The New Year has brought Weather with a capital W – and we have been luckier here than people on the Levels, who were awash in January. We didn’t escape lightly, though. The spectacular hailstorm that struck on 3 January, with stones the size of gobstoppers (see picture on page 18), did a great deal of damage, and I understand that loss adjusters have been run off their feet. The plastic roof of my conservatory was punched through as if by machine-gun fire, and the boggy area at the bottom of my garden is now a swiftly flowing stream!

This issue of The Dove sees the completion of its first five years. It is unquestionably a joint effort – some forty contributors send in articles or information every month, the distributors do their bit uncomplainingly, and the committee work hard at their various tasks.

The exciting project at Durslade Farm is well under way, and a visit was arranged in September for journalists and those closely involved with the project to look at how the farmhouse has been decorated and refurbished. This is where visiting artists will stay, and to my mind it is stunning – bold and beautiful colour schemes and lots of imaginative touches.

The word ‘Christmas’ when it is mentioned in October can strike dismay as well as delight into the heart of the reader, but prudent societies and organisations have already started planning their festive happenings. The Chamber of Commerce is hoping for a big take-up of the offer of Christmas trees that can fit into the brackets on most premises in Bruton High Street and other streets in the town (see page 17). The trees certainly look wonderfully festive in December with their variously coloured lights twinkling or shining through the gloaming.

It’s good to be back after the summer – an unexpectedly sunny one, in July anyway.

The summer has, however, been marred by the controversy over the proposal to set up a ‘Solar Array’ of photo-voltaic panels at Sheephouse Farm, on the Brewham road. A great deal of anguish was caused, with the vast majority of local residents to whom we spoke being very much against the project. Their reasons were, to summarise: the despoliation of the beautiful Somerset countryside for no material local benefit, but to the detriment of local businesses that depend on attracting visitors; a large acreage (32 acres minimum, the size of the Bruton conservation area) would be covered, with the considerable rise of 44 metres from bottom to top of the sloping site impossible to hide from view.

This double issue is packed with a lot of fascinating information to carry you over the summer. Let’s hope the weather keeps its early June promise and gives us a proper summer for once. The Bruton Abbey project would welcome the continuation of dry conditions for its next dig (page 15).

A big change for the Diocese of Bath & Wells: the Bishop, the Rt Revd Peter Price, is retiring at the end of the month. Everyone in the Diocese is invited to the farewell service for him in Wells Cathedral on 22 June, followed by a picnic (see page 15). Do read his farewell message on page 3, too.
The summer programme of activities really gets going now, with a Community Lunch on 23 June (page 15), a wildlife hunt in Brewham churchyard (page 19), and a new children’s swimming club (page 21) as well as an adults’ golf society (page 17) being set up. The concert of Baroque music originally scheduled for 9 June is postponed to 7 July (page 25), and will be a delightful experience in Sexey’s Hospital’s 17th-century chapel.