Local artists steal the show (From Dorset Echo)

Local artists steal the show

11:28pm Tuesday 26th October 2010 in Community

LOCAL artist, Naomi Vincent organised a highly successful arts and crafts event in Osmington Village Hall on October 16. Local artists and craft specialists joined together for a one day exhibition and sale of beautiful handmade jewellery, sculpture and woodwork, along with The Hardy Quilters’ splendid display of quilts and garments.

There were a variety of styles of art work, from botanical watercolours by local artist Gavin Russell to big and bold flowers by Naomi Vincent, mystical fantasy art by Mia Bradbury and a great display from The Osmington Art Group. Also on display was some superb photography, ranging from floral studies by Gemma Aiuto to local and world wide landscapes by Mike Reed and Daniel Bold.

As well as providing a spectacular showcase for a wide group of talented local artists, the event raised £140 towards the funds of the Friends of St.Osmund, supporting the maintenance of our parish church.

• FINE weather over Osmington has allowed fantastic progress to be made with clearance of the remaining loose limestone chippings from the White Horse. In readiness for the airlift, the ground contractor, Gregorys, had gathered most of the stone into gleaming white bags lining the lower edges of the monument. Then, on Thursday, October 21, the helicopter from Veritair Aviation started its work ferrying the filled bags across the valley to the storage site at White Horse Farm. A very slick and professional operation worked up to moving a bag every 3 minutes and, by the time the helicopter had to return to its Cardiff base on Friday 22, a total of 173 bags had been handled – some 50% more than originally forecast.

Gregorys will now be loading the remainder of the stone into more bags and, weather permitting, Veritair will be back on Thursday, November 4, for what will hopefully be the final removal before the project moves on to the next stage. For a blow by blow account and pictorial record of all the activities, log on to the project website at www.osmingtonwhitehorse.info.

• AN Extraordinary General Meeting of the Osmington Village Hall registered charity will be held in the Constable Room of the village hall at 7pm on Wednesday, November 17. The sole item of business will be to approve the annual accounts for 2009, which had not been available for presentation at the scheduled AGM in June.

• The Annual General Meeting of the Osmington Society will be held in the Village Hall on Saturday, November 27, starting at 7 pm, where you will be welcomed with a drink and harassed for your year’s membership fee (£5 family, £3 individual). The main business of the meeting will be completed around 7.30 pm and during this time you will be able to voice your opinions and offer your suggestions. There will be an update on the White Horse project, and a fascinating talk on Lawrence of Arabia, one of Dorset’s heroes, from expert Peter Preen of the National Trust. The evening will round off with a fish and chip supper, and there will be a bar. Tickets cost £7, and are available from committee members, by calling (01305) 832247 or 833250, or e-mailing secretary@osmington.info. To allow orders for supper to be finalised, ticket sales will close on November 20.