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September 2020 September 2020
BERE REGIS WI
In an effort to distract us all from current
circumstances, this month we’d like to take you
back to July 1939, when 650 members of Dorset
WIs came together to celebrate The Spirit of
Dorset in an ambitious pageant made up of a
prologue and eight episodes or scenes from key moments in the history of Dorset.
The only Bere Regis WI record of this
came in the form of the programme that
was discovered during a recent house
clearance. However, we’ve been able to
find more information online in The
R e d r e s s o f t h e P a s t ,
w w w . h i s t o r i c a l p a g e a n t s . a c . u k / of today. They have been
pageants/1201/, Angela Bartie, Linda
Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex
Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘The Spirit of
Dorset’.
The pageant was written by Mrs E.A.
Ramsden, with William Barnes, the Dorset
poet, credited as an additional author.
He is included as one of the main
characters in the prologue, adding to an
impressive list of key historical figures
included in the drama:
Barnes, William (1801–1886) – poet and
philologist
Chaucer, Geoffrey (c.1340–1400) – poet
and administrator
James VI and I (1566–1625) – King of Scotland, England, and Ireland
Howard, Thomas, First Earl of Suffolk (1561–1626) – naval officer and administrator
Howard [née Knyvett; other married name Rich], Katherine, countess of Suffolk (b.
in or after 1564, d. 1638) – courtier
Jesty, Benjamin (bap. 1736, d. 1816) – farmer and vaccinator
Bell, Andrew (1753–1832) – Church of England clergyman and educationist
He also appears as a character in the final episode when his poem, Praise of
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LOCKDOWN STORIES
Over The Hill
Sitting at my computer has now become something of a rarity for me nowadays
and I am seriously out of practice of producing articles for magazines but I know I
must make the effort as there are so many things I want to write about in our
countryside. Firstly I want to talk about the weather and “climate change”.
Today we are experiencing a cool, wet day after a period of extremely high
temperatures and lack of rain for what seems to have been weeks.
Having spent all my
working life in farm and
estate management, I
really feel for the farmers
worrying of poor corn
yields, some as low as 50%
of that anticipated. This
will mean a severe lack of
wheat for flour, which
could mean very
expensive flour products
later in the year.
While the milk, beef , sheep and pig producers are worried about the potential
rise in feed prices because of the very poor barley yields and the resulting rise in
the price of feedstuffs. This coupled with lack of grass for hay, haylage and
silage, as well as poor grazing this summer, has meant that many farmers are
having to consider selling stock earlier than anticipated. Which could cause a
glut on the market and extremely low prices. Anyone used to watching the
maize crops growing throughout the countryside will have noticed that it is
scarcely half the height it normally reaches. This maize is used for cattle feed and
industrial fuel.
What I think we can be more sure of this winter is our vegetable supplies, as most
growers have irrigation systems, and as long as they can find the labour to
harvest them it should be alright.
Enough of this gloom and doom. I have just taken a few minutes off to help with
the washing up and am changing the subject completely to some notes I have
found in my folders concerning our English Language. I have no idea where it
comes from and who the author is. So here goes.
The English Language – Absolutely hilarious if not confusing.:-
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