The Poetry Cafe celebrates the work of the late Jim Kimmis at Dorchester Arts Centre on 5th December.

Jim Kimmis was a fine poet with a rare talent who spent his last years in Dorchester. Finally, after his early death, his work is published. 

Local writers are invited to read a poem on the theme ‘The mapmakers are silent’ (words from Jim’s poem Asylum).

Poetry Café offers food, drink and live literature in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Dorchester Arts Centre • 8pm (Doors and bar 7.30pm) • Tickets £6 / £4 unwaged • Food £3

David Price, Richard Frewer and Andrew Bannerman bring the poems of Thomas Hardy to life through words and music at Dorchester Arts Centre on Friday 21st November.

The show will feature a lively introduction to the creation of the poems, a recital of several of the best of them, and a performance of some of their musical settings or contemporary music matching the mood of the poems.

This intimate evening of poetry and music will set the various themes in Hardy’s poetry against the important events in his life.

Dorchester Arts Centre: Fri 21 Nov 8pm • £8

Spend an evening with journalist, writer and broadcaster Will Self on Monday 29 September at Poole’s Lighthouse. 

The evening will feature readings, stories and a wealth of anecdotes drawn from his colourful career and he will also be signing copies of his latest novel.

Lighthouse: Sep 29 8pm, £13

Enid Blyton would have been 112 this Monday and you can celebrate her life and times at Corfe Castle - the inspiration for Kirrin Castle in The Famous Five series of stories.

There will be puzzles, mysteries to solve, lashings of ginger beer and birthday cake at 3pm.

Don’t forget to visit the ‘Ginger Pop’ shop in Corfe for more Enid Blyton memorabilia.

Corfe Castle:  Mon 11 August, 11am-4pm: Normal castle admission

Germaine Greer presents ‘Shakespeare’s Wife’ at Dorchester Arts Centre on June 20th.

Germaine combines literary-historical techniques with documentary evidence about life in Stratford in an attempt to put Shakespeare’s marriage in its social context and presents a new and more fruitful set of hypotheses about the life and career of the farmer’s daughter who married our greatest poet.

The Q&A session which follows this talk can cover the full range of issues Professor Greer is associated with.

Dorchester Arts Centre: June 20th, £15 

The Thomas Hardy Society are organising a series of events to celebrate the famous author’s birthday on Saturday 7 to Sunday 8 June.

Saturday, 10.30am
Return of the Native walk
A 3-4 mile walk, led by Tony Fincham, on Egdon Heath in the footsteps of Eustacia Vye, visiting Rainbarrow, Mistover Knap & Blooms-end. The walk is free, but the Society would like to know numbers in advance.
Meet at Thorncombe Wood Car Park (map ref: NGR SY 725921)

3.30pm
Council Chamber, County Hall, Dorchester.
The Birthday lecture will given by Dr.Simon Gatrell, Professor of English at the University of Georgia, USA. (Title of Lecture to be confirmed)
Tickets: £6 (members £5), Students free (more…)

There will be lashings of fun at the Enid Blyton Fun Day at Corfe Castle on 29 May.

The fun day has been organised to celebrate ’The Secret Island’ book, published 70 years ago this year.

Join ‘Ginger Pop’ for a day of fun and games in the Castle grounds - the inspiration for Kirrin Castle in The Famous Five series of stories.

Don’t forget the ‘Ginger Pop’ shop in Corfe for more Enid Blyton memorabilia

Corfe Castle: Fri 29 May 11am-4pm: Normal castle admission

Gordon Corrigon will talk about his latest book: Blood, Sweat and Arrogance: The Myths of Churchill’s War at the Tank Museum on Thursday 28 February.

The book challenges assumptions about the Second World War and exposes how close Britain came to losing.

Book Now: 01929 462359

Tank Museum: Thur 28 Feb 7.30pm: £9

Andy McNab will be at the Tank Museum in Bovington this Thursday evening.

The former SAS serviceman and top selling author of Bravo Two Zero and Immediate Action will be recounting his experiences in the SAS and is available to sign books afterwards.

The Tank Museum: 1 Nov 7.30pm: £12  01305 267992

Howard Marks, the former international drugs smuggler turned best selling author of ‘Mr Nice’ performs at Bournemouth’s The Landmarc venue at the end of October.

Marks’  show expands on his drug smuggling days that started at Oxford whilst studying philosophy and led to connections with the MI6, CIA, the IRA the and Mafia. 

The American Drug Enforcement Agency finally caught up with him in 1998 and he served 7 years of a 25 year prison sentence.

The Landmarc  30 October 9pm, £10

The Phoenix Theatre Company 
present ’An Elegant Portrayal’ of the the life of Jane Austen at Dorchester Arts Centre on 28 September.

Austen wrote 3 novels by the age of 21 but it wasn’t until 6 years before her death at the age of 41 that her first novel, Sense and Sensibiilty, was published. This perfomance includes extracts from her letters and scenes from her novels.

Dorchester Arts Centre:  Tickets £7, £4 children

As part of the Artsreach and A Hardy County Read arts events,  Claire Tomalin will be giving a talk about Thomas Hardy to celebrate the paperback release of her excellent acclaimed biography ’Thomas Hardy: A Time Torn Man’.

Cerne Abbas Village Hall:  2 July 7pm:  Tel 01300 341085

The actor and writer Julian Fellowes introduces The New Hardy Players, who perform extracts from ‘Under The Greenwood Tree’, ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ and ‘Return of the Native’ at this year’s Dorchester Festival.

Thomas Hardy’s original Hardy Players disbanded in 1928 after Hardy’s death. The New Hardy Players reformed in 2005 and they were recently in the news as one of the original Hardy Players, Norrie Woodhall, performed with them at the grand age of 101.

Dorchester Festival:  Corn Exchange:  Tickets £6/£4:  Box Office: 01305 266926

Plans to turn the cottage where the novelist Thomas Hardy was born into a holiday home have been scrapped

The National Trust, who own the house, had planned to rent it out as holiday accommodation but they have backed down after vociferous opposition.

The property is open to the public from April to October and attracts some 14,000 visitors a year. Hardy lived in the cottage until he was 34, and wrote Under the Greenwood Tree and Far from the Madding Crowd there.

The cottage - located in Higher Bockhampton - is very small and austere, in keeping with how it would have been in Hardy’s day, so it is difficult to see how it could be renovated into a comfortable holiday home without losing its charm and character.

Nevertheless, The National Trust say they might still use if for specialist retreats over the winter months.

After our report of Prince William’s fun and frolics at the Bournemouth nightclub, Elements, the writing was obviously on the wall for him and Kate Middleton, and they announced their split today.

According to the BBC’s Nicholas Witchell (’that horrible man’),  the move to racey Purbeck was the straw that broke the camel’s back:  ’the Prince’s move to Bovington Camp in Dorset had a lot to do with the final stages of the break-up’.  


Leading on from an earlier piece about the shooting of 15 goats by the National Trust after a failed grazing experiment, it has been reported that the 3 surviving goats are still very much alive and have so far evaded capture.

The National Trust is working with the Margaret Green Foundation Trust, a local animal sanctuary, to capture the goats and bring them to the safety of the sanctuary where they should live long and happy lives.


And finally, following a previous article about Ian McEwan’s new novel ’On Chesil Beach’, it has transpired that whilst researching for the book he purloined a few pebbles from the beach, thus committing a criminal offence and risking a £2000 fine.

We can all sleep easier at night knowing that the pebbles have now been safely returned - Mr McEwan was not present at their repatriation, but he sent some American friends and a film crew.