25 YEARS AGO

DECEMBER 2, 1994

A farmhouse owned by the National Trust has been gutted by fire, days before tenants were due to move in.

The Fire at 17th century Shedbush Farm, on the trust’s Golden Cap estate near Morcombelake, was tackled by four crews from Bridport, Charmouth and Lyme Regis and was suspected to be due to an electrical fault.

Award-winning composer Andrew Dickson just completed the music for a film selected to be shown at film star Robert Redford’s Sundance Festival.

Mr Dickson, who lives in Eype, has composed the bass clarinet score for the joint British-French-German production, Someone Else’s America, starring Tom Conti.

Details of a new scheme at Colfox School are going to be sent to government officials leading the fight against drugs.

Teachers at the school have devised a policy to try to save children from running their lives with drugs after two teenagers were expelled for selling LSD and cannabis.

50 YEARS AGO

NOVEMBER 28, 1969

Mr Bernard Deschamps, of Acton, made a 280-mile round trip to the Loders Arms to set a new record in drinking a bootful of ale, four and a half pints.

He saw the boot being emptied by a drinker and returned to finish it in four and a quarter minutes.

One of Bridport’s youngest businessmen, 25-year-old Mr Jolyon Wells, has gained a second prize in the national trade competition.

Mr Wells, who opened a carpet shop in East Street just over two years ag, entered a contest run by the British Carpet Centre in which contestants were asked to recommend the right carpet classification for 10 rooms.

West Dorset teachers are to meet to discuss strike action.

It is not yet known whether the majority will call for a token strike in support of the national claim for a further £135 a year.

The National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Schoolmasters are angry at what they consider a mean offer of a £50-a-year rise in their present scale of £860 - £1,600.