• One in five parents are more likely to visit the countryside than they were five years ago
• More than 1 in 3 parents (35%) have visited a farm in the past year
• 82% of families from urban areas have visited the countryside in the past 12 months
• Top three locations for family visits are parks, seaside and countryside
• Three quarters of parents surveyed agree it’s important for everyone to know more about how their food is grown and produced

The great outdoors is back in favour for families, with one in five parents (22%) saying they are more likely to visit the countryside than they were five years ago. A new survey of Asda shoppers carried out ahead of LEAF’s Open Farm Sunday, also found that more than eight in ten (82%) parents from urban areas have visited the countryside with their families within the last year.

The results revealed that one of the most popular outdoor locations for family outings or day trips over the past twelve months was the countryside, which 66% of all families have visited – only topped by parks (72%) or the seaside (70%). Other popular destinations were shopping (67%), and museums or galleries (47%).
Visiting a farm is also now more popular with parents than outings to zoos and safari parks, funfairs and carnivals or even theme parks and concerts: more than 1 in 3 parents (35%) have visited a farm in the past year, compared to the 33% who have been on family trips to zoos and safari parks or the 32% who have been to funfairs or carnivals and theme parks. Festivals / concerts (22%) made up the remainder of the top ten.

Backing British farmers clearly matters to Asda shoppers, with 43% saying that it was important to visit farms to support British farmers. Pearce Hughes, Agricultural Manager at Asda, who are supporting Open Farm Sunday on 9th June said: “Our shoppers know how to get value for money and what better family outing is there than one spent on a farm in our beautiful countryside? Britain offers some great days out – from the seaside to national parks and whilst more adventurous days out like theme parks will always be popular with parents, they are clearly taking advantage of all that Britain has to offer. We hope everyone gets to one of the hundreds of farms taking part in Open Farm Sunday next weekend.”

Whilst 51% of parents named the fact it was free as one of the main benefits for a trip to the countryside, the top reason was that it was enjoyable (69%), followed by getting close to nature (65%) and keeping us healthy (54%).

Three quarters (76%) of parents surveyed agreed that it was important for everyone to understand more about how their food is grown and produced, with a similar number (73%) believing the same was true about the British countryside. Next weekend’s Open Farm Sunday offers the chance for everyone to take a trip to the countryside, as hundreds of farms open their gates to the public to discover the story behind their food.

Caroline Drummond, Chief Executive of LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), organisers of Open Farm Sunday said: “It’s great to see so many parents choosing a visit to a farm or the countryside for a family day out and we look forward to welcoming everyone on Open Farm Sunday. Not only will visitors to farms on the 9th June have a fantastic time but it really is an excellent opportunity to discover more about the story behind their food and to support the farmers who produce it and care for our wonderful countryside.

For up to date information ”on Open Farm Sundays, follow @openfarmsunday on Twitter

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns.

Children from a Bournemouth primary school were given a double glimpse into the world of politics.

Within a week pupils from the Elm Academy – LeAF Campus enjoyed a trip to the Houses of Parliament, swiftly followed with a special visit from their local MP.

First up was the tour of Parliament, which saw the children visit both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

During their trip they conducted their own political debate, which culminated in them electing two of their friends as new prime ministers – Cody Kitcher and Zack Preccy.

They were able to use their new-found knowledge of the world of politics to grill Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns when he came to meet them a week later.

Conor answered all their many questions and revealed it was a very similar trip he had made to the Houses of Parliament at the age of seven, which inspired him to become an MP.

He also spoke of his friendship with the late Margaret Thatcher and described how he still feels nervous before making speeches in the House.

Conor Burns MP, said: “I enjoyed my time talking to the young people. Their questions were, as always, perceptive and probing.

“They had clearly had a very enjoyable visit to Westminster and the issues they raised showed a keen understanding of how Parliament works. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there was a future MP in their number!”

Dr Annetta Minard, Executive principal of the Learning and Achievement Federation (LeAF), said: “We were delighted to welcome Conor Burns to Elm Academy and I know the children were fascinated with what it is like to be an MP.”

Helen Janda, Head of Academy, added: “Both Conor’s visit and their trip to the Houses of Parliament gave the children a very valuable insight into politics and how it affects all our lives.

“By showing them about politics now we hope they will be inspired to learn more and engage with the democratic process as they get older.”

Tracey Wood and Frances Miles with 2011 Special Woman Award winner, Natasha Jones
and Venus founder, Tara Howard.

Following the huge success of previous years, Jobshop UK have chosen to sponsor a category in the Langtry Manor Venus Business Women Awards for a fourth year running.

Having seen the positive effect winning the ‘Special Woman Award’ had on their previous winners, Jobshop Directors, Frances Miles and Tracey Wood, felt being part of such a dynamic and inspirational awards process also left a hugely positive impression on themselves, both personally and professionally.

The first winner for the Jobshop UK Special Woman Award was presented in 2010 to Nikila Newman, who set up the Infectious Academy in 2003 in Turlin Moor. Through Street Dance, Nikila aimed to address the needs of local teenagers to do something positive with their time, raising their self-confidence, motivation and self-esteem, as well as bringing the community together.

Particularly notable was 2011 winner, Natasha Jones, who set up her charity, ‘Leaf,’ from her bed while recovering from chemotherapy treatment following leukaemia. Natasha developed Leukemia within 3 weeks of giving birth to her second son and spent 6 months in isolation undergoing four different courses of chemotherapy. Leaf aims to help young people and adults in the Dorset and Hampshire area who are going through treatment or are affected by blood cancers. Since winning the Special Woman Award, Natasha has gone on to raise the profile of her charity enormously, and Leaf not only provides practical support by way of fundraising for equipment for Poole Hospital, assisting at home and providing holidays for sufferers with young families, but Natasha also personally provides emotional support, empathy and encouragement to those suffering from the illness.

The most recent winner of the Jobshop Award is Paula Giles who set up The Part Plan Guru – an online mentoring and coaching website for direct sales. Frances and Tracey felt Paula’s selflessness in putting others before herself and her ability to make people see their own achievements and confidence, made Paula a very worthy winner.

This year, Jobshop have chosen to sponsor the Employer of the Year Award, which as Tracey Wood explained, is an exciting prospect for them.

“Over the last 15 years that Jobshop have been recruiting staff in the Dorset area we have worked with a number of Companies who understand that their greatest asset is their staff. In order to win this award a Company must demonstrate its commitment to being an exceptional employer who values its female and male staff equally. This is the only award that can be won by a male or female boss and is an excellent opportunity for a local business to receive the recognition they deserve.”

To nominate a person or company you feel is worthy of the Jobshop UK Employer of the Year Award, you can go to http://dorset.venusawards.co.uk/nominate/ Nominations close at midnight on March 8th. The Employer of the Year Award will go to a public vote with the winners’ ceremony taking place at Langtry Manor on Wednesday 5th June.

l-r Beth Gunter, 16, elite athlete; Jacquelyn Jenkins, 14, Lulworth, Ciara Marshall, 6, Elm Academy, Leah Cummins, 3, Little Elms Nursery, Kayden Brooks, 4, Little Oakes Nursery, Jack Collier, 10, Elm Academy, Leanne Callender, 12, Oak Academy, Nick Patrick, 18, Elite Athlete.

Elmrise Primary, Oakmead Technology College and the LeAF Studio have officially come together to create the Learning and Achievement Federation.

Highly rated Little Oaks nursery is also a member making the Federation a first of its kind in the area.

On one single campus a child can see through their education from the age of 0 right up to 19.

Executive principle of the Federation, Dr Annetta Minard said: “For the first time in Bournemouth, three fantastic schools have teamed up to create one single place of learning for all age groups.

“As well as being able to share great resources and facilities, the Federation will give children a chance to benefit from the continuity of education all in one place.”

Closer ties between the schools since 2011 have already reaped rewards.

Elmrise Primary School has been removed from special measures and its most recent Ofsted highlighted massive improvements.

The report said there had been “a dramatic improvement in pupils’ attitudes to learning,” and the quality of teaching had significantly improved. The Elm Academy Nursery at the school was also judged as outstanding.

Meanwhile, Oakmead Technology College recorded its best ever GCSE results last year and achieved Dorset’s highest ‘value added’ score in last month’s secondary school league tables.

And this week the college learned it was ranked amongst the top 100 most improving schools in the country.

The third member of the federation, LeAF studio, provides a unique specialist education for 14-19 year olds, and is aimed at helping budding athletes, entrepreneurs and actors to achieve their dreams.

In September it will open its doors to a brand new stage school, attracting the cream of the crop in drama, music, production and design.

For more information about the Learning and Achievement Federation go to www.leaf.bournemouth.sch.uk

Team GB star Zara Dampney (centre) welcomes back Sam Allen (left) and Sam Walrond (right) after they returned from competing in the Brazil School Games.

Sam Allen and Sam Walrond, from Bournemouth’s LeAF elite sporting academy, which is home to the UK’s first and only indoor beach volleyball training centre, have just competed in the School Games in Brazil.

The talented pair, both 16, carried the union flag at the opening ceremony in Cuiaba in front of 4,000 spectators. They took on the best of Brazil and sweated in temperatures of 40 degrees C.

Before they left for Brazil, volleyball star and former Parkstone Grammar student Zara gave the two Sams valuable tips about competing on the international scene.

After welcoming them back home, she said: “They will have learned so much from this experience. The key for them now is training every day and repetition of skills.

“Facilities like this fantastic indoor training centre will make that possible.”

The Brazilian competition started well with the GB boys beating the champions of the Tocantins region two sets to nil. Their next game was against the champions from the Amazonas region and despite showing a lot of fight they lost 2-0.

In the third match the two Sams were pitted against the champions of the Espirito Santo Region, with the winner going through to the round of 16. They started very positively and won the first set. The second set saw a swing in fortunes and the Espirito pairing stared to cut out unforced errors. Sam and Sam eventually lost by a three point margin in that set and lost the game two sets to one.

Sam Allen, from Bere Regis, said: “It was a really great experience, the standard was high and it was really challenging.

“We train every day, which is what we need to do to get to the standard we experienced in Brazil.”

Poole’s Sam Walrond added: “The last game we played was a three-setter and went on for one hour and ten minutes and the temperature was 40 degrees.”

The lads’ coach Vangelis Koutouleas said: “The improvement was huge with the guys.

“But you have to remember that they trained indoors in the cold and played in Brazil outside in the heat.

“We care about results but this trip was important for the future.”

Top Dorset club Remedy Oak hosted ‘The Six’ LEAF Charity Golf Day on Tuesday, attracting more than 50 of the county’s top building and construction business people who helped raise the cash for Wimborne-based Leukaemia Educating And Fundraising (LEAF) through a raffle and auction.

The inaugural golf day was organised by Nationwide Direct (NDUK), Direct Material Supplies (DMS), Wessex Macadams, Ford Civil Engineering, Avon Material Supplies and Commercial Recycling.

Garry Foley, MD of NDUK said: “It was a fantastic day and we are so pleased to have raised £2,500 for LEAF. This was our inaugural ‘Big 6 Golf Day’ and next year we are looking to double the number of guests and money raised.”

Jay Martin, Director of Ford Civil Engineering, added: “The day was a great opportunity to invite some of our most prestigious clients from within the building Industry, raising the profile of Ford Civil Engineering and Wessex Macadams as well as fundraising for an excellent cause.

“We are hoping that days like this will help to strengthen local and reciprocal business relationships’

Lucy Cooper, President of The Poole Chamber of Commerce, who helped to organise the day, said: “I feel strongly that these days are important to help
facilitate and encourage local trading within Dorset, whilst delivering a clear message of support to a local charity.”

Visit www.leafcharity.com for more details.

The Full Choir

On Saturday 19 November male voice choirs from Swindon, Rushmoor, Romsey and Bournemouth will sing as one Festival of Massed Voices performing a diverse range of music from Poulenc to Eric Whitacre to Take That and Queen.

All proceeds will go to local charities Lewis-Manning Hospice, LEAF (Leukaemia Educating and Fundraising) and The Wessex Autistic Society. 

Maria Tidy, Fundraising Manager for Poole-based Lewis-Manning Hospice said: “We’re really grateful that the Festival of Massed Voices selected us as a beneficiary for the second year running. Last year’s event was fantastic and all profits from ticket sales will benefit patients and service users from three great local causes.”
The performance starts at 7.30pm and tickets cost £5. For tickets please call the Lighthouse on 0844 406 8666 or see www.lighthousepoole.co.uk for more details.

“Sometimes in life things, or people, inspire you and you want to get involved, says Lesley. Such a person is Natasha Jones. Calendar Girls is about a group of extraordinary women who have raised millions for leukemia research by appearing in a rather near the knuckle calendar.

Out of a tragedy came something so positive. Natasha handed me a letter at the luncheon, which told me her story and quite simply I wanted to get involved.

Natasha found she had leukaemia just three weeks after giving birth to her second son, Alfie. She was 28 years old. That was five years ago and now that she has been given the all clear she is concentrating even more of her time on Leaf and its campaign to help others with a blood cancer .

I am so very happy to have been asked to be a patron for the charity that Natasha set up, says Lesley. Like the Calendar Girls, she turned her isolating and frightening experience into a force for good. Leaf is about helping people with blood cancer, helping them and their families come to terms with what is happening, being there for them and raising as much money as they can to find a cure for this horrible disease.

Leaf provides holidays for patients and their families as well as practical help at home. They also provide support for local nurses and the Dorset Cancer Center. Concentrating on raising money for Leaf helped Natasha fight the disease and now she is determined to help others and I for one am going to be right behind her.

Natasha is delighted to have Lesley on board.

She has been amazing already, she says. We have been looking for a patron for Leaf for sometime so I was thrilled when I knew Lesley was going to be at the lunch.  I wanted to ask her in a way that was non intrusive so I wrote her a letter which I decorated to hopefully attract her attention. The letter told her of my experience with Leukaemia and what inspired me to start Leaf. At the lunch all of the cast were so friendly I spent some time speaking to Ruth Madoc, who was also in Calendar Girls, and Ruth kindly passed my letter on to Lesley. During the lunch Lesley came over and told me there and then she wanted to get involved.

Since then we’ve spoken on the phone a few times and swapped loads of emails. She has already been talking about Leaf in recent interviews. At the moment Lesley is busy rehearsing a stage version of Birds of a Feather with Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke, but I know she’s looking forward to coming down. It will be wonderful to see her.

The volunteer-run charity has been given a set of stylish graphics for its annual Christmas ball by Wimborne graphics company, The Design Unit.

Natasha Jones (Leaf), Jason Holderness & Michel Laake (The Design Unit), Mark Dicks (Haven Hotel) and Sara Haymes (Leaf)

“We’re delighted with the image and designs created by The Design Unit, they really capture the look and feel we’re going for in this year’s event which is called The Glitter Ball,” says Leaf secretary Sara Haymes.

“It’s the third time we’ve had our Christmas celebration at the Haven Hotel and this year’s theme is Glitter and Glamour – it will be a really sparkling event. The management and staff at the hotel have always been tremendous in their support so we’re really excited about the tickets going on sale this week.”

“The Design Unit are proud to be associated with Leaf and to have the opportunity to help them in the terrific work they do,” says Michel Laake from The Design Unit.

Tickets for the The Glitter Ball on November 26 are available now at www.leafcharity.com; email info@leafcharity.com, or from Sara Haymes on 07736 114495. Priced £55 per person (£605 for a table of 12), The Glitter Ball includes Champagne reception, three course dinner, disco and a surprise performance.