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Mayl 2022 May 2022

BERE REGIS HISTORY SOCIETY Work being undertaken on Dorset Council’s assets
The Assets department at Dorset Council is leading on the redevelopment of
North Quay and the bowling alley. They also lead on the project to raise and
The Fire of Bere Regis repair Weymouth's harbour walls. They are delivering the £19m project to

Bere Regis’s most serious fire broke out in Bere Regis decarbonise the Council's building using Government grants. They are converting
between midnight and 1.00am on Wednesday 4 June a school near Shaftesbury to a specialist facility for children with Special
1788 in ‘The Crown' public house. Educational Needs.
They are building a new Children's Home on Dorchester Road. They are working
The fire spread rapidly to reach the vicarage and more than 40 other houses
together with stables, barns and outbuildings. It was reported that the church with the NHS to convert South Walks House in Weymouth to a administration and
was threatened several times but firemen and volunteers prevented any damage care facility for the Health Service. They have, in the last couple of weeks,
to the building. demolished Pippins in Wimborne to allow development of that site. They have
also just handed over the BattleLab facility on the Dorset Innovation Park to the
One of the consequences of the fire was that the Parish Records, stored at the MoD for the army to occupy.
vicarage, were lost completely. Only one person lost their life; that of a blind
man. The vicar and church wardens made a newspaper appeal for assistance, They are working on the building of a new block of facilities on the Park to
while a periodical described the aftermath:- accommodate new tenants as the current facilities are full. They have finished
preparing a new allotment in Preston to hand over to Weymouth Town Council.
”The scene of distress occasioned by this terrible conflagration is far beyond They are also working on the underpinning of Sandsfoot Castle.
description. Many of the unhappy sufferers, who could not otherwise
accommodate themselves, retired almost naked to the buildings erected for the
fair on Woodbury Hill, where they found temporary shelter, and were very The articles below are available on request – Please contact
humanely and liberally supplied with every article necessary for their immediate Peter
relief, by the inhabitants of Blandford, Wareham and other neighbouring places.“
 A letter from the Leader of Dorset Council, Cllr Spencer Flower to the Home
The fire was also secretary concerning the use of a Weymouth Hotel to accommodate
1777 map with 1788 fire affected area shown reported in the 14-17 asylum seekers
June edition of 'The
London Chronicle'. The  Redlands - We have a workable plan to keep Redlands open, including all
c o u n t y c o l l e c t e d the buildings.
£ 1 , 2 7 9 . 1 9 s . 4 d . b y  Residents Survey
voluntary subscription,
which was paid to 39  Higher Needs Block Funding
sufferers according to
the scale of their loss.  Redlands - We have a workable plan to keep Redlands open, including all
The most distressed the buildings.
received 70% of their  Dorset makes top 10 recycling in the country
costs, while assessments
of 57½% and 37½% were  Dorset makes good progress towards renewable energy
paid to others. The total
fire-fighting bill was  Car Parking Charges
£62.5s.8d., and the  More Foster Carers needed
remaining £24 was to be
put toward the cost of a  Dorset Centre of Excellence - Chair appointed and welcomed
new fire-engine, the
 Grants progress

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