Whatever happened to Tucktonia?

It was the original Little Britain and as the forerunner of Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures, arguably the country’s first theme park. To a generation that grew up in Dorset in the 1970s and early 1980s, Tucktonia was the doyen of days out – leisure-time nirvana on the banks of the Stour. Time Read More…

Life’s a bike for Dandy Roger

No sooner could he stand on two feet than Roger Street had to be on two wheels, or three or, on occasion, four. An old black and white photo shows young Roger astride a wooden hobby-horse, his face a picture of prescient pride perhaps, for some sixty years later he finds himself at the head Read More…

Bridge over troubled waters

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first operational use of the Bailey Bridge, the remarkable bridging system described by General Eisenhower as one of the three most important pieces of equipment, along with radar and the heavy bomber, in the liberation of Europe during World War 2. The portable, pre-fabricated bridge was developed in Read More…

The art of nostalgia

Having swapped blackboard and chalk four years ago for canvas and brush, former teacher Richard Watkin is enjoying a new lease of life as a painter, turning the Dorset landmarks he loves into vintage-inspired artworks. With wife Judi acting as marketing manager, administrator, sounding board, critic and tea maker, what started life as a hobby Read More…

Gilson Lavis

Best known as the superbly versatile drummer with Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Gilson Lavis is launching a second career as an artist.  His characterful portraits of fellow musicians go on show this month in a new exhibition, Portraits: Gilson Lavis in Black and White, at the Hatch Gallery in Christchurch.  Over the past Read More…

Goodbye Gordon… for now

A LITTLE more than six years since Dorset singer-songwriter Gordon Haskell came within a whisker of topping the charts with his single How Wonderful You Are, he is leaving his home county for the tranquillity of a Greek island. He hasn’t spoken to the media for more than a year, but before he left he Read More…