The Alfred Daily

On today’s Alfred Daily: Many Shaftesbury independent shops reopening today | Shaftesbury choir wants safe singing guidance | Your Ashmore and Fontmell stories are needed | Chef Philippa Davis reviews Semley’s Compton McCrae | Nick Andrew on a fragrant St James shrub | Birds and bees on a sunny June afternoon in East Stour

On today’s Alfred Daily: News on when Shaftesbury’s charity shops will reopen | Motcombe Major completes wheelchair marathon | Future plans for Shaftesbury’s Scrub Hub | Ducks at the Wardour smallholding | Barkley Johnson’s Sunday short story | Blackbirds and a tawny owl at Margaret Marsh

On today’s Alfred Daily: COVID-19 death rate for Shaftesbury area | Shaftesbury Carnival to assist with High Street closure | Motcombe plans coordinated floral colours | Former North Dorset rugby player’s big lockdown weight loss | Civic Society celebrates Shaftesbury’s heroes | Paul Merefield’s pub quiz | Shaftesbury GP says NHS not overreacting with safety measures | Pipistrelle bats in Breach Lane

On today’s Alfred Daily: Shaftesbury public loos reopen but skate park remains shut | Dying trees concern Motcombe councillors | Cedars Castle Hill praised for keeping residents COVID free | Higher Green Farm’s Des Alner on lockdown | Shaftesbury historian Claire Ryley on historic fly tipping | Dorset Council chairman backs Black Lives Matter | Julie Wood on the herbal properties of red clover | The brook on Enmore Green’s The Butts

On today’s Alfred Daily: Shaftesbury High Street pedestrianisation details | Commercial vehicle vandalism in Shaftesbury | New housing development for ‘cramped’ site | Shaftesbury in Bloom need your cash | West Melbury artist exhibition on Hambledon Hill | Motcombe’s scarecrows are out | Kate and Karren chat beyond the garden fence | Poetry from Rich Foreman | Bats and blackbirds on Breach Lane

On today’s Alfred Daily: Concern over increased HGV traffic in Fontmell Magna | Shaftesbury Abbey plans a staged reopening | Art exhibitions to return to Bell Street’s Gallery | Shaftesbury’s first book festival postponed | Alfred’s farming expert on the sheep you see around Shaftesbury | Robert Mullins explains how Shaftesbury expanded after the war | Shaftesbury poet Richard Foreman inspired by Higher Coombe | A chaffinch’s chat on Breach Lane

On today’s Alfred Daily: Motcombe man’s products stocked in Asda nationwide | Shaftesbury’s food parcel project extended | Shaftesbury’s health centre recruiting a ‘social prescriber’ | Shaftesbury FC’s new manager | The history of Shaftesbury’s Swan’s Yard | Wildlife-friendly gardener Dirty Nails on greenfly remedies | The ducks on Ashmore’s pond

On today’s Alfred Daily: Shaftesbury dentist warns of increased charges due to COVID | Why Anthony Streets volunteers with Shaftesbury police| Redrow want to delay payment for Shaftesbury estate | Shaftesbury’s medical centre supports Carers’ Week | Nick Andrew’s featured plant – hypericum | Nature blogger Rosie Langley on green ways to kill weeds | Afternoon birdsong at Donhead St Mary

On today’s Alfred Daily: Shaftesbury’s Truckle Truck returns | Delays to North Dorset’s train services later this month | Arctic explorer Pen Hadow’s Bedchester wildlife discoveries | Where in Shaftesbury? | Two Shaftesbury men appear in national papers | Shaftesbury in Bloom launch crowdfunder | Police seize car in Shaftesbury | Wardour smallholders grasp their nettle problem | North Dorset dialect poetry with John Cluett | The dawn chorus at Ashmore Woods

On today’s Alfred Daily: Dorset Council's Public Health Director on our area's COVID R rating | Shaftesbury councillor considering safety of Guy’s Marsh road | Dorset Police have been overstretched | Shaftesbury author Brigit selected for top writing awards | Semley family raising £100,000 with tractor | Paul Merefield’s pub quiz | Sad news for chicken owner Kate | Shaftesbury’s first socially-distanced garden tour | Karen Cole reviews The Curator by MW Craven | Breach Lane blue tits recorded by N