| Our Past Events |
| Sat 7 April – Meet the Authors Waterstones, Dorchester, 11 am onwards Meet Roving Press authors Carol Hunt (The Portland Chronicles), David Macpherson (Defenders of Mai-dun) and Sarah-Jane Forder (Kids’ Dorset). Chat and pick up specially signed copies of these great local books. |
 | 15 March 2011 - Kids' Dorset launch & great publicity Thank you to those who made the launch of Kids' Dorset at the Dorset County Museum - good too see you all, and we hope you enjoyed the party, the book and the free Dorset Cereals goodie bags! Thanks also for the great publicity, with features and reviews in the Dorset Echo, View From and a 5-page feature in the Dorset Magazine. |
13 January – Book Launch, 6–8 pm, Reading Room,
The Street, Milton Abbas |
  |
 | December 2011 – Take a video tour of Portland with Gary Biltcliffe The Light and Energy Channel recently filmed Gary Biltcliffe on a tour of Portland, highlighting the history and special places of this ancient isle. It’s a great way to see and appreciate some of the discoveries Gary makes in his book The Spirit of Portland. |
 | November 2011 – phenomenal book sales Louise Hodgson has become something of a local celebrity after phenomenal sales of her book Secret Places of West Dorset. Over a hundred copies have sold in the first month from Bridport Waterstones alone and Manager Jan Jaggard is delighted: ‘We’ve never had such a positive response to a new book, let alone a local title. It’s really captured the imagination of local people and has become a Bridport phenomenon.’ It’s all the more exciting for Louise as this is her first book. She has lived in West Dorset for 10 years and, despite much travelling around the globe, has always been drawn back to the area: ‘West Dorset has such exquisite landscape and diversity. Many people seem to share this view and have a strong feeling for this part of England. It’s hugely gratifying that people have found the book so accessible and enjoyed exploring and making new discoveries with me.’ Pictured: Louise (Right) with Mayor & Mayoress of Bridport. |
 | November 2011 – Carol chosen for the Bridport Big Read Enchantment of the Black Dog has been chosen as the Bridport Big Read for 2011. Local children will be reading and discussing the story, with Carol giving talks and involved in activities as part of a week-long reading event. |
 | 21 Nov – Dorset's Big Cats Fantastic to have over 400 people attend Merrily's presentation on Dorset big cats at the recent Richard Cain Community Lecture at Thomas Hardye School. Merrily's database of sightings has grown considerably since the launch of her book Roaring Dorset! There were a significant number in the audience who had seen a large cat in Dorset and contributed to the lively debate. The lecture raised over £300 for charity. Merrily is the author of two books on Big Cats. |  |
| Sep 2011 - Best Sellers at Imagine Books Four of our authors are among the six top-selling books in Imagine Bookshop, Weymouth, over their first six months. Top of the list is Carol Hunt with Books 1 and 2 of The Portland Chronicles series (The Portland Sea Dragon and Enchantment of the Black Dog). Gary Biltcliffe is No. 4 with The Spirit of Portland and David Macpherson is No. 5 with Defenders of Mai-dun. All are debut authors, which is really encouraging and inspiring. |
30 Jul 2011 - Dorset Voices Please remember this is NOT a competition and there is no prize money. Instead it offers local writers and photographers a unique opportunity to see their work in print in a quality anthology due to be published in early 2012. And, as promised, everyone who made a submission will receive a copy of he completed book, whether they are included in it or not. Poundbury Voices (the Editorial Team) is now selecting the final content from all the submissions received. We will contact successful contributors as early as possible. CLICK HERE for more information from the editorial team, Poundbury Voices. For an article/interview by the Dorset Echo, please click on the following link: Give Dorset a Voice |
| 5 Dec 2010 – ‘Enchantment of the Black Dog’ Book
Launch at White Stones Cafe Gallery |
  |
    |
   |
2-4 Dec – ‘Discover Old Swanage’ Book Launch |  |
| 13 Oct 2010 - Dorset Big Cat Talk to the Wessex Research Group (WRG) Merrily Harpur gave a talk on Dorset Big Cat sightings to the Wessex Research Group, at Upwey & Broadwey Memorial Hall. Another good turn out for this often derided topic! |
| 24 Jul 2010 - Book Signing, WH Smith Weymouth Thank you to Simon and Josh for arranging the signing, and to all who stopped to chat with Gary and Carol - they were expecting to be there for an hour, but were kept busy for over 4 hours! A number of people had heard Gary on Radio Solent's Harry Crawford Dorset Brunch Podcast show that morning, so it was great that they came down to meet him and get a signed copy of his book. The stand looked great with a fantastic mermaid collage made by kids from Portland at the Grove Festival. |
 |  |  |
| 24 Jul 2010 - Gary interviewed by Harry Crawford for Dorset Big Brunch on Radio Solent Click the following link to hear extracts from Gary's talk with Harry Crawford: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bdb. |
| 22 Jul 2010 - Radio Solent talks to Carol Hunt Many thanks to Katie for the live interview with Carol. A lively chat about Portland and Carol's book. Radio Solent DJ Harry Crawford also chatted to Carol about her inspiration for writing The Portland Chronicles. He wondered if the Portland Sea Dragon was Dorset's answer to the Loch Ness Monster! Carol is about 10mins in from the start of the programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_solent/ |
| 10 Jul 2010 - The Grove Festival, Portland Carol had a great day at the Festival, talking about her book with the kids and helping to produce the very colourful collage. |
29 May 2010 - Launch of Sixpenny Handley - The Story of Our Parish Rosalie Adams of Sixpenny Handley put in many hours, working closely with Julie to produce a book the villagers can be proud of. She said: ‘We sold over 120 copies at the launch at the Street Fayre. People are saying what good quality the book is – I think that has really surprised them as they thought we were just going to come up with something thin and paper and didn’t realise it would be a proper book. I’m sure most people who haven’t worked on a book can’t possibly appreciate how much work it is, and I certainly had no idea, but it was great to bring it to completion. We couldn’t have done it without you.’ |  |  |
| 15 May 2010 - Pennsylvania Castle Fair, Portland Thank you to all who dropped by the stand - a great day, brilliant weather and fantastic cream teas! |  |
2 May 2010 - Dragon & Sheep at The Portland Museum On
2 May the Portland Museum was overrun by sheep and goats. As part of a
book signing event, Su from Fancy’s Farm brought along the animals for
children to pet and lead around the garden. Carol, author of The Portland Sea Dragon,
mentions Portland sheep in her book and joked she’d been upstaged!
Unusually they can breed all year round, but as they only produce one
lamb/year they are not economically viable as a modern sheep breed,
which is why they’re on the ‘at risk’ register of the Rare Breeds
Survival Trust. DNA testing of some sheep bone and horn discovered at an
archaeological dig opposite Royal Manor School has shown that Portland
sheep have been on the island since at least Romano-British times. |
  |
| For more information about the breed visit: http://portlandsheep.org.uk/ http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/4887263.Portland_sheep_on_BBC_s_Countryfile/ Look up Portland sheep on Facebook or visit Fancy’s Farm, Reap Lane, Southwell, open every Sunday. |
| Apr 2010 - Words Etcetera, Dorchester Here’s Carol outside Words Etcetera, our local, independent bookshop in Dorchester, featuring a window display on The Portland Sea Dragon. |
| 21 March 2010 - Launch of The Portland Sea Dragon Many thanks to everyone who came to the launch and especially all the kids who dressed up (Dragons, Mermaids, Smugglers and Pirates) and submitted their own stories and drawings. Author Carol and illustrator Domini were really impressed. Keep an eye on The Portland Sea Dragon page. Also, look out for follow-up articles and photos in the Dorset Echo and the Marshwood Vale. Huge thanks to White Stones Cafe Gallery for being such great hosts, and putting up with the queue out of the door! |
 |
| Feb 2010 The Dorset Echo describes the latest evidence for big cats, with a great sighting near Bockhampton: Dorset Echo article The Western Gazette reports that local photographer Alan McNamee is still trying to get a big cat photo, 6 years after he came face to face with a big black cat (as recorded in Roaring Dorset!): Western Gazette article |
July 09 - Launch of The Spirit of Portland Launched privately at All Saints Church, Easton, then publicly at the Portland Steam Fair and the Gooseberry Fair on successive Saturdays, Gary was thrilled by the response to his new book. The photo below shows Gary discussing the unique zodiac ceiling and heavenly twins altar window in All Saints Church. The stand photo also shows Jonathan McGowan who displayed his big cat info and received some exciting new reports of sightings. |
   |
| 13 Jun - Lesser Known Swanage Book Launch Many thanks to Jill Blanchard at the New & Secondhand Bookshop in Swanage for hosting the launch of Lesser Known Swanage. There was a great response from the public on a very sunny Saturday morning, and Julie was delighted with all the positive feedback she received. |
26 May - Prelims to Postlims |
| 25 Feb 09 - Big Cats Roaming Dorset Merrily Harpur, author of Roaring Dorset! Encounters with Big Cats and Mystery Big Cats, gave a fascinating talk to a packed house of over 60 people at the Weymouth Library - with some turned away due to the Fire regulations! The talk featured many of the 223 big cat sightings taken from Roaring Dorset!, and Merrily also intrigued the crowd with her more esoteric theories about the often 'unusual' circumstances people regularly quote but can't explain. If you would like Merrily to give a talk, please contact us. |  |
4 Oct 08 - Bournemouth Literary Festival As part of the 'world culture' theme of the 2008 Bournemouth Literary Festival, Julie gave a 1-hour talk at The Print Room, Richmond Hill, Bournemouth. She discussed her experiences living in the USA as captured in the book A Slice of Apple Pie. |  |
| 6 Sep 08 - Dorset County Show Despite the rather interesting conditions, an estimated 200 people stopped to chat with author Merrily Harpur at the launch of Roaring Dorset! Encounters with Big Cats, at the Dorset County Show. An amazing 41 previously unreported local big cat sightings were provided - the 223 in the book obviously helped show people they were not alone in what they had seen. Many thanks to Jonathan McGowan for helping us out with his extensive knowledge and experience of big cat field work. If you didn't manage to get a signed copy of Roaring Dorset! please get in touch with us. |
 |  |
| 30 Aug 08 BBC Radio Solent presenter David Allen had a 20-minute talk with Julie about her book A Slice of Apple Pie ... and her experiences in the USA. |  |  |
| 26 Aug 08 - Hope FM presenter Janet Latham chatted live to Julie about her cultural experiences in America. |
|
Oct 08 - British Defence Staff Endorsement. We were delighted to hear that the Defence Staff at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. are recommending A Slice of Apple Pie ... to new Ministry of Defence personnel (military & civilian) posted to the USA. There are approx 700 MoD personnel stationed in the USA at any one time. |