25 YEARS AGO

FEBRUARY 17, 1995

BUSINESS RATES: West Dorset MP Sir James Spicer is protesting to the prime minister about the massive rate increases faced by businesses in the Bridport and Beaminster areas.

A rise of 300 per cent is being demanded from one caravan park. The average for businesses nationally is one per cent but the average for west Dorset is 27 per cent and local traders are outraged.

TEA EXPANSION: Tea importers Mike and Lorraine Brehme are taking on part of the Numatic building in Beaminster to cope with increased demand for their blends.

Mr and Mrs Brehme, of Clipper Teas in Stoke Abbott, are also employing two workers from Bridport. The Brehmes’ teas are the first teas in Europe to win a Fairtrade mark.

BEACH BOUGHT: Another scenic stretch of west Dorset coastline has been bought by the National Trust - 220 acres between Cogden Beach and West Bexington.

The purchase, to help celebrate the trust’s centenary year, protects another half-mile of the Chesil Beach, says Derek Parsons, chairman of the trust’s Golden Cap Centre voluntary fundraising group.

50 YEARS AGO

FEBRUARY 13, 1970

NEW SOCIETY CHAIRMAN: The new president of the Melplash Agricultural Society is Sir David William, of Bridehead, Little Bredy. It is only the second time in the society’s 123-year history that three generations of the same family have held the office - Sir David’s late father was president in 1930 and 1945 and his grandfather was president before the turn of the century.

FACTORY DELAYS: Bridport is in danger of losing one of its few factories.

Mr. F. G. Parker, who runs the tent components business in East Road, is contemplating closing his works in Bridport and moving elsewhere.

Mr Parker has been granted a Board of Trade Certificate for a new factory building, but delays may see him close his factory in Bridport.

FOSSIL AUCTION: A fossil found in Lyme Regis sometime in the last century is expected to make saleroom history when it appears at Sotheby’s next month.

The Ichthyosaurus Platyodon, nicknamed Nellie by Edinburgh University where she has occupied a section of corridor for a long time, is about 150 million years old. She is 17 and a half feet long and is the first prehistoric monster to be sold at an auction in Britain. Nellie is expected to fetch well over £2,000.