Do your bit to support a local village and vote for Milborne St Andrew for the the Big Lottery Fund People’s Millions Award.

Milborne St Andrew has been shortlisted for the Meridian South ITV area final and the winner is entirely dependent on the number of votes they receive.

Part of the project will be to create a wildlife garden, with a focus on butterflies and moths, on part of the village hall land. The rest of the MADCAP bid is for an outside multi-gym and improvements to the village hall facilities - audio/lighting and stage facilities.

Milborne St Andrew needs your vote! You can only vote on the day, 26th November from 9am onwards. The telephone number for voting will be released on the 26th November and is the only way to vote. A video presentation of the project will be aired on the ITV Meridian news and the number to vote will be shown at the end of the clip.

The phone number to vote will also be available on the Big Lottery People’s Millions and Milborne St Andrew village websites.

Following the protest by Dorset Against Rural Turbines (DART) outside the public exhibition for the proposed Wind Farm in East Stoke held in Wareham yesterday, the local support group ‘Say Yes to Wind Power’ has hit back.

Janet Payne from ‘Say Yes to Wind Power’ has dismissed DART’s accusations that the turbines will ruin the views over Purbeck and will not be efficient.

Their only argument against it is it’s going to spoil the view; I think it’s complete ‘nimbyism’, it’s selfish to object to it. Climate change is the biggest thing that we’re facing at the moment and we’ve got to go with wind. It’s clean, it’s renewable, it’s free. It’s a quarry site, it’s a brownfield site and wind turbines are better than other possibilities it could be used for.

Peter Barker, also of ‘Say Yes to Wind Power’ made the following statement:

We have looked at all of DARTs arguments and found them to be groundless in relation to this project. Their only real concern appears to be that they do not want to look at them. Most people now realise that wind is an essential part of our toolkit in tackling climate change. Let DART protest, they are just showing that they do not care about the World we leave for our children.

Due to the appalling weather last night the fireworks display at Bere Regis school was postponed until next Saturday evening (8th November).

Purbeck District Council has unanimously objected to the Secretary of State’s proposal for 2,750 extra homes to be built in Purbeck by 2026.

Following their previous press statement attacking the plan, the councillors voted unanimously to reject the plans at a meeting on 14 October. The Council will now submit its detailed response to the Secretary of State’s Consultation.

Councillor Gary Suttle, Leader of the Conservatives, said: “I am very pleased that the Council has taken this decision. 2,750 extra homes would be disastrous for our district and I only hope that the Secretary of State now sees sense and agrees with us”.

The National Trust has today published a South West update to its Shifting Shores research of 2005, which starkly highlights the danger posed by climate change to the Purbeck coastline.

The original research looked at the long-term future of the coastline in the Trust’s care, and the impact that climate change was going to have, through sea level rise, coastal flooding and increased erosion.

In the South West, 279 kilometres of National Trust coastline could be affected by increased erosion along with 852 hectares of Trust coastal sites becoming at risk of tidal flooding.

At Studland, for example, all visitor facilities including car parks, information centre, catering and retail outlets are seriously threatened by storm events and coastal erosion. All 258 beach huts are also extremely vulnerable. Initial estimates indicate relocating the facilities could cost around £3.6 million.

The lagoon on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour is also at risk as if sea levels continue to rise as it would become inundated with sea water, losing a significant habitat for many species of over-wintering and migrating birds.

Brendan McCarthy, National Trust Director for Wessex explains why this is so important:

We are very keen to share what we have learnt with others, as what the Trust is facing will be mirrored across much of the UK’s coast. There is a host of public- and private-sector organisations and individuals with a stake in the future of our coast. Everyone needs to wake up to coastal change, and begin planning coordinated responses on how to adapt to the inevitability of sea-level rise before it is forced upon us.

Musician Billy Bragg is a National Trust volunteer on the coast in Dorset and says

It’s so important to raise public awareness of changes we as volunteers are seeing on coast due to climate change to help encourage politicians to tackle this issue more directly.

There was much excitement amongst the bird-watching community last week when the rare Siberian Stonechat was spotted in Bere Regis.

Sighted south-east of the watercress beds, the Siberian Stonechat has only been seen in Dorset a couple of times before.

Brownsea Island has been named as the location for the BBC’s Autumnwatch this year with wildlife presenters Bill Oddie and Kate Humble hosting the show from Brownsea.

Autumnwatch will be broadcast on BBC2 from Monday 27 October 2008 for two weeks, Monday-Thursday, 8pm. The opening season for Brownsea has also been extended to Sunday 9 November 2008.

PurbeckBlog is taking a short break and will return in October with more Purbeck events and news.

Jenny Goldsack, the founder of Goldy’s Farm Shops (in West Holme & Bere Farm, Lytchett Matravers) has been pronounced as a Local Food Hero in September’s issue of the BBC’s Countryfile magazine.

Jenny was nominated by Simon Hart, president of Countryside Alliance, for her environmental credentials, which include the shops’ fridges being powered by wind turbines and water heated by solar panels.

Goldy’s was also made Environmental Farm Retailer of the Year 2008 by Farma and was Best Rural Retailer for the Wessex region in 2006 and 2007.

The owners of Wareham’s historic Rex cinema have put it up for sale after running it for over 20 years.

The 9 volunteer directors have been running the Rex since 1987 and purchased the building in 2000, but they are now looking to sell the cinema to like-minded film enthusiasts.

The good news is that the Rex will be sold with a restrictive covenant meaning any buyer would have to continue running it as a cinema.

The cinema opened in 1920 and until a recent refurbishment it was the last gas-lit cinema in the country.

Summer is finally here and it came at exactly the right time for Swanage Regatta and Carnival which got off to a flying start this weekend with the absolutely phenomenal performance of the Red Arrows over the bay at noon today (Sunday).

We’ll let the pictures do the talking and you can view more of them and the Carnival procession at PurbeckBlog on Flikr.

Purbeck Distirct Council has issued a press statment attacking the decision of The Secretary of State, Hazel Blears’s decision to give her support for the building of over 5000 homes in Purbeck.

Cllr Gary Suttle, Leader of Purbeck District Council, says: “We are extremely dismayed by this news. Purbeck District Council unanimously deplores and condemns the proposals to build on the green belt in this exceptional area of the country.

It is of particular concern that the villages of Lytchett Matravers and Lytchett Minster will be swamped by a major new development and that our green belt will be lost to concrete. Little consideration has been given to the special heathland conservation issues in the district, that limit the ability to widen the road network to cater for the increase in population. This will result in further congestion on already heavily congested roads.

We urge every resident of Purbeck to take part in Ms Blears’ consultation to try to persuade this government that we will not accept this serious threat to the future of Purbeck”.

Purbeck District Council is already carrying out its own Western Extension consultation with its residents and will be using the feedback received to make its case for formal opposition to the Secretary of State. Residents have until Friday 8 August to complete this questionnaire.

The questionnaire can be accessed online at the Council’s website, or by calling the Council on 01929 557339.

If you haven’t bought your Camp Bestival tickets yet you need to get your skates on as there are only 500 left.

The new festival at Lulworth Cove which runs from 18-20 July features Chuck Berry, festival legends The Flaming Lips and Kate Nash in the headline slots and there’s also a staggering array of amusements including Balearic Bollywood, The Laughter Library, Karaoke with a twist, Physics In the Field, Come Dancing, Strummerville, the Knitting Tent and oh, so much more.

If you like dressing up then the fancy dress theme for Camp Bestival is loosely Alice in Wonderland and Hi de Hi but feel free to get dressed up in whatever takes your fancy! There’s even a dressing up area to help you get dolled up!

You can also hear a special Camp Bestival edition of the fortnightly Sunday Best Podcast, which Rob da Bank has just put together to get you in the mood for this year’s fun and games. The podcast features tunes from Chuck Berry, Suzanne Vega, Flaming Lips, Billy Bragg, Micachu, Hercules and Love Affair and more.

As well as weekend camping tickets there are also day tickets available (£45 adults, £22.50 (age 13-15), FREE for  under 13s but tickets required).

Ticketline: http://www.ticketline.co.uk// 0844 888 4410 (24 hr)
Lastminute: http://www.lastminute.com/
Lulworth Castle: in person [no booking fee]

Great news to hear that Durlston’s proposed £5.5 million redevelopment of its visitor facilities has been given the go-ahead thanks to confirmation of a £3.1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The scheme includes the restoration of Durlston Castle and a new learning centre and observatory with the aim of enhancing visitors enjoyment of the park and making it a first class gateway to the Jurassic Coast.

Durlston was recently designated a National Nature Reserve by Natural England and the Heritage Lottery Fund was able to confirm the grant now that match funding has been secured by Friends of Durlston, the Jurassic Coast Trust and the Project Team.

Work is due to start in July 2009 with completion by the end of 2010.

It must be a very slow news day today as I have read more than one media report about a couple from Bournemouth who claimed their 14 stone dog, along with the Great Wall of China, could be seen from outer-space!

They reached this stunning conclusion whilst using Google Earth where they spotted their dog splayed out on their lawn. It was later pointed out to them that the photos from Google Earth are taken from a plane a few hundered feet above land! It didn’t stop a few news agencies reporting it as fact before quickly altering their stories. Doh.