Hairy Bikers

Are you Britain’s best cooking family?

If so, the Hairy Bikers want YOU to take part in a new TV contest.

Any relations welcome – for example, cousins, daughters, uncles, couples, inlaws.

We are looking for families who have a genuine passion for food and are able to demonstrate a favourite family dish that shows your ability and unique cooking style. This is a contest for amateurs.

Each team must consist of 3 people (at least one person must be an adult). Children must be over 10 years.

For an application form e-mail:

hairybikersfamilyfood@bbc.co.uk

or call 0330 1234 022

(Standard geographic charges from landlines and mobiles apply and calls may be included in your telecom provider’s call package)

***Terms and conditions apply and are available on request.***

Closing date is Monday, 16th August 2010.

Dorset County Show 2010

DANCING Diggers and a man who lives with wolves are among the sensational attractions at this year’s Dorset County Show on September 4-5.

Now in its 169th year, the Show in Dorchester has lined up a series of memorable experiences to go alongside the traditional spectacles of rural life and a tempting range of displays and trade stands.

Last year’s show saw a record 55,000 visitors, 6,000 animals and 400 stands.

This year’s crowd-pleasers include the Diggerland JCB Stunt Team, known as the Dancing Diggers. Giant JCBs do daring stunts, dance in formation and make people laugh.

Show secretary Sam Mackenzie-Green said: ‘Lots of people have said we must have them. The way they all move together, you can’t take your eyes off them.

‘It’s like having a set of performing dinosaurs.

‘Children particularly enjoy seeing them.’

More showmanship will come from Wolfman Shaun Ellis, an ex-Commando who lives with a pack of wolves in North Devon. Mr Ellis has starred in several British and American TV programmes, and he recently appeared in a series with one of Dorset’s most famous residents, Martin Clunes, to explain to him how dogs live in packs.

Sam said: ‘The Wolfman has raised three wolf cubs. He was their pack leader. He taught them how to eat meat. He taught them how to howl. He taught them how to behave in the wild.

‘He’s got something about him, he’s a character.’

Also stalking round by popular demand will be Titan the Robot, the giant 55-stone android who thrilled showgoers last year and has since grooved on stage in Europe and America with US singing star Rihanna.

Sam said: ‘I heard from a couple of teachers last year that all the children were talking about when they went back to school was Titan the Robot. He was enormously popular.

‘I remember standing next to our home crafts chairman when Titan appeared and she was gobsmacked. She’d never seen anything like it.’

Other attractions this year include the Exeter X Factors Flyball relay-racing dogs, exciting mounted games at breakneck speed on ponies, and a new small farmers’ market, with local food producers who have not traded at the Dorset County Show before.

Serenata Festival

For the very first time Serenata Festivals will be organising a 3 day (26/27/28 August) classical music festival at Kimmeridge with confirmed headline performers which include Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson, Blake and Faryl Smith.

Other features will include boutique camping, gourmet food, stunning scenery overlooking the Dorset Coastline and a full children’s programme as well as an up and coming classical talent competition.

The Sunday Times magazine recently expressed that this event has been considered to be one of the Top Five events to be seen at in 2010.

An anti-whaling protest by more than 180,000 people from 11 different countries was taken to the heart of the EU yesterday morning.

Thousands of postcards filled in by visitors to Weymouth Sea Life Park calling for an end to whaling were among those delivered to European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potocnik, in Brussels.

School children from the little town of Dudzele near Brugge (Belgium) delivered the postcards in mail sacks bearing 11 different national flags representing the nations concerned.

The handover is timely as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) votes this week on a proposal to lift the current 24 year long ban on commercial whaling.

The proposal was feared all the more likely to succeed because of a farcical EU voting system that forced the EU Member States to abstain on the issue of whaling unless they are unanimous, rather than allowing the vast majority to vote against it.

However, pressure on the EU to rectify this situation in recent days has resulted in an agreed EU position to phase out whaling albeit in an unspecified time frame.

The postcard petition was initiated by Sea Life and its campaign partner, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), and has been run throughout Sea Life Centres across Europe and in the US.

“Now it is the turn of the European Union to take a clear position against whaling”, said Chris Butler-Stroud, WDCS chief executive.

“This petition proves that Europe’s citizens are strongly opposed to whaling, as are many individual EU Member States, but the European Union, as a block, has failed to stand strong against moves to bring back commercial whaling in recent months.

“Indeed, the EU’s dithering may well help commercial whaling return. This is appalling and not in the interests of whales or the peoples of Europe.”

Sea Life’s Senior Marine Biologist Rob Hicks said he was delighted that so many people had signed up in support of efforts to end whaling.

“We really hope EU ministers will heed their wishes and take the important step of blocking this latest move to get whaling legalised,” he said.

“There is no humane way to kill a whale, no sustainable market for whale meat and no ethical justification for continuing to butcher these magnificent animals.”

editors comment: On a brighter note, a small pod of Dolphins were spotted off Portland Bill last week, they’re guaranteed to make any yatchman’s passage a better one!

Bucky-Doo

SEASIDE tradition was upturned when Palmers Brewery director Cleeves Palmer used beer – not champagne – to christen a Dorset rowing boat. Palmers’ Dorset Gold was used instead of the usual bottle of fizz to mark Palmers’ sponsorship of Bridport’s new Gig Rowing Club.

Palmers’ brewery in Bridport is a mile from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. Sponsorship of £7,000 over two years has just helped Bridport’s Gig Club  buy its first training gig.

A gig is a fast boat used historically to speed pilots out to ships coming into harbour. In recent years, the sport of gig racing has grown massively in popularity in the South West of England.

Cleeves said: ‘We like to support new things, fresh, appealing, new things. And what could be better than participating in a sport off Dorset’s beautiful coastline? It’s good exercise for men and ladies, boys and girls; it engages everyone.

‘And, when you done some physical activity, after a pint of water, it’s good to have something a bit stronger – but only if you’re a grown-up!’

Bridport’s club is the 55th gig-racing club in the South West.

Club chairman Mike Carter said: ‘Funding is always a challenge for a start-up club, particularly in the current economic climate, and we are thankful to Palmers for their support and sponsorship. It has helped us place Bridport in the gig scene.’

He added: ‘Our first gig is called Bucky Doo, after the square in the middle of Bridport that’s also called Bucky Doo, possibly after a pub once called The Buck and Doe or perhaps a jail called a bocado. We chose the name because we think it means ‘A playful place for community recreation’.’

Bucky Doo is 32-ft long gig and made of fibre-glass. She will be used for schooling members in the art of racing.
Bucky-Doo
However, for competitive racing against other clubs, only traditionally-built Cornish Elm gigs may be used. Bridport Gig Rowing Club is hoping to order a wooden gig later this year, and Palmers’ sponsorship should also help pay for that.

Cleeves said: “We’d love to see Bridport taking part in the annual World Championships in the Isles of Scilly. And I know it’s a very tough competition, but the idea of bringing Gold back to Dorset – that would be great.”

the Royal Oak, Charmouth

THE ROYAL Oak in Charmouth has new landlords attracted by the family feel of Palmers Brewery ‘We wanted to go into a family set-up because we’re a family set-up ourselves,’ said Richard Grundy, who previously served for 32 years as a policeman.

Richard and his wife Sue, a former conference and banqueting manager for hotels, have moved to Dorset from Aldershot with their daughter Catherine, 19, who’s been mixing catering college with work in 5-star hotels.

They plan to keep The Royal Oak at the centre of village life for locals, visitors and numerous sports teams. Sue has just one reservation.

She said: ‘I think the tradition of The Royal Oak Christmas Day swim is just fantastic, and I’m more than happy to go down to the beach with hot toddies and welcome people out of the sea – but I certainly won’t be going into the sea myself!’

New events will include charitable functions to raise money for Help for Heroes, as Richard and Sue have two sons in the Armed Forces.

They spent six months searching for a pub across the south of England, before choosing to go with Palmers.

Richard said: ‘We particularly liked this area, and Palmers is a close-knit family set-up.’  

Sue said: ‘Everybody that we’ve met so far at Palmers, they all seem to be happy and work closely together, from the people that pick up the telephone to the people that deliver our beer.

‘We even went shopping the other day and a Palmers dray lorry went by and beeped. It’s just a friendly feeling from the whole of the team.

‘We thought if the brewery has that feel about it, then it’s going to come onto us and we’re obviously going to give that to the customers as well.’

Richard and Sue met before he joined the police, and the family set-up they now have in Charmouth reflects their past.

Sue said: ‘It’s something we’ve always talked about. We met in the pub that his parents had in the village of Shrewton in Wiltshire, and we worked a bit behind the bar together then.

‘It’s something that’s always been in our blood really, that we wanted to do, so when Richard could retire from the police, we decided that we would look for a pub, and if we found the right place, which I believe we have, we’d make a go of it.’

Daughter Catherine also had a say, and she was positive: ‘I must say I’m very chuffed with their choice, they have got very good taste.’

Catherine has been enjoying running the kitchen of a traditional English pub, cooking classic English food with flair.

‘We’ve been getting good feedback for the food, so it’s exciting,’ she said.    

Richard said: ‘I think this pub is worth doing. We looked at a lot of other pubs that were failing, to be honest with you, and other brewers seem to have their heads a little bit in the sand about it, but this is a viable pub.

‘It’s a totally different role to what I was doing, and I’m enjoying every minute of it.’

MV Balmoral

The famous MV Balmoral is taking a day on it’s travels to operate out of West bay on July 16th this summer.

Booking is essential as this historic and beautiful vessel is very popular.

Gordon Nelmes

A MAN who devoted his life to helping youngsters in Weymouth has died at the age of 65.

Gordon Nelmes, former president of Weymouth Amateur Boxing Club, passed away peacefully at his Preston home after a long illness.

He helped shape the town’s amateur club and coached hundreds of youngsters over the years.

At eight years old, he started at the Boxing Club in Hardwick Street and competed in his first boxing bout at the age of 10.

Mr Nelmes had around 70 to 80 boxing bouts, got to the school’s semi-finals and lost to the eventual winner – which his brother David said was ‘considered very special’ at the time.

When Gordon finished boxing he became official in charge (OIC) of the town’s amateur boxing club, referee, a coach, a judge and a timekeeper.

He refereed the Amateur Boxing Association’s (ABA) Schools’ Final in Derby, the England and Wales Schoolboy International in Weymouth and events held in Berlin.

Mr Nelmes was in charge of USA and England boxing teams during their stays at the Rembrandt Hotel and he held positions in the Devon, Dorset and Cornwall ABA.

Over many years he worked tirelessly to raise funds for Weymouth Amateur Boxing Club.

Mr Nelmes attended St John’s Primary School and Wey Valley School before leaving at 15 to become an apprentice carpenter.

He ran his own carpentry business and also specialised in brewery work in the South West.

When the boxing club was given a Lottery grant, Gordon carried out work to a high standard, which is still there today.

He leaves his wife, Jeanne, sister Sheila, brother David and sister-in-law Margret and his three daughters, Hayley, Claire and Rachael and 14 grandchildren.

Gordon will be also be ‘terribly missed’ by his nephews and nieces.

David Nelmes, 64, of Nottington, took over his brother’s role as president of the club a year ago – their father Dai Nelmes was the previous club president until he died in 2001.

David said: “Gordon did everything for me and we were always together, so for me it’s a big loss.

“He was larger than life and boxing was his life. As the song goes, he was simply the best.

“Nobody was more enthusiastic than him for the club and he helped a lot of people get where they are today.

“We’ve had some lovely tributes since he died on May 1, saying what a good referee he was.”

A sign of remembrance in the boxing fraternity is to ring the bell 10 times. Weymouth will carry out the tradition at their next tournament in November.

A funeral will be held at 12.15pm tomorrow at Weymouth Crematorium and all are welcome.

A reception will follow at Redlands sport centre in Dorchester Road.

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