From photography to Rotary, marching Majorettes to U3A and everything in between: West Dorset has countless clubs offering something for all ages and interests.

Every week the Bridport and Lyme Regis News features the latest news from YOUR club. Here's this week's offering.

Want to contribute? We'd love to hear from you. Email us or write to Bridport and Lyme Regis News, Fleet House, Hampshire Road, Weymouth, DT4 9XD

THE ARTS DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
OLDER PEOPLE from Bridport, Lyme Regis and Beaminster have been enjoying a series of free arts workshops designed by The Arts Development Company.

The sessions in the Skyrm Room in Beaminster and The Hub in Lyme Regis are being run by local artists and craftspeople. They include dance, drawing, creative writing, pottery and singing. The workshops are all about having fun, meeting new people and trying out different art forms.

"It’s an opportunity for people to explore their senses and try new experiences," said poet Kim Squirrell from Bridport, who led the creative writing workshop.

"My hope is that the people who took part carry on some of these new ways of seeing into their everyday lives."

Artist Sarah Hough, who ran the large-scale drawing workshop, agreed.

"All the workshop participants very quickly started to express their individual personalities through the large drawings that they produced and connected with their feelings relating to the landscape around them, as well as childhood memories," she said.

"Their drawing confidence grew throughout the session and their work inspired discussion, as well as provoking memories and laughter. 

"I hope that the workshop broke down the fear of drawing large scale, making it more accessible and something that they and their carers may want to develop and use in the future to express themselves and their connection with the landscape."

The workshops were part of the Stepping into Nature programme, paid for by The Big Lottery Fund and managed by Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Stepping into Nature is helping to deliver health and wellbeing benefits for Dorset’s older people, including those living with dementia and their carers. It uses Dorset’s landscape to create dementia-friendly activities.

THE LYME REGIS ART SOCIETY

MEMBERS enjoyed watching a very innovative artist, Colin Brown.
Colin started as an artist after finishing a four year course in illustration and design at Canterbury College of Art and became an illustrator, working full time for The Idea Works in Bath before becoming freelance in 1990, working for 25 years for design and advertising companies.

He demonstrated his approach and techniques, working on canvas mounted on ply-board and lit by a builder’s lamp, advising us to always work in a good light to avoid mistakes with colour, and tone. His street scene was to be what you would see at a first glance as, after years of the tight realism of the fashion world, he now enjoys greater looseness in his painting. 

He had drawn in the basic shapes of the buildings with thin paint onto an orange background and was working with his painting upside down so he would paint what he saw on the canvas, rather than what he thought he knew. First, he isolated the tonal areas, using a thin wide firm flat brush and Golden heavy bodied paint which he used straight from the tube. He rarely washes his brush, allowing the colours to mingle, and used firm downward strokes so the colours went into stripes. He even puts fabric softener on the brush to help it slide down more easily. He was working from a photograph and turned his painting sideways on occasions to check the accuracy of the angles of the buildings.

The next stage was to put in the lines of windows, roof edges and hand rails. These were really shadow lines and very minimal but sharpened up the image whilst bringing out the textured effect of the base painting. Lastly, using pale green and white, Colin put in the highlights, using a long ruler to keep all the lines straight and a credit cards for edges of the brickwork. 

It was a very interesting afternoon and left us with several new techniques and useful ideas.

The Society meets on alternate Tuesdays in The Woodmead Halls from 2pm to 4pm. Our next meeting is on Tuesday October 17th when Hannah Twine will demonstrate portraiture in graphite, oil and charcoal. Visitors and new members always welcome. 

For further details, contact our Secretary, Sheila Stratton on 01297 445464.

BRIDPORT WI
MALCOLM Welshman gave a light hearted and amusing talk titled “It’s a Vet’s Life ‘’ at the Bridport WI October meeting. 

Malcolm, a vet and an author, interest in animals began when he was eight and he moved to Nigeria with his parents where his father was serving with the forces. 

His life was enriched by the family pets and also the local exotic animals. 
Malcolm entertained us with stories of the family pet parrot Polly, an African Grey, who had a large and colourful vocabulary. Malcolm’s desire to become a vet stems from this time.

Their pet dog went missing, only to return injured having been attacked and he watched the army doctor stitch the dogs wounds. 

After qualifying as a vet Malcolm was lucky to commence his career at London Zoo about which he had amusing anecdotes to relate. 

Malcolm has combined his interest in animals by treating them and writing about them and he kindly signed copies of his book for us. 

Final arrangements were also made for the forthcoming Theatre trip to Yeovil. 

Arrangements were also finalised for the meeting on Tuesday, November 7 at 1.30pm when the Bridport WI will be celebrating its centenary.

BRIDPORT GARDENING CLUB

Just two days after the Summer Show, a group of members set off on the holiday to Cambridgeshire. Every garden visited was a joy, each one distinctive in design and concept, a feast of colour and interest.

Beginning with the Savill Gardens in Windsor Great Park,the tour included the Cambridge Botanical Gardens, Anglesey Abbey, the Beth Chatto Garden,and RHS Hyde Hall. A stop at West Green House in Hampshire on the return journey was a welcome break.

The highlight for some lucky members was meeting Beth Chatto, now in her nineties, who is held in such high esteem by so many gardeners. Our thanks to Monique and Lyn for arranging this outstanding holiday.

The next week we visited Houghton Lodge in Hampshire. After being shown around the house by the fourth generation owner who entertained us with history and family anecdotes, we were free to wander around the extensive grounds.

Alternative Plants for Alternative Places was a Gold Club talk by Steve Fry, giving information on edible plants and different ways to grow them.

Full details of the Club's activities are on www.bridportgardeningclub.co.uk. Membership queries to Jon Harvey on 01308 423202

Bridport and District Support Group of Parkinson's UK

Our group is having a busy time at the moment, and it began with a most enjoyable coach trip to Ottery Nursery. We were overwhelmed by all the beautiful planting ideas and some of us went home with new plants for our gardens. As Ottery Nursery also sell clothes and gifts we enjoyed searching for something special to buy.

The speaker at our monthly Club Meeting in September was a pharmacist from Beaminister. We were all surprised at just how much help we could get so easily from our local pharmacy. We now understand why we are questioned about prescribed medication which we are taking when buying over the counter medicines and creams, as they do not always interact successfully together.

We are looking forward to a cream tea at Mangerton Mill in early October.

The Group are also inviting anyone interested in our Group to join us for Coffee at a Coffee Shop in Bridport on Thursday, October 12. If you are interested in our coffee invitation or would like to know more about us, please call Linda on 01297 489202