Bridport boy Richie Cupcake had a brush with death last weekend whilst exploring a derelict church in Essex the stone staircase he was on collapsed sending him plummeting 25 feet to the ground amidst tumbling masonry and ironwork. Richie escaped with multiple cuts, cracks and contusions, his baccy tin fared less well, but saved him from a being stabbed in the chest by a piece of ironwork protruding from the wall. The baccy tin was not the only hero, Bridport Radio member StretchyNuts was on the scene and managed to pull Cupcake free before more falling masonry avalanched down.

These pictures were taken last thursday (21/9) on West Bay's east pier looking west at the sun as it poked through the hurricane. Was all over quite quick, but sent the weirdest light over the town for a while.

Ranga

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The government (DEFRA) has published a consultation document about "should we be growing GM foods?" Well living in an agricultural area I do not want to be a guinea pig, do you? Have a look at Defra GM-coexist It's a long winded document but when you get the gist of it fire off your views to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

I believe we should keep Britain free of all GM crops as coexistence will eventually mean cross contamination, the scientific community believes that GM crops have not yet been proved safe and that there may be far reaching ecological side effects. The push towards GM has more to do with greed than feeding the planet.

GM is a  potential Pandora’s Box. Remember DDT, Agent Orange and dioxin were all championed as saviours by over zealous governments. Do we want to be remembered as the generation that spawned a GM plague?

Did anyone notice the diversion signs on the roads to and from Beaminster recently? of course you did, there they were - big ones, small ones, drunks fighting with them over the weekends. Wow, thought this citizen they really must be doing a proper job on that piece of road through Salwayash on up to Broadwindsor which has been only recently so shoddily resurfaced and patched (twice) because of the cheapskates who will not use a fixative in the tarmac so a with bit of warm weather the road ends up sticking to your tyres.

The Local History Centre is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, year round, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, and at other times by appointment. It is advisable to ring in advance to reserve a space and to check that we are open. There is no charge to use the Centre, but donations are welcomed. There is a reasonable charge for photocopies. The Museum staff are unable to conduct private research on behalf of the public, but there is someone on hand to guide visitors while they are using the Centre.

Brideport 1086 (Domesday Book). Bridiport 1157, Brudiport 1207, Bredeport 1266. 'Harbour or market town belonging to Bredy', from Old English Port which can mean either 'port' or 'market' and Brit the name of the river that runs through it. The fortunes of the rope and net industries run like a thread through much of Bridport’s history. But that valuable thread does not extend to the origins of the town as there is evidence in the lumps and bumps of the landscape that people have lived in this area since prehistoric times.

The Mill, the young peoples’ coffee bar, advice and information centre on the corner of North Street and Rax Lane is in its 12th year.  As a registered charity they rely heavily on volunteers to run sessions and do the fundraising. So they had the idea that if 500 people in Bridport became a ‘Friend of The Mill’ for just £5 per month (or more if anyone chose) our money worries would be over! We could also extend our services further and the People of Bridport would share ‘ownership’ of The Mill.

The intrepid “Team Dorwest” completed the Coniston Challenge for Guide Dogs on Saturday 2nd September despite having to undertake the three tasks in the most appalling weather they'd experienced in the Lake District for a long time.  They climbed the Old Man of Coniston, cycled through the Grizedale Forest and canoed across Lake Coniston in just over 5 hours and were the 8th fastest team to finish.  The rain didn’t give up at all during the day and the six team members from Dorwest Herbs, based in Shipton Gorge, were all soaked through within ten minutes of starting the challenge.

Photo of team with their trophy (from left to right – Joanna Boughton, Heather Bishop, Roly Boughton, Brian Bishop, James White and Hannah Slater)

Fish out your flood photos! Do you have photographs you would like to share, do you have an interest in extreme weather, do you have a story to tell? Bridport Museum is interested in stories or photographs concerning flooding and extreme weather in Bridport, West Bay and the surrounding area. There will be a short film on show of West Bay Storms in the 1930’s. at The Bridport Arts Centre Saturday 16th of September 11am - 2pm. For futher information please call Alice Martin on 01308 458 703 contact us or leave a comment.