trustee and Friend of the Trust,
Myrna Jessie Edith Gomes-Maria, Our Myrna. No words can describe
all that Our Myrna did and meant to us, and indeed the entire
community. We and they owe her a great debt of gratitude and she
will be very much missed by a lot of people.
More volunteers needed
On a happier note Members, as you can see we
have a lot on our plate, but the one thing that we lack is
volunteers.
We need volunteers to get there hands dirty
and be prepared to dig, plant, paint, anything and everything that
is needed.
We also need more Trustees, we need more
Myrna’s. We already have a Board on twelve but could really use
another three. We meet once every two months for about two hours
in the evening and simply discuss ‘the dreams’ on the table at the
time, and if all are agreed we get on with the job and turn them
into reality.
Could you be a Trustee, or indeed a volunteer?
If so please get in touch.
John Scott
Development Manager
Wareham &
District Development Trust
Rempstone Estate Office, Cow Lane,
Wareham BH20 4RD
Tel: 01929 556267 E-mail:
john@wddt.org.uk
www.wddt.org.uk
www.thewarehambears.co.uk
