News

News Items

Please submit any local news items you think may be of interest to:   tolpuddlevillagewebsite@gmail.com

TOLPUDDLE AND SOUTHOVER NEWS

See also the News Archive page for older news:  2022 and earlier.

2024

March 2024
The 150 Club is now the 100 Club
- see the latest news on the 100 Club page.  Tickets for new year:  April to March now available.

March 2024
Tolpuddle Old Chapel
Funded by Historic England, The National Heritage Lottery Fund and TOCT, the Old Chapel is launching a wide ranging programme of courses, talks, craft workshops, history club and much more during 2024 under the project title of "Tolpuddle Family Lives".  Please go to our Events page and also the Regular Activities page for full details of what is planned.

March 2024
Orchard Meadow News

Pleased to bring the following news and updates:

• The new picnic benches have now been installed as have the swings.

• There will be an ongoing programme to replace all the fencing in and around the meadow commencing with the toddler area fence.

• All the play equipment will be cleaned, repaired where necessary, and weather proofed.

• Some of the older decrepit benches will be removed and in some cases not replaced.

• Louise Keogh's memorial bench will be removed and sympathetically restored.

• The bespoke "apple bench" will be removed and hopefully restored.  If this is not possible a new bench will be commissioned like for like.

• Further play equipment is also planned with spring rockers for the toddler area and monkey bars for the larger area.
  
  

The latter plans are not set in stone so we would welcome any suggestions from villagers about further additions for the meadow. 

I hope this gives you an indication of what we are planning.  If you have any points you would like to raise please don't hesitate to contact me, Jim Johnstone via the PAPC:  clerk@puddletownareaparishcouncil.gov.uk  

See also Orchard Meadow's page on this site:  Orchard Meadow

1 March, 2024
The NET
Tolpuddle and Southover Newsletter - Issue 3 now delivered to all households in the two villages.  Can also be viewed electronically on The NET page on this website.

January 2024
New Benches for Orchard Meadow
Great community effort and thanks to Jim Mason, Roger Angus, Simon Rees, Bill Ruddock, Sam Large and of course Jim Johnstone (who arranged their purchase with the Parish Council).  Wheelchair access at two of the benches.  They're made of recycled plastic bottles by a company in Poole.

1 January, 2024
The NET
Tolpuddle and Southover Newsletter - Issue 2 now delivered to all households in the two villages.  Can also be viewed electronically on The NET page on this website.

January 2024
Tolpuddle 150 Club
The 150 Club Winners for November and December 2023 are now announced.  See the 150 Club page here

2023

December 2023
The Martyrs Inn Shareholders Meeting
Thursday, 7 December, 2023 at 7pm  ||  Tolpuddle Village Hall

The TMI Tolpuddle Board met shareholders on 7 December to update them on the Inn’s progress and get feedback after some 6 months of trading. Around 70 individual shareholders attended.
Please click here for report of the Shareholders Meeting on  7 December, 2023

November 2023
The Martyrs Inn has Winter Opening Hours from 1st November, 2023
Plus a Christmas Menu from 22 November to 24 December
Go to the Martyrs Inn page for more info

November 2023
Tolpuddle Old Chapel is now closed for the winter period.  Please see the Old Chapel page for further info

November 2023
Tolpuddle and Southover Newsletter
Tolpuddle and Southover now have a new Newsletter called The NET delivered to each house every two months.  The first copy was posted out just before 1 November.  See it electronically on The NET page on this site.

October 2023
A Tolpuddle and Southover Newsletter is being launched!  
This will be produced every two months detailing the next two months of events, classes and news.  The first issue will be covering November and December and will be hard copy delivered to each house in the two villages.  This has come about as, despite publicity on Facebook and the Village website, news of events still fails to reach some people and we thought we would try out a newsletter and see if people find it helpful.  We hope this will be a real community thing working for all organisations in the village.  Look out for it in your letter box end of October but keep checking the website too for any updates and events and news further ahead.

If you'd like to contact the Newsletter - name to be revealed shortly! - email:  tolpuddleevents@gmail.com

September 2023
Wessex Morris Men
The Wessex Morris Men came to Tolpuddle on the evening of Monday 4 September to dance under the Martyrs Tree.  It was a lovely warm summer's evening and people gathered to watch this great rural tradition on their last outing of the year.  After entertaining us they retired to the Village Hall for refreshments and a play-and-sing, to which we were all invited.  Grateful thanks to all concerned for arranging this lovely traditional event in our village.  I hope they return here next year but meanwhile you can  catch them on Boxing Day, dancing and doing a Mummers Play at midday in Cerne Abbas village square.

August 2023
Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust  ||  Update

The renovation work on Tolpuddle Old Chapel is now completed and we look forward to opening the Chapel for visitors and residents as soon as we are able to do so.  Sadly, we are not yet able to open the Chapel unattended, on account of three acts of malicious vandalism that have taken place.  This is deeply regrettable, but our first priority must be to conserve the building, and leaving the door open is therefore not an option.  We will be staffing the Chapel with volunteers for limited opening hours, and these will be posted on a board outside the Chapel as soon as we are able to organise this. If any residents would like to volunteer for such a purpose they would be most welcome to contact us at:  deliverymanager@tolpuddleoldchapeltrust.org

On behalf of the Trustees I would like to thank the people of Tolpuddle for their forbearance during the Chapel’s renovations.   I know this cannot have been easy, particularly for those residents in close proximity.

The Chapel now moves into its second stage, with a new Board of Trustees.  We ask for your patience and understanding while we establish ourselves as a working Board.  We will shortly be undertaking broader consultations with people and organisations in the village, and we will subsequently be holding ‘open hours’ so that residents can pop in with their ideas, and hear more about our plans.

Philip Martin, Chair, Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust

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8 July, 2023
The Martyrs Inn has reopened!

The Martyrs Inn reopened to the public on Saturday, 8 July, 2023  just seven months  after the community purchase proposal was first made.
Congratulations to everyone who has made this happen, the shareholders, directors, volunteers and especially, of course,  Barrie Lovelock who has proposed and driven the whole venture. 
We are one happy village!

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June 2023
The Martyrs Inn is re-opening - please go to the Martyrs Inn page for more information

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May / June 2023
Exciting Opportunities to Volunteer

With the near completion of the Old Chapel restoration Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust is recruiting Volunteers. 
Please see the Old Chapel page.
If interested please contact Angela Herrera:  deliverymanager@tolpuddleoldchapeltrust.org

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May 2023
Coronation Weekend in Tolpuddle and Southover
Review and  photos can be found in the  Past Events page - currently being added to.........

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May 2023
Sunday Refreshments in the Village Hall
16 July, 2023
All day refreshments for Festival goers and local residents

Can you help?  Martyrs Festival:  Sunday, 16 July at the Village Hall

The annual Martyrs Festival will take place over the weekend of 14-16 July.  As usual, the village will be fully engaged in producing daily breakfasts at the Martyrs’ Field, organising carparking on the Sunday and providing refreshments at the village hall throughout Sunday.  All of these contribute significant funding for St John’s Church and the village hall and help to support local activities throughout the year.

Plans are in hand for the Sunday refreshments at the village hall.  This year, in addition to the usual cakes, teas coffees and soft drinks, available throughout the day, we are planning to provide ‘a ploughmans in a box’ lunches, offering a choice of ham, cheese or a variety of quiche, alongside the usual staples of salad, roll, pickle, pickled onion and apple.  Additional ‘sides’ such as coleslaw, rice salad, would be available as an extra.  We have a reputation for providing good value, home-cooked food and, as far as feasible, all the food will be sourced or produced locally.

We need help with providing some of the food and with setting up, serving and clearing up in the hall on the day.   We need:

• Cakes of all shapes, sizes and flavours*

• Homemade quiches*

• Helpers in the hall from 8.00am – 5.30pm.  We plan to open from 9.30am-4.30pm and would be looking for volunteers to do 2 hour periods (or more) at a time in the hall.  We will prepare a rota for the day in due course.)

*we can offer help with the cost of the ingredients, if needed

If you would be willing to help with any – or all – these, please email or text Margaret Walton (maclark2@btinternet.com or 07740622415) to let her know what you would be prepared to do.  If you are happy to help on the day, please let her know if you have any time constraints.

We look forward to hearing from you and thanks in advance.

The Martyrs Team

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April 2023
Completion on Purchase of the Martyrs Inn!
Stop Press – as of 12 noon on Friday 28 April, 2023 TMI Tolpuddle Ltd has completed on the purchase of the Inn. So, the company and all its shareholders now own the property and the community has its pub back.

April 2023
Contracts Exchanged on the Martyrs Inn!
Fantastic news with completion hoped for the end of April.  Go to the Martyrs Inn page for details of how you can now volunteer to help on the refurbishment.

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April 2023
Tolpuddle Fibre to the House Plan 

Three years ago, we approached BT Openreach about getting fibre to the door for all houses in Tolpuddle.  At the time there was some enthusiasm from Openreach and we gathered 100 addresses which were submitted to them.  We also approached Wessex Internet, who were interested, but did not follow this up with us.

After chasing Openreach in August 2021, we got an estimated cost of £302.862, with vouchers offered to each house from DCMS, (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport), so this would cover the cost.  When we asked if we could proceed, we were stopped by the Dorset Gigabit team in Autumn 2021, who were looking at the plans they had.  Once this was completed the following Spring 2022, we asked to progress further and by the summer of 2022 we got a final firm quote of £302.862.  We asked them to progress this to installation and how best to manage this with the village.  We were again told The Dorset Gigabit team together with the Government BDUK Team (Build Digital UK), were reviewing the whole project in the Autumn of 2022, with the aim to get a wider implementation plan for Dorset and the UK.

Subsequently from this at the end of March 2023 we have been advised that Openreach is building a commercial Exchange for Fibre to service us and other villages, see quote from Openreach below:

"Openreach have announced to build in the exchange area that you are located in. This is in the early stage so the area hasn’t been surveyed yet but will hopefully be surveyed over the next 12 months. As we have announced to build commercially in your exchange your premises will be marked as under review so would not qualify for vouchers now as DCMS would understandably not fund an area that a supplier has announced to build commercially. If you use the link below and enter your postcode you will be able to see that your exchange is in plan. As things progress the site will update to give you more of an idea of when fibre will start to get delivered

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/where-when-building-ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband "

The link there does provide some information, other than any real timing for this to be complete.  However, this does mean it is out of our control to manage and we will have to wait for Openreach to come back locally to advise, (to each property, maybe?), and advise a plan and invite you to have this installed, (at minimal cost?). 

Therefore unfortunately, Ian and I will not be able to progress this any further for the village, although we will continue communicate with them to understand progress and will pass on any further information we may get.

If you click on the link and follow it through, you can also register you interest to be kept informed directly.

Jonathan Van Baars & Ian Cray

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February 2023
Tolpuddle's Big Breakfast
Tolpuddle held a Big Breakfast on Saturday, 18 February in the Village Hall to raise money for the Turkey / Syria Earthquake Appeal.  It was a huge success and raised a total of £1,300 for the Disasters Emergency Committee.  Well done everyone.  

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January 2023
The  Martyrs Inn
For the latest updates on the Martyrs Inn please see the dedicate page:  The Martyrs Inn

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January 2023
Tolpuddle 150 Club
Tickets for the next Club year:

Tickets for April 2023 to March 2024 are on sale now.   Click here for the Tolpuddle 150 Club page and more information.

Continuous News Item:
Key Website Updates:

14 April, 2024 News and Event updates
21 September, 2023: Event Updates and Video of the Wessex Morris Men in Tolpuddle added (this page)
17 August, 2023 Updates.  Tolpuddle Old Chapel updates
9 July, 2023: Martyrs Inn is open
6 July, 2023: Opening Times  of the Martyrs Inn 8 and 9 July
30 June, 2023 Martyrs Inn Updates
13 June, 2023: General Updates and May's 150 Club Winners
2 June, 2023: Martyrs Inn website
31 May: 2023: Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust: recruiting volunteers.  Purbeck Arts Weeks - Affpuddle Artists - scroll down this page
25 May, 2023: Updates on the Old Chapel Trust
21 May, 2023: Martyrs Inn Recruitment and Coronation Barn Dance video clip
28 April, 2023: Completion on Martyrs Inn!
18 April, 2023: Contracts Exchanged on the Martyrs Inn!!
14 April, 2023: Residents:  Can you Help - Martyrs Sunday in the Village Hall - scroll down this page
12 April, 2023 Full information about the Tolpuddle Celebrations of the Coronation added
10 April, 2023: Easy Fundraising page added and Fibre to the Door update on the News page
8 February, 2023: Martyrs Inn Updates following meeting on 7 February, 2023
13 January, 2023: Latest Update on the Martyrs Inn following village meeting on 12 January, 2023
12 January, 2023:     Event updates and Tolpuddle 150 Club
7 January, 2023:     Latest Martyrs Inn Pub-o-Meter
5 January, 2023:       Village Meeting information re Martyrs Inn
16 December, 2022:  Proposal for Acquiring the Martyrs Inn - now added
15 December, 2022:  New website page created dedicated to information about the Martyrs Inn
30 November, 2022:  Updates of the community pub purchase proposal.
27 November, 2022:  News items added: Community Ownership of Pubs and BoundaryCommission Review - England, Christmas Services at St John's
31 October, 2022:      Website Newsletter 1 sent out
11 October, 2022:       Subscribe to the Website Newsletter added - every page - scroll down
25 September, 2022:  T&Cs and Privacy Policy uploaded
13 September, 2022:  Local Area Walk pdfs uploaded - now available

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