Farm Radio

	PORTRAITS OF WESSEX
	What do a thatcher, a hurdle maker, a verderer, and a handful of farmers have in common? Apart from all working in agriculture, they've also all sat for Dorset artist Toby Wiggins. His idea of travelling around the counties of Wessex, capturing both the images and the stories of agricultural workers, won him the BP Travel Award for 2006. The resulting pictures and audio were exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery in London back in the summer, and will be on show at the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester next autumn. He told Ali Grant more about his work Contact: www.tobywiggins.co.uk
Future for wood fuels Special
Welcome	David Rees	Dave Blake
John Holman welcomes you to a special feature on the future for wood fuels and the technological developments with regard to both burning and processing.	Dorset has it's own Woodlink officer - he's called David Rees and as Geoff Pagotto found out he's got an ambitious role to make Dorset's woodland vibrant and providers of energy to both body and soul. Contact: www.dorsetaonb.org.uk	Sustainable energy is the mantra and as we've seen wood is going to play it's part in Dorset in a big way. One of the main backers of the sustainable cause isThe Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) - but as Geoff Pagotto hears from Project Officer Dave Blake not all sustainable energy sources make them happy. Contact: www.ccwwdaonb.org.uk
Emily Bullock	Dr. Robin Cotton	Clifford Frost
Want to save energy ? Well Emily Bullock from Dorset Energy Advice centre can land a hand - giving advice that is.... Geoff Pagotto got the low down and discovered she's getting more and more calls about wood fueled boilers Contact: www.padeac.org.uk	Dr Robin Cotton comes from Wood Energy Ltd based in the appropriate village of Oakford in Devon. He's an expert on wood for heating and tells Geoff that he's expecting the UK to catch up quickly on the lead set by Europe. But he wants to hear from anyone with wood for sale. Contact: www.woodenergyltd.co.uk	Clifford Frost from Dunster Wood Fuels had some Polish Made equipment to show off and details of how farmers could get community led schemes with funding from Government to kick start a new income. Website: Contact: www.dunsterwoodfuels.co.uk
Richard Slatem	Alastair McMahon
If you want to make money from waste wood to managed forest Richard Slatem of Fuelwood has the machine for you. But it's not just his arsenal of wood fuel machines that Richard boasts, it's over 25 years in the wood business that makes him the perfect critic of the present new interest in timber for energy. Contact: www.fuelwood.co.uk	The rest of the country will be watching Dorset over the next year or two to see how Alastair McMahon from the Centre for Sustainable Energy and others manage to get the county to realise its huge latent energy source - wood. It's all part of a Government Policy to save the planet and Geoff Pagotto found out what Alastair has planned for the county. Contact: www.cse.org.uk

Christmas Special

Here are two seasonal poems. The first is actually an advert masquerading as a poem but may help you with settling on a present for those awkward folks that have everything that they need and the second is from one of Farm Radio's friends from West Limerick. Happy Christmas from us all at Farm Radio!

Screen Bites

Farm Radio's Ali Grant talks to Gay Pirie-Weir and Fanny Charles about the inspiration and organisation behind Dorset's unique festival of food related films. Episodes of "Savouring Europe", a documentary film series made by Dorset resident Robert Golden will be shown at the venues. Click the TV to see a trailer.
www.screen-bites.co.uk

Dorset Food Week

Enford Farm.
June Warburton of Enford Farm will be leading a farm walk on 23rd October as part of Dorset Food Week. Farm Radio's Ali Grant had a sneak preview." website

Barford Farm Ice Cream.
Chris and Wendy Pope talk to Ali Grant about their promising new venture making and selling ice cream. From cow to cone in an hour! Their ice cream will be on offer during the interval of the Screen Bite showing at Cranborne Village Hall on the 15th October. Contact www.barford-icecream.co.uk"

At the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show, Farm Radio recorded a discussion, chaired by John Burgess, with Owen Cligg of Wessex Grain, Chris Brammal of Bical and farmer Steve Harris about the potential for growing crops for biofuels and biomass and what's in it for the farmer. Contact Bical http://www.bical.net/bical-composites.htm. Wessex Grain's biofuel subsidiary Green Spirit http://www.greenspiritfuels.com/index.htm." Steve Harris has a Farm Shop at Stourhead, contact http://www.stourhead-farm-shop.co.uk/shop/. Please also see Edition 32 of Farm Radio for an item recorded by Geoff Pagotto at the Bath and West Show about the various alternatives for crops for energy http://www.farmradio.org.uk/programs_edition32.html, Edition 21 for Roger Crisp's items about Steve Harris' Farm Shop and Cutting Room http://www.farmradio.org.uk/programs_aug05.html

The enthusiasm for showing animals at the shows is undiminished. John Burgess presents "Showing Off!" a discussion chaired by Celia Messer with four keen exhibitors, Ian Clark, Trish Laws, Julian Newth and his eleven year old son, William. Celia asks why they do it and also gleans a few tricks of the trade!

The weather is always a preoccupation for farmers and with the warnings from the Met Office of a harsh winter to come ringing in her ears, Izzy Odell from the Somerset team has produced this item on the subject and offers a challenge to put your favourite bits of weather lore to the test. As ever, we really do want to hear from you so, if you have any interesting contributions to make about the weather prospects, weather lore, or memories of dramatic weather in the past, please visit the "Contact us" page and leave us a message.

Belgian Channel 1 TV

Roger Crisp encountered a crew from Belgian Channel 1 TV making a programme about Dorset at a Farmers' Market in Sherborne and ended up persuading their presenter Sandra to carry out an interview for Farm Radio.

Athelhampton House Special
As you will probably be aware, Farm Radio is just one of the many and varied projects supported by "Chalk and Cheese", the organisation that manages EU funding form the Leader+ programme in Dorset. In December, the Chalk and Cheese projects had a get together at Athelhampton House to discuss progress and prospects. Farm Radio correspondents Fiona Gerardin and Polly Williams took the opportunity to meet and chat with the representatives of the projects about their ideas and their impact on Dorset's rural way of life.
West Dorset Research	Five Penny Farm	Soundscape
Polly Williams talks to Celia Martin of the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society about the work of the West Dorset Research Centre in Bridport. Contact details : Website www.dorsetmigration.org.uk Email: celia@dorsetmigration.org.uk Phone: 01308 458061	Polly Williams talks to Jyoty Fernandez talks about the farming project that she is involved in at Five Penny Farm, Wooton Fitzpaine. Contact details: 07786 434716	Fiona Gerardin talks to musician John Bullock about his project, "Soundscape" which has set out to celebrate the major collection of traditional Dorset songs put together by the Hammond brothers 100 years ago and Polly Williams talks to Robin Mills, farmer and photographer who is producing the images for this project.
Chalk and Hawks	Wessex Ridgeway Project	Magdalen Project
Polly Williams talks to Jason Fathers about the project "Chalk and Hawks", a conservation, wild life and tourism initiative. Contact details: www.chalkandhawks.org.uk Phone: 01202 461969	Fiona Gerardin talks to Andy Foot of Bookham Farm, Buckland Newton, about the Wessex Ridgeway Project. Contact details via the Chalk and Cheese website - www.chalkandcheese.org	Fiona Gerardin talks to Gyles Morris, director of the Magdalen Project, an education centre set in the middle of an organic farm. Contact details: www.themagdalenproject.org.uk
Rural Skills
Fiona Gerardin talks to Rob Buckley about the Dorset Centre for Rural Skills at Farrington, near Child Okeford. Contact details: www.dorsetruralskills.co.uk Phone: 01747 811099

Special's

Tolpuddle Rally

Long Service

Roger Crisp and John Holman visited Tolpuddle for the annual rally celebrating the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Whatever your political persuasion, the part that this group of Dorset farm workers played in the development of democracy by their determination to establish basic rights for themselves and their fellow-workers should be a source of pride for Dorset people and a timely example of how co-operation can move mountains.

This feature includes interviews with Kevin Crocker of Pampered Pigs, Oliver Trevett, chairman of the Dorset Area Committee of the Rural and Agricultural Workers Trade Group of TGWU, Tony Benn and a few words from Dorset resident Billy Bragg.

Contact Pampered Pigs:www.organic-pork.co.uk.
Phone/fax: 01305 848107, mobile: 07976 277185.

Graham Harvey talks to farm workers Reginald Cheeseman and Gerald Critchill from Winterbourne Stickland, , who both recently received an award for long-service.

Special Feature - "Rooted"	Bovine TB Special!	President of the N.F.U., Tim Bennett
Trilith and Farm Radio present "Rooted", a radio play written by Radio 4 playwright, Tracy Aston, directed by Norman Saunders-White and acted by a cast of Dorset people.	A "Farm Radio" exclusive and in-depth interview with Prof. John Bourne of the Krebs Trials.	Graham Harvey was quick off the mark and visited the newly elected President of the N.F.U., Tim Bennett.

Diet Feeders	New Hope for Beef
The region's biggest dairy event takes place at Shepton Mallet on October 6th and Geoff King has provided us with an exclusive preview from Kingshay's Andrew Butler about their major report on Diet Feeders to be released at this year's show.	A new project to bringing farmer and supermarket closer together has been started in the South West and was announced at the neighbouring county show in Devon. Geoff King reports.