I WASN’T one of the fortunate ones to have a ticket to the recent sell out Artsreach event by Time Travelling Magicians, Morgan and West, but I’m told that the large audience, young and old, were mystified, riveted, amazed and intrigued by the magic tricks and precognitive powers that the two magicians produced. A memorable, lively and fun evening was enjoyed by all.

Looking forward to the next couple of Artsreach events at Portesham village hall; on Saturday, 25 February at 8pm The Heartstring Quartet will be performing on guitar, harp and fiddle combined with superb vocals promising a great evening of Irish music.

Tickets, costing £12 for adults, £8 for under 18’s and £32 for families, will be available at Tuesday village cafes on the7th, 14th and 21st February, or from Gill Brignell on 01305 871925 or at gillbrignell@aol.co.uk.

The following Sunday, 4 March will see Kokoro, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra new music Ensemble and other musicians from across West Dorset perform at a concert in the village hall as part of their “Chalk Legends” trailblazing event for the Olympic and Paralympic games.

Tickets will be £5 for adults and £2.50 for under 18’s and available from Gill as above and at village cafes on 14th, 21st and 28th February. The concert starts at 7.30pm.

THE village hall was again bustling for the Living Churchyard village cafe recently. The Chesil scouts were kept very busy serving bacon butties, cakes and pasties and more tables had to be set up so everyone could sit down and enjoy the food and the atmosphere.

There was a quiz, clock tombola and a raffle and the amazing sum of £525 was raised which included a very generous donation from Alan Old of Olds garage in Portesham. Well done to everyone involved.

I’M ALSO told the Lunch club spent a very pleasant couple of hours last Monday at their monthly event where a toast to Her Majesty the Queen was given on the anniversary of her accession some 60 years ago.

A REMINDER of the upcoming Lent safari lunches taking place throughout the Benefice, together with members of the Methodist church.

The sessions will take place on five consecutive Mondays at 12 noon beginning at Weymouth Bay Methodist church on Monday, 27 February, followed the next week by St Peter’s at Langton Herring, St Peter’s Portesham, Methodist church Portesham and finally at St Nicholas’ Abbotsbury on Monday, 26 March.

Soup and bread rolls will be served and sessions will be finished by 2.30pm.

CONTINUING the lunch theme the next community lunch at Portesham school will be on Friday, 16 March at 1pm. The menu will be Ocean Pie – chunks of salmon, cod and smoked haddock with boiled eggs in a creamy sauce topped with mashed potato and served with seasonal vegetables. Dessert of Dorset Apple cake served warm with cream will follow. Please send your orders to the school, with payment, by Friday, 9 March.