West Dorset

But, um, so yeah, kids will be going back to school and whatever, but there are a load of kids that will not be going back to school.

And these are some kids that, um, if you've seen about it, there's a private school in Dorset.

Is it in

Lowestoft?

no Lowestoft what an odd place I went to Lowestoft once upon a

time where did I think it was at

yeah anyway yeah Lowestoft isn't like Norfolk way and I went to Lowestoft my stepdad used to have like an annual coach holiday through school through work sorry in the school holidays and one of them was to Lowestoft and it was the fucking worst day ever it was awful shit beach shit place no offence to anyone from Lowestoft But yeah, this school's in West Dorset.

So the staff at a 135-year-old private school suddenly closed during half-term and they're not being paid.

It's quite a nice autumnal day at the moment with the sun shining.

But if we just reflect back on our summer of the drought we had, how has that affected soil health? How the farmers mitigate against that? And what have you seen farmers doing throughout West Dorset?

Yeah, okay.

So, obviously, we have had a severe drought throughout the summer, which has really reduced the growth of any crop, really.

Yeah.

There's a lot in the news at the moment about reservoirs and planning needed for going and putting reservoirs, particularly on the salad crops and the potato crops going further east.

But here in West Dorset, we don't really have the need for reservoirs really, do we?

Well, Exactly.

Sarah, who had never before met John and Anne, was chatting with them as they followed me.

Concentrating as I was on choosing the best minor deviations when necessary, I was vaguely aware of Sarah mentioning where in West Dorset she had grown up on a farm.

John replied that he had lived in that area just after the war, and before I knew it they had established that the route John used to take when walking to the church on Sundays involved crossing one field which had a wooden stile with a loose step that caught him out every time.

In a perfectly matter-of-fact tone, Sarah simply declared that this was yonder field, being on the family farm where she had grown up, and that the stile was still catching people out to this day.

So I will ensure that Treasury Ministers are working with other ministerial colleagues to make progress quickly and hopefully we'll have an answer for her soon.

The Prime Minister has said that he wants growth in every postcode, but current devolution plans mean West Dorset risks being left behind as other regions gain devolved powers in investment.

A Wessex mayor could unlock £460 million in additional annual funding and generate as much as £16 billion of additional economic output over the next 30 years.

So my question to the Prime Minister is will he commit to a Mayor of Wessex by 2028?

She got some funding.

Um, and it's basically the rivers of West Dorset, and she's trying to in- get the schools involved, all the local schools, I think seven schools, and, and take them out, let the children engage with the river, understand about the nature in it, and then create things.

They've made just the most amazing caddisfly larvae.

Oh, brilliant.