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Dorsetgal & GeoDog

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Keyfacts on Education in Dorset

 

 

* Pupils educated in Dorset have sustained continuous improvements in academic achievement over recent years. Provisional 2005/6 GCSE results show 62% of Dorset's 16 year olds passed five or more with grades of A* to C. Nationally this figures was 58% (dfes).

* 26% of adults in Dorset have no academic qualifications. (2001 Census).

* Funding per pupil (ages 3-19) in Dorset for 2005/06 is £3,760 (provisional). The national average is £4,250. (dfes)

* In 2005, there were 6,600 free part-time early education places taken up by 3 and 4 year olds in maintained, private, voluntary and independent providers. (dfes).

* In 2006, 5-14 year olds made up 11.3% of the DCC Dorset population, but projections suggest this will fall to 9.3% by 2026 (ONS).

* Dorset County Council spends around 60% (£320million) of its budget on Children's Services (2007/08).

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The English county of Dorset, like other counties, has no official flag, but there are two unofficial flags that are in circulation. The first, a modern design with a cross design in unique colours, is dedicated to St. Wite. The other is a commercially available armorial banner of the arms of Dorset County Council. Recently, John Peake, the Chairman of Dorset County Council, asked for the Dorset public to submit their ideas for a Dorset flag following the growing success of the campaign for St Wite's Flag!

 

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Dorset is a county with strong seafaring connections. Over the ages it has produced more than its share of sea going families. In the Parish church of St. Mary at Netherbury there is a plaque in memory of one such family on which is inscribed

 

"to the glory of God and in memory of three gallant Dorset sailors, sons of Samuel Hood, Purser, R.N., of Kingsland, Netherbury, and Ann his wife. Lieutenant Arthur Hood R. N. (1755 - 1775) drowned while serving in the West Indies on board HMS Pomona. Captain Alexander Hood R.N. (1758-1798) killed in the hour of victory while commanding HMS Mars in her famous duel with the French ship 'Hercule'. And Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, Bart., KB., KSI., sometime M.P. for Bridport, who served his country with great distinction under Lord Nelson at Santa Cruz in 1797, and in command of HMS Zealous at the Battle of the Nile as well as at Rochefort 1806 where he lost his right arm. Born at Kingsland 27 Nov 1762. Died at Madras while Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, 24 Dec 1814."

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The English landscape painter "John Constable" used to stay at Osmington, a small village on the eastern side of Weymouth. He was a regular visitor over a number of years being a good friend of the Rector. He also married Mary Bicknell from Osmington and spent his honeymoon there in 1816. John Constable painted many famous paintings during his visits to the area including "Bowleaze Cove" (can be viewed at the National Gallery), "Portland Bill" and "Osmington Village".

 

Osmington has a white horse cut into the hillside nearby. This horse is unique in carrying a rider....King George III, the horse is elegant and large 280' long and 323' high.

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A little known fact, yet indisputable, is that several centuries ago, while most of Europe was struggling to minimize their waistlines by employing the CORSET, the men of Dorset, realizing that the women of Dorset were undeniably amongst the most attractive in the known world, sought to disguise their ladies' dazzling beauty in effort to dissuade pirates of the day from absconding with their ever-so-lovely female companions... thus they invented and employed the DORSET: an inflatable beauty de-hancer. Not long after, during a famine in Japan, in an almost futile attempt to stave off the demise of the ever-popular Sumo (secondary to emaciation,) an incredibly savvy businessman from Dorset had the genius to convert the DORSET into the now-popular inflatable Sumo wrestler costume, thus saving Sumo Wrestling from sure disaster. Today, the dazzling beauty of the ladies of Dorset is available for the world's viewing pleasure, and kids worldwide can enjoy their chance at "the big time".

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and now, an extremely rare photo of both the original DORSET along with its progeny:

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see, ya' hang 'round these forums and there's no tellin' whatcha' might learn.

TFTCT

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england-corfe-castle.jpg

 

Corfe Castle ruins lie in Dorset's rolling, rural Purbeck Hills, just beside the charming little village of Corfe and not far from the start of the 630 mile [1014 kms] South Coast Path, Studland Nature Reserve, superb beaches at Sandbanks [a nudist beach] and Swanage town.

 

 

Do ya think there's a pot o' gold at the end?

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england-corfe-castle.jpg

 

Corfe Castle ruins lie in Dorset's rolling, rural Purbeck Hills, just beside the charming little village of Corfe and not far from the start of the 630 mile [1014 kms] South Coast Path, Studland Nature Reserve, superb beaches at Sandbanks [a nudist beach] and Swanage town.

 

 

Do ya think there's a pot o' gold at the end?

 

WOW! This photo is like a painting!!! I would love to visit this castle!!!

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Dorset has a flourishing arts and cultural scene with over five hundred venues, galleries, museums, libraries and craft centres including the largest open studios event in the UK and a thriving village hall arts network. There are thousands of artists, writers, performers and creative industries living in Dorset.

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Time for me to be heading "up the wooden hill" too......but have been reading up on a little bit of Dorset folklore (love anything to do with myths and magic)

 

So folks, did you know that.........

 

A mischievous goblin colt with flaming red eyes called the "Colepexy", is said to roam the Dorset Downs. He enjoys nothing more than to mislead domesticated horses and travellers, but his favourite prank is luring unsuspecting people to ride him, and once mounted he takes them on a wild ride across the wettest and thorniest country before eventually throwing them into a ditch or stream.

 

Dorset people often call Belemnites, (the bullet shaped fossils found along the beach), "Colepexies Fingers"... and fossil sea urchins (echini), "Colepexies-Heads".

 

So next time you're in the lovely Dorset countryside, watch out for the Colepexy!

 

Thanks to Dorsetgal & GeoDog really enjoyed this cointest. :blink:

 

PS...love that picture of "Corfe Castle" in the previous post........just how magical looking is that!

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Dorset is famous for its local foods and products – cream teas, cider, Dorset apple cake and excellent meats and cheeses. Explore delicious Dorset and you will also be supporting local farmers, producers and the economy.

 

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Dorset apple traybake

 

Ingredients 450g cooking apples (such as Bramley)

juice of ½ lemon

225g butter , softened

280g golden caster sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

350g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

demerara sugar , to sprinkle

 

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line a rectangular baking tin (approx 27cm x 20cm) with parchment paper. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples then squeeze the lemon juice over. Set to one side.

Place the butter, caster sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder into a large bowl and mix well until smooth. Spread half the mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange half the apples over the top of the mixture, then repeat the layers. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar. 3 Bake for 45-50 mins until golden and springy to the touch. Leave to cool for 10 mins, then turn out of tin and remove paper. Cut into bars or squares.

 

Per serving285 kcalories, protein 4g, carbohydrate 39g, fat 13 g, saturated fat 8g, fibre 1g, salt 0,66 g

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The north of Dorset is dominated by a plain, known as the Blackmore Vale. As in Hardy's day its chief agricultural pursuit is dairying, which has preserved a landscape on intimate scale - often tiny fields defined by ancient hedgerows and winding lanes. There has been no great pressure here for the removal of hedges and hedgerow trees which has been so damaging in other parts of the country. In summer this is a lush pastoral landscape and the visitor can spend days wandering in the maze of small roads, footpaths and bridleways.

 

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This will be my last entry to the cointest, there is not another half an hour left for anotherone :lol:

 

Thx for the cointest, you are a very gerous soul and made my day more fun and interesting :blink:

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Looks like I was half an hour early :lol::blink:

 

Three main groups of (largely Norman) immigrants into Dorset can be distinguished, on the evidence of the 1525 lay subsidy rolls. There were those who were seafarers, or were engaged in business concerned with the sea, and stayed in or close to the ports through which they had probably entered. Secondly, there were those who settled in the farming country that lay immediately behind the coastal hills, on a line roughly from Bridport in the West to Wareham in the East, and were employed in agriculture (for the most part, in dairying). Thirdly, there was a numerous group who penetrated to the inland towns and engaged in trade there, sometimes in the employ of their fellow-countrymen. Apart from these three groups, a surprisingly large number of individual immigrants were scattered widely throughout the county, as personal servants to the gentry. But in many sizeable places well inland, and even on the coast, aliens were scarcely to be found.

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I am sorry, I am always messing up the timezones :blink:

 

2 more to go :lol:

 

Here the first :)

 

Dorchester is the county town of Dorset and the seat of local government, housing the offices of both the Dorset County Council and the West Dorset District Council.

 

The town was founded by the Romans, who named the site Durnovaria shortly after capturing the Iron age hill-fort of Maiden Castle in 43 AD. Today Dorchester is essentially a Georgian town, many of its old buildings having been destroyed by a series of fires in the late seventeeth and eighteenth centuries.

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Dorset (or archaically, Dorsetshire), is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, situated in the south of the county at 50°43′00″N, 02°26′00″W. Between its extreme points Dorset measures 80 kilometres (50 mi) from east to west and 64 km (40 mi) north to south, and has an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi). Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. Around half of Dorset's population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density. Dorset's motto is 'Who's Afear'd'.

 

 

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Origins of the name "Dorset"!

 

From late 9th century Dornsætum, meaning Settlers of (or around) Dorn, where Dorn was the most significant part of the the early name of Dorchester, the county town. The -set suffix comes from the Old English word sæt, meaning settlers.

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Dorset's Victoria Cross Connections

 

The Victoria Cross was Instituted by Queen Victoria in 1856 and is Britain's supreme honour for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

Amongst the Dorset recipients there are several notable firsts. The first posthumous, the first to an airman, the first and only naval medical officer, the first won inside the United Kingdom and the first posthumously to a living individual

Philip Salkeld [1830-1857]

William George Hawtry Bankes [1835-1858]

Arthur Frederick Pickard [1841-1890]

Thomas Pride [1835-1893]

Raymond Harvey Lodge Joseph de Montmorency [1867-1900]

William Job Maillard [1863-1903]

Charles George Baker [1830-1906]

Aylmer Spicer Cameron [1833-1909]

William Barnard Rhodes Moorhouse [1887-1915]

Sydney Ware [1892-1916]

Julian Royds Gribble [1897-1918]

Arthur Mayo [1840-1920]

Reginald Clare Hart [1848-1931]

Gerard Broadmead Roope [1905-1940]

Jack Foreman Mantle [1917-1940]

John Hollington Grayburn [1918-1944]

Lionel Ernest Queripel [1920-1944]

Ernest Herbert Pitcher [1888-1946]

Frederick Barter [1891-1953]

Henry James Knight [1878-1955]

Frederick McNess [1892-1958]

Alfred Oliver Pollard [1893-1960]

Jack Thomas Counter [1898-1970]

Joseph John Davies [1889-1976]

James Welch [1889-1978]

Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley [1893-1986]

Eric Charles Dorset's Victoria Cross Connections

Edited by North Fork Seekers
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Dorchester was the birthplace in 1575 of Reverend John White. Though he never crossed the Atlantic, it was his efforts and energy in Dorset that formed the Massachusetts Company and led to the founding of Dorchester in New England. He had gathered the pioneering party of 150 colonists who would sail from Plymouth in the Mary and John in 1630. White's house stood behind St Peter's church, in the middle of the town on the north side of High West Street. He is buried in the church porch and has a fitting inscription:

 

"In this porch lies the body of the Revd. John White M.A. of New College, Oxford. He was born at Christmas 1575. For about forty years he was rector of this parish and also of Holy Trinity, Dorchester. He died here 21st July 1648. A man of great godliness, good scholarship and wonder- full ability and kindness he had a very strong sway in this town. He greatly set forward the emigration to the Massachusetts Bay Colony where his name lives in un-fading remembrance."

 

:blink:

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Dorset in the movies

Dorset's countryside, coast and picturesque villages have made it the ideal backdrop for movie directors over the years. Here's a few of the big screen hits in which you can spot some familiar locations.

 

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Mapperton Gardens

Mapperton Gardens was the perfect setting for the period dramas including Jane Austen's Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow in 1996. The house was also used in the BBC TV adaptation of Tom Jones.

 

It is set in a valley among tumbling hills and unspoilt countryside in West Dorset. The house, Elizabethan in origin, was enlarged in the late 1670s and is currently home to the Earl and Countess of Sandwich.

 

'Wilde' beaches

Stephen Fry starred as the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde in the 1997 bio-pic Wilde.

 

Scenes were shot around Swanage Pier, Lulworth & Studland Beaches and the spacious grounds of the 18th Century Houghton Lodge in Stockbridge in Hampshire.

 

 

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Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis was the Undercliff in the John Fowles romantic novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman.

 

The 1981 film starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons made the Cobb (sea wall) at Lyme Regis world famous as the location of one of the most memorable moments in cinema history.

 

Jim Henson Productions' lavish production of Gulliver's Travels starring Omar Sharif, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen made use of the picturesque Jurassic coastline.

 

The Dam Busters

Two of the most famous films of the war years were shot around Weymouth and Portland. 1954's The Dam Busters features scenes around the Fleet where the revolutionary bombs were tested.

 

Noel Coward, John Mills, and Richard Attenborough starred in the wartime drama In Which We Serve in 1942 with scenes filmed around Portland.

 

On the TV

There have been plenty of television crews in Dorset over the years.

 

In April 2008, several members of the EastEnders' cast, including Barbara Windsor, spent five days shooting scenes in Weymouth, to be shown in July 2008.

 

The short-lived BBC TV series Harbour Lights starring Nick Berry as a harbour master was filmed in and around West Bay in 1998/9.

 

Gold Hill in Shaftesbury is known the world over as 'Hovis Hill' after being the location for 'that' bread advert more than two decades ago.

 

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's popular River Cottage series on Channel 4 have shown off the best of the county's countryside and farming traditions.

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I know that I am a little early with this post, but time was ending and I found the best info (for me), for the importance of Dorset in WWII!

 

I will not write a post! I hope this is on withthe game! I will post the address of the site, so you all can read!

 

Please check all links! See the photos too! This is history my friends!

 

http://www.keepmilitarymuseum.org/homefront/index.php?

 

I hope this address works!

 

Thank you! :blink:

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I used this number generator giving the parameters of between 2 and 88, ironically, the first number chosen at random was my own post saying there was a couple of hours to go! :blink:

 

So, on the second attempt it turned up number 50.

 

Congratulations to Acadiahiker, please send me your address details and I will get the coin into the post to you on Tuesday (tomorrow is a holiday in the UK).

 

Thanks everyone for taking part it has been an interesting cointest for me, and I hope you all learned a little something about my corner of the world. :lol:

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Congratulations to the winner!!!!

 

Thank you for the cointest!!! I really learned a lot about dorset!

In my last post, I gave the site of the War museum in Dorset! Wow!!! So great info that is uknown to a lot of people!!!

 

And I learned that there are fossils In Dorset!!! :blink:

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