• The Sutton Poyntz Street Fayre in June was a tremendous success. Organised by Chairman Guy Bridge and a dedicated team of villagers, thousands of visitors made light of the lack of car parking due to the heavy overnight rain and walked quite long distances to enjoy all the fun of the Fayre. Thanks to their support, the event raised nearly £15,000 which was split between no less than twenty charities, the Sutton Poyntz Mission Hall Trust, Fortuneswell Cancer Trust, Preston Pre School, Friends of MV Freedom, Nothe Fort Artillery Volunteers, Julia’s House, Diabetes Education Centre, Cardio-Club, Preston Village Hall, WaterAid, Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, The Lantern, Clic Sargent, Friends of the Samaritans, 2nd Preston Brownies, Friends of Weymouth Refuge, Claire Clements Fund, Coastwatch, Weymouth East Scouts Group and Help For Heroes all of which are local or have local connections. At a recent presentation in a packed Mission Hall, representatives of each charity explained their work before receiving a cheque from Chairman Guy. There is no doubt that the everyone who helped stage the event, and all those who made the effort to attend, can be justly proud that the money raised has gone to such good causes to help so many people. Well done.

• The Sutton Poyntz Village Women’s’ Institute will be holding an ‘Autumn Event’ in the Mission Hall on Saturday 20 October between 1.30pm and 4.30pm. The ladies have been hard at work embroidering an Olympic themed wall hanging which will take pride of place in the Hall. Betty Port, an Olympic Torch Bearer who carried the flame through Burton Bradstock, will be unveiling the wall hanging, which features the view looking landwards from the bay and incorporates a full set of Olympic rings made out of Dorset buttons. Admission is free, and there will be a range of stalls and delicious homemade refreshments

• An update on the Preston 4 bus route indicators. On Sunday, 7 October the indicators were showing a scheduled one hour service – but the buses were running every 40 minutes! I checked this with a bus driver and the First web site both of which confirmed that it was a 40 minute service that day. Some holidaymakers I spoke to at Overcombe Corner, thinking they had 40 minutes to wait, decided to walk to the Haven Caravan Site. Five minutes later the bus arrived, and must have passed them en route! I imagine their comments would not be printable in a family column!