Onedin Star Jessica sails back into Dart Harbour on ‘poignant’ cruise ship visit

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The visit of cruise ship Minerva to Dart Harbour on Saturday June 14 was a special event in more ways for one very special visitor: the Onedin Line’s Jessica Benton.

Ms Benton played Elizabeth Onedin in the famous and hugely influential series, which filmed in Dartmouth throughout the 1970s and into 1980. She and her husband, renowned photographer Charlie Waite, described their visit as ‘a poignant experience’.

Ms Benton returned to Dartmouth onboard the Swan Hellenic ship MV Minerva. The ship’s visit was the second cruise ship visit of the season and saw the Dartmouth Cruise Ship Group working together to create the perfect visitors for passengers.

The group, made up of the Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre, Dart Harbour, Dartmouth Town Council and the Dartmouth Business Improvement District, put together a programme to welcome the ship and the reaction as very positive.

Tourist Information Manager Lesley Turner and Donna Watson went out onto the ship early in the morning with Tricia Daniels to chat to passengers about the town, its shops and visitor attractions.

TIC Staff stood on the Town Jetty throughout the day, handing out guides, maps and a special edition of the Dartmouth Chronicle with a feature aimed at passengers in it.

Dartmouth Town Mayor Rob Lyon and his Mayoress Di travelled out to the ship onboard the heritage trawler Pilgrim from Brixham, which also sailed around the ship, to the delight of passengers. The Mayor presented a Town Plaque to the Ship’s Captain, along with a painting of the Minerva kindly donated by Dartmouth artist Paul Barclay.

Dartmouth Cruise Ship Group Chairman Tricia Daniels said: “It was a lovely bonus to meet Jessica Benton and hear her memories of visiting the town – the last time she visited was when they filmed the show’s final two episodes more than 30 years ago!”

Dartmouth Caring and Academy come together to congratulate Ruby for fashion win

Anne Marie Rowden with Ruby and Dee Nutt

Ruby in her incredible outfit.

Student Ruby Webster has been recognised for her exceptional dressmaking skills in winning the recent Dartmouth Academy Fashion show.

Ruby created a remarkable outfit taking her inspiration from Charles Dicken’s novel Great Expectations.

Using the character of Miss Haversham as her guide, Ruby created a wedding dress, shoes, veil, made her own jewellery and a tiara. The Year 10 student hand dyed her shoes before embellishing them, dyeing all of the fabrics she used and even added the touch of a spiders web on her hand crafted bouquet!

The student’s work was so exceptional that Fashion Show’s judges, Dartmouth Academy Principal Nick Hindmarsh, Dartmouth Caring Manager and Coordinator Alison Stocks and Fashion Show Compere, Dartmouth Caring chairman Dee Nutt, decided that Ruby deserved special recognition.

Textile and Design teacher Anne-Marie Rowden, who organised the Fashion Show as a showcase for the amazing work created by her students, presented Ruby with a special certificate to mark her win alongside Dee Nutt.

The Fashion Show, now a firmly established part of the town character, acts as a showcase for the talents of the Dartmouth Academy students and a fundraiser for Dartmouth Caring, the charity which looks out for the elderly and the vulnerable in Dartmouth and its hinterland.

Alison Stocks said that Ruby’s work was so good it deserved special recognition.

“We were all taken aback by the imagination, technical detail and scope of the talents her outfit showed,” she said. “We wanted to make sure she knew just how good she was! We have been working with the Academy for a number of years now and the Fashion Show was our first collaboration, we are delighted it’s still going strong.”

Dee Nutt said: “Seeing Ruby’s work up close I was struck at the skill she had shown in the detailing and the hard work that she had put in. We are so pleased to have a strong relationship with the Academy and look forward to more initiatives in the future. I’m already looking forward to next year’s fashion show!”

Anne Marie Rowden said: “Ruby clearly deserved her prize and recognition. She was inspired, motivated and hard working throughout the process of creating her outfit, but that is a quality I see in so many of the textiles design students at the Academy. The show is a very proud moment for me each year as I see all our students achieving so much. Dartmouth Caring are a wonderful organisation we are proud to support and I’m delighted Alison, Dee and Nick wanted to make such a nice gesture to acknowledge her achievement.”

Nick Hindmarsh said: “During a big event it’s difficult to let a student know how impressive their work is, even if they have won. We all agreed that Ruby’s work was of the very highest quality and I’m so pleased we have recognised her in this way. She has a bright future in whatever field she chooses due to her wonderful work ethic and fantastic attitude.”

Dart Harbour readies river user survey for future planning

Dart Harbour is getting ready to launch a public survey to help it plan for the future of the river.

The ‘Forward Vision’ project, run with Plymouth University, has been running for more than a year, and will create an outline of the harbour’s plans for the next decade or more. The results of the study and the survey will help the harbour create the document by the end of the year.

The special online survey aims to find out what the people who use the river think the harbour authority can do to aid the life on the river in all its aspects. It will be available through a link on the Dart Harbour website and will be publicised widely when it is activated.

Dart Harbour Board Member John Ellwood said: “By the end of 2014, Dart Harbour intend to produce a Forward Vision Plan which aims to show how Dart Harbour will manage, protect and enhance the River Dart as a safe and thriving community asset in the years to come.

“The first part of this process is to ask everyone in any way connected to the River, to fill in an online confidential questionnaire to express their opinions of how Dart Harbour’s work can contribute to the long term social, economic and environmental well-being of the River Dart and its community.

“The questionnaire is being developed with the help of Plymouth University, who will also help analyse the results. The questionnaire will be published within the next month and Dart Harbour would like to encourage everyone to complete it. This will be followed by a consultation period of the stakeholder groups and the community in general before the final Plan is published. Everyone, this is the time to have your say about the future of the River Dart, which we all hold so dear!”

Dart Harbour African Queen fund raises nearly £3,000 for Hilary and Alan

Alan Hemsley, Harbour Master Capt Rob Giles and Hilary Hemsley with the cheque made possible by kind donations from members of the community.

A special fund set up by Dart Harbour for the victims of a devastating boat fire on the river Dart has raised nearly £3,000.

The fund, started after the African Queen was destroyed by fire on March 11, was inundated by donations from concerned friends of owners Alan and Hilary Hemsley and members of the community.

Dart Harbour Master Capt Rib Giles helped coordinate efforts to save the vessel with the RNLI, Devon and Somerset Fire Service and the Lower Ferry.

After the incident many people expressed a desire to help Alan and Hilary with donations, and Capt Giles offered for the harbour authority to handle all donations through a special account.

That account has now been closed, and Capt Giles handed over a cheque to Alan and Hilary for the final amount of £2,987.06 on Monday May 12.

Capt Giles said: “It was a terrible incident for Alan and Hilary – as they lost both their home and business on one traumatic night. We felt it was the least we could do as an authority to be the place to accept donations given to help them. It is good to see so much generosity within our community. I hope that these funds help Alan and Hilary.”

In a joint statement Hilary and Alan said: “We would like to say a big thank you to all the Emergency Services that helped on that harrowing night, the Harbour Office’s continuing support, and the response from the South Hams and beyond. We have been humbled by the community and our friends. Their support and kindness will help us to move forward. Thank you.”

World Record-breaking Dartmouth publisher donates books to Academy’s new library

Richard Webb, Liz Wilson and Dartmouth Academy students around the display of books that Mr Webb has donated to the new Academy library

Dartmouth Academy has welcomed the donation of 15 books by town publisher Richard Webb.

Mr Webb once held the world-record for the longest time for a book at number one in the bestseller charts for The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, which was recently pronounced by The Sunday Times as being the fourth bestselling book of the last 40 years in the UK.

He has donated all the books he published on his beloved home town of Dartmouth – from stunning picture books to learned books on both the town and the Naval College’s history. The books are in pride of place in the new library, facing visitors as they walk into the brand new Academy buildings.

The books are already proving useful as teaching aids for many of the Academy’s subjects, notably history and art.

Richard Webb retired at the end of last year following 50 years in the publishing industry, including time working for Vogue magazine and running his own successful Exeter-based publishing company ‘Webb & Bower’. He donated the books after seeing an appeal from Dartmouth Academy Librarian Liz Wilson for books to help boost the brand new Academy library.

Richard offered all the books he has published over the last 15 years on Dartmouth itself – including histories by Ray Freeman, Don Collinson and Phil Scoble, beautiful picture books by photographer Nigel Evans, poetry from Kevin Pyne and his latest book Dartmouth – An Enchanted Place by Joslin Fiennes.

Richard said: “I’m delighted to support the Academy with my set of Dartmouth books, not only to help their new library, but also so that the books will encourage their students to learn about the extraordinary history of our remarkable town.”

Librarian Liz Wilson said: “It’s great to have Mr Webb’s books on display in such a prominent position. They are already proving useful to our children and teachers and will clearly be a massive asset to our library. We are delighted with the response to our appeal for books – which has been brilliant and means we have an even better selection of titles on offer in our beautiful new building!”

Dartmouth Academy Principal Nick Hindmarsh said: “We are so pleased to have these wonderful books available for our children. It’s great to see we have such support in the community. Mr Webb’s generosity is brilliant and the books he has donated will be helping in the education of Dartmouth children for years to come.”

Dartmouth Academy opens the doors of its new £8.5million home

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Dartmouth Academy has opened the doors to its new multi million pound home.

The school, which has been under construction by Leadbitter for the past year, welcomed its first public tours on Wednesday April 16 and then further groups on Thursday April 17 and Saturday April 19.

It is the newest school in the country, and one of the first purpose built ‘all through’ schools as well.

The interested people taking a look during the three days of tours included the mayor and other local dignitaries, alongside parents, their children and others. More than 200 people toured the buildings, and were impressed by the scope they offered for education and the community in Dartmouth.

Dartmouth Mayor Paul Allen presented a town plaque to Vice Principal Rik Meek during the tour for display in the Academy’s reception. Cllr Allen said the Academy was ‘an integral part of the town and its community’.

The Academy is the most expensive public building in Dartmouth’s history and the first new school to be built in the town since 1978. Its facilities include massive touch screens in many classrooms, large multi purpose spaces for large group work called ‘Barns’, superfast wifi and a commercial restaurant that will give students healthy, tasty school dinners they will love. The school is also bringing in a sophisticated entrance system using smart cards that can also be used by students to pay for goods, trips and services whilst in school.

The huge job of moving in began in the last days of the Spring term, and has continued throughout the Easter holidays with many teachers and a gang of support staff working long hours to ensure the buildings are ready for the students on the first day of term.

Now the move is complete Leadbitter’s focus shifts to demolishing the old school buildings and landscaping the Milton Lane site – all works will be complete by September this year and the Academy will celebrate its Grand Opening in the Autumn term.

Dartmouth Academy Principal Nick Hindmarsh said: “We are delighted to finally move in after years of anticipation! We are very proud of the new building and what it means we can now offer our students in terms of educational opportunities. The children of Dartmouth Academy can be very proud of these buildings, as we are proud of them every day in their studies. This is a building fit for education in the 21^st Century and we look forward to working in it for many years to come.”

Dartmouth community supports Academy tree-planting initiative

Nick Hindmarsh, Philip Hall, Luke Clements, John Pryke-Smith
John Mills and Geoff Hicks of Dartmouth Rotary, Alice Hunt and Philippa Varlow of Gardentime, along with the Academy’s oldest student Holly Windsor and its two youngest pupils.

Dartmouth Academy held a special tree-planting day supported by the Woodland Trust, Dartmouth Rotary and Gardentime garden centre.

The event was marked by a special planting ceremony on Thursday March 20, attended by all those who had supported the initiative and two of the all through Academy’s youngest two pupils and its oldest student Holly Windsor.

The Academy’s special Outdoor Learning Group – which aims to promote learning outside across a range of subjects and contexts – applied for a pack of trees from the Woodland Trust to be used around the Academy. They were given a pack of 105 wild wood trees including Rowan and Holly.

Pupils from Year 2 and 3 planted trees in the afternoon of Thursday 20th March with Academy Personalised Learning Co-ordinator Philip Hall.

A specimen tree was donated by Gardentime and planted in the ceremony in what will be a Forest School area when the new build is completed.

At the ceremony were representatives of the Woodland Trust, who had provided the tree saplings that would be planted during the day and Dartmouth Rotary Club, who had paid for all the stakes, protectors and ties that would be needed to ensure the saplings have the best start to their new life in the Academy grounds.

Dartmouth Academy teacher Luke Clement, who helped organise the event along with fellow teacher Emma Heard, said: “As an outdoor learning group we endeavour to provide students with the opportunity to work practically in the great outdoors. In this case the students have been able to contribute towards the landscaping of our fantastic new build at the Academy and I am sure it is something they can all look back on and be proud of for years to come. We are very grateful to the Woodland Trust, Rotary and Gardentime for their invaluable support with this particular project.”

Dartmouth Rotary President Geoff Hicks said: “We are delighted to support the Academy in positive, inspiring initiatives such as this.”

Gardentime’s Chris Varlow said: “The Gardentime team love to support gardening projects in the local area whenever it can, especially activities with schools. We like Dartmouth Academy’s ‘hands-on’ approach to teaching the children how to grow plants and developing their interest in gardening. Being involved with the tree planting at the school is a pleasure and will hopefully enhance the learning environment, growing from strength to strength with the Academy.”

Dartmouth Academy’s Principal Nick Hindmarsh said: “We are delighted by the way this initiative has been made possible through the support of not only the Woodland Trust – who have been incredibly generous in donating the trees to us – but also Rotary and Gardentime. We are grateful to all of them and pleased to be using these trees to increase our student’s awareness of the natural world and how they can interact with it.”

Dartmouth pulls together to attract more Cruise ship visits

The new Cruise ship group: (Back L-R) Deputy Mayor Rob Lyon, Dartmouth BID Chairman Paul Reach, town councilor Richard Cook and Harbour Master Capt Rob Giles. (Front – L-R) Dartmouth BID team member Francesca Johnson, Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre’s Sue Stone, Tricia Daniels and Dartmouth TIC manager Lesley Turner.

A group of Dartmouth organisations are pledging to work together to attract more cruise ships.

And the group is looking to make the most of the visits of ships so that businesses in the town benefit from each vessel that pulls in to harbour.

Representatives of the town’s BID, Dart Harbour, Dartmouth Town Council, Tourist Information Centre and advisor Tricia Daniels met to discuss strategies to attract more ships to town and how to make those ships’ passengers feel welcome in Dartmouth.

The group will be putting together a plan to bring more ships to the harbour and will be making a presentation about their progress at the TIC Springboard event in Dartmouth Market Square in the evening of Monday April 28. The presentation will outline the ways businesses can benefit from the visits.

Cruise ship trade is increasing worldwide and figures show visiting passengers spend on average between £80 and £100 in each port. The group hopes that the town can make passengers feel welcome and is looking for support from businesses to help achieve this.

Another aim of the group is to build interest in the town about visits from ships. The next visit to Dartmouth is on Friday May 30 from the vessel Serenissima – and the group hopes to inspire the town to greet the vessel when it sails into harbour at 7am.

Tricia Daniels said: “The meeting was very positive and bodes well for us. We are working towards a future that will see many more cruise ship visits to Dart Harbour. It is brilliant to see all of these organisations committed to working together for the good of the town. We will continue to explore how we can work as a town to attract cruise ships to Dartmouth.”

Dart Harbour Master Capt Rob Giles said; “I’m delighted by the meeting and how positive it was – we all have a common goal of attracting more cruise ships to Dartmouth and we are all determined to achieve that together.”

Francesca Johnson of the BID said: “The timing of this project is ideal because we can build this into the more comprehensive  “Brand Dartmouth” marketing strategy that is already being developed by the BID supported by our design agents Chaos of Guildford. This represents yet another example of how local organisations in Dartmouth can achieve so much more by working together as a team.”

TIC Managers Lesley Turner and Sue Stone said: “We wish to thank Tricia Daniels for her enthusiasm and persistence in bringing this group together. We are delighted to be working together to help increase the local economy and to provide a memorable visitor experience for visiting cruise ships.”

Please contact Lesley Turner or Sue Stone at the TIC 01803 834959 for further information on the Dartmouth Springboard event.

 

 

Biggest Academy fashion show yet sees Ruby victorious

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Dartmouth Academy’s annual fashion show was the biggest ever and helped bring in funds for Dartmouth Caring.

The event, on March 28, featured 50 students showing off inventive and colourful clothes they had created for exam coursework watched by family and friends. The number of students taking part was a record for the event, which has now been running for four years.

The students’ outfits were judged by Dartmouth Caring’s administrator Alison Stocks, Academy Principal Nick Hindmarsh, Jane Williams, the previous owner of Juste Moi and Kate Baker, who has worked as a fashion buyer for several different companies.

After an inspiring display of different styles and textile techniques, the judges chose Ruby Webster from Year 10 as the winner. Ruby had created an incredible wedding dress in the style of Dicken’s character Miss Haversham. She made dress, bouquet, veil, tiara, and even dyed and embellished her shoes! Second place went to Year 10 student Tyler French who modeled his own outfit consisting of a very creative 3D sculpted skirt made from withy and a waistcoat with tails. Highly commended were Jemima Page, Nell Perrott- Pitcher and Kayleigh Lees.

Special Prizes for Years 7-9 were also awarded: first was Lucy Bailey, second Maddie Webb and three highly commended students were Kieran Skinner, Georgie Hammoudeh-Webb and Lauren Webster.

During the evening there was a prize draw to bring in funds for Dartmouth Caring, who look out for the vulnerable in the Dartmouth community and work closely with Dartmouth Academy throughout the year on a number of events and projects. All ticket proceeds from the evening went to the Academy.

Dartmouth Academy Textiles teacher Anne Marie Rowden, who organised the show, said: “It was a wonderful event and we are so pleased to be supporting Dartmouth Caring again. There was a huge amount of creative talent on the catwalk; outfits seem to get more and more creative every year. As always I was extremely pleased with all of the students who took part – they really did the Academy proud! Each year the show gets bigger and better and we are already looking forward to next year!”

Dee Nutt of Dartmouth Caring said: “We are very happy to support the students and work with the Academy again on this super event. The judges had some very difficult decisions to make with such a variety of outfits and designs. The standard of work was very high and the event itself gets better every year.”

Dartmouth Academy Principal and event judge Nick Hindmarsh said: “It was a wonderful event and I was incredibly impressed by the students whose work was on display. We are delighted to work with Dartmouth Caring and I’m glad the night was such a success. Anne Marie Rowden has done a marvelous job organising such a successful evening and inspiring her students to create such a wonderful array of work. Congratulations all round!”

Dartmouth Academy students proud to support the BID

Academy teacher Nic Perrott, Ella Chivers, Marketing Director for Ribeye, Kate Ryder, co-owner of Café Alf Resco, Paul Reach, BID Chairman and Georgia Atkins, Luke Sharam, Charlotte Hooper and Charlie Parker from Dartmouth Academy at the BID launch.

Dartmouth Academy students helped out at the launch of the town’s BID project this month.

Four students – Head Boy and Girl, Georgia Atkins and Luke Sharam and Sixth Form students Charlotte Hooper and Charlie Parker helped out at the launch event, held in boat builder Ribeye’s new town centre showroom on March 5.

The BID – or Business Improvement District – is funded by Business Rates payers in Dartmouth and is charged with improving the business success of Dartmouth through marketing, business support and other schemes. It will run for five years and has a total budget of £1million.

Charlotte and Charlie were official photographers on the night and Georgia and Luke worked with Café Alf Rescos owner Kate Ryder and manager Leanne Tucker to hand out delicious food to the invited guests.

Nicola Perrott, Director of Learning at the Academy, briefed Charlotte and Charlie on their role as photographers before the event, and she said they did brilliantly.

“Taking the pictures for such a prestigious event is a great challenge for any photographer, but Charlotte and Charlie did brilliantly,” she said. “For all the students this was an experience that will help them as they move on in their lives as it was a professional and important event, and they conducted themselves very well.”

Dartmouth Academy Principal Nick Hindmarsh said: “The Academy is delighted to be supporting the BID which can be a very important scheme for the future of Dartmouth and help create opportunities for our whole community. We are looking forward to working with the BID over the next five years for the good of Dartmouth.”