The Old Geyser
An engaged couple we were well acquainted with had noted the slogan of the then nationalised gas industry “All by Gas”. The young lady lived in a home with an old gas geyser above the bath and she and her Read more »
History & Community
Tales from the Vale 09/14
In a corner of the Pole chapel in Colyton church small figurines of Lady Mary Pole and her nine surviving children kneel in prayer, her four sons to the fore, her five daughters behind. The family of Sir William Pole, Read more »
The Queen of seaweeds
In 2010, the Royal Society compiled a list of the ten most influential female scientists in British History. One of the ten was Mary Anning (1799-1847) who from humble beginnings in Lyme Regis came to be recognised as the “greatest Read more »
August 08/14
This month was named after the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar as voted by the Roman Senate in 8 BC. My wife and I were married in August and honeymooned in Jersey, then the place of choice. Our hotel catered mainly Read more »
The Philanthropists
Some years ago our electrical engineering design office was divided into sections, each under a section leader. My friend John was in Special Products and I in Standard Products and it was generally assumed that we would eventually be promoted Read more »
A Loo with a View
Philip Strange went to see the award-winning compost toilets at Monkton Wyld Court in west Dorset The hamlet of Monkton Wyld lies in a deep wooded valley in the far west of Dorset a few miles inland from Lyme Regis. Read more »
Place Names – A Nostalgic View
I recall my mother reciting a poem “I remember, I remember the house where I was born, the little window….”. My own first twenty odd years were spent in a house with a window which looked up to a hill Read more »
The Bridport Dagger
The Bridport Dagger is an early joke, at least as far back as Tudor times when Leland, who might have been described as geographer to Henry VIII, wrote “at Bridport be made good daggers”. He fell for the joke which Read more »
Soldiers of the King, My Lad
As a child we lived in a small village not far from my paternal grandparents house and a little further from an uncle and another aunt and their families. On Mondays my mother washed our clothes, which was stressful for Read more »
For global warming please read global weirding
Philip Strange asks if the recent extreme winter weather reflects a change in our climate This winter, the UK experienced an exceptional series of storms. Heavy rain combined with strong winds and high waves led to widespread coastal flooding and Read more »