Geography Society - Dorset Revisited

Date: Wednesday 26 September 2007

Another evening, another society meeting - and on this occasion the Drawing Room was heaving as all the Sixth Form Geographers, staff, and assorted guests foregathered to remember the Dorset Days of August, investigating the Jurassic Coast.

Four (five?) presentations were offered, with Alex Al Shaikh and Darragh Hodnett reminding us of the stone-measuring exercises on Chesil Beach, and Jack Ransley and Remy Bertlin talking about the conservation of the World Heritage site that is the Jurassic Coast.

After the traditional refreshment break, all enjoyed Graham Sabine's photographic album of the week - not least the shots of Beaminster town centre and its 'nightlife' - which led onto Matthew Attwood recollecting the Prince Charles experiment that is Poundbury, the 'village' suburb of Dorchester, with its almost surreal collection of housing styles.

Ultimately, James Somerville-Meikle went back to his villages, and the attempt to compare the levels of rurality in the 18 sites we surveyed. He seemed to prove that those villages which were off the main road and rail links, and furthest from the bigger towns remained the most rural in their make-up.

A very different evening from the Lit. Soc., and one that shows that Geography is alive and thriving at St Edmund's.