Since Councillor Les Fry BEM was sworn in as Mayor of Dorchester on Monday 18 May, he and Mayoress Julie Fry BEM have barely seen a quiet week; the civic chains have been seen across numerous ceremonies, community events, ribbon-cuttings and tours, most of which have been well-documented over on the Mayor’s Facebook page.
This is the first of what will be a regular feature on our news page, painting a picture of what mayoralty looks like in a town like Dorchester. It's a role steeped in the traditions of the past, yet firmly forward-looking, giving whoever wears the civic chains each year a chance to celebrate the people and projects working hardest to make Dorchester a better place to live.
What follows is a snapshot, not a full account, of a season that has taken the Mayor from Victorian costume to construction sites, from a rooftop helipad to a Kerala feast served on banana leaves. Here's a flavour of where the chain of office has been since Mayor Making.
Stepping into Dorchester's history
Less than two weeks after taking office, the Mayor and Mayoress were out marking the Thomas Hardy Victorian Fair on 31 May. As well as enjoying the fantastic array of attractions and stalls, the Mayor joined fellow councillors in laying wreaths at the statues of Hardy and William Barnes - Dorchester's two great wordsmiths, commemorated in the town they both called home. The Mayor had the honour of unveiling a blue plaque at 51 High West Street, marking a house connected with Hardy, before the day was rounded off in the best way imaginable: a mass Hokey Cokey on South Street!
Barnes's legacy resurfaced a fortnight later, on 17 June, when the Mayor and Mayoress attended the launch of the William Barnes Archive. Both enjoyed an evening of history, poetry and music celebrating the Dorset writer who produced everything from poems and sermons to letters. Thanks to a fundraising appeal by the William Barnes Society, his entire body of work has now been catalogued and made freely accessible online, securing a lasting heritage for the future.
Community, care and construction
On 12 June, the Mayor and Mayoress attended one of the Council's biannual Community Lunches, which bring different local groups together to share information and support each other's work. At this gathering, those in attendance heard from the Dorset Volunteer Centre on the challenges of recruiting and retaining volunteers and how sometimes even minor tweaks to a recruitment advertisement can make all the difference to who applies and who passes on the opportunity.
Two major building projects also had their moment in the civic spotlight. On 18 June, the Mayor and Mayoress attended a ceremony marking the start of work at Four Paddocks, St George's Road. This development will bring more than 100 affordable homes for both rent and shared ownership to a town where around 6,000 people currently sit on Dorset Council's housing list. The Duchy of Cornwall, as landowners, have signed contracts with Sovereign Network Group, with builder C G Fry & Sons Construction on site and the first homes expected to come to market in early 2027.
Then, on 17 July, a topping out ceremony at Dorset County Hospital was held with the Mayor and Mayoress donning hardhats and making their way to the newly-built rooftop helipad. This moment marked the construction of the new Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit reaching its highest point – a real landmark for this huge development. Funded by the New Hospital Programme, the £100 million building will add two new floors of clinical space and reshape how emergency care is delivered in the county.
The ceremony was in some ways a call back to an event held just a fortnight prior, where the Mayor and Mayoress attended the NHS, Social Care and Frontline Workers flag-raising ceremony at the Memorial Area beside County Hall. This annual ceremony is a chance for all to honour health, social care and emergency workers, to remember the sacrifices made during the Covid pandemic, and to acknowledge the families and carers who continue to support them.
Festivals and fundraising
Mid-July brought a run of community fundraisers. On 10 July, the Mayor visited Culliford Care Home, where staff and residents were celebrating a sponsored walk that raised more than £800 for Alzheimer's research. The afternoon was as much about the company as the cause; conversations with residents, including a lady of 101 and a former midwife; entertainment from Uncle Jimmy and his ukulele, and to cap it all off, the Mayoress joining residents and staff for an impromptu conga!
A week later, on 18 July, the Mayor was at Dorchester Sports Centre to start off a sponsored swim in aid of Jake and Sam's trip to the Special Olympics in Birmingham. Organised over several months by the boys' mothers, Zoe and Annette, along with a team of helpers, the event was a fitting send-off for two young athletes with the support of their whole community behind them.
The following day, 19 July, saw For Fit Fitness host a Fun Day in aid of a local family whose six-year-old son is undergoing chemotherapy, with all proceeds going towards travel and treatment costs. Organisers Sarah, Roxy and Steph put on stalls, a barbecue and line dancing for the crowds who turned out in support. The family's GoFundMe page is still open for donations.
Summer in Dorchester means gatherings, celebrations and festivals, and this one delivered in style! TheMayor's Tea Party on 16 August, catered for by Posh Partridge and sponsored by David Upshall, saw The Decadettes provide the entertainment while a small army of volunteers greeted guests and waited at tables. Every penny raised on the day goes towards the Mayor's three chosen charities for the year: Prostate Cancer UK, Dorset People First, and Dorchester Youth & Community Centre. If you weren't able to make it along but would still like to donate to these very worthy charities, you can do so using the link below.
Link to SumUp for donating to the Mayor’s chosen charities
A week later, on 23 August, the Mayor and Mayoress spent an afternoon at Dorchester Bowls Club's President's Day, a fundraising event hosted by Club President Colin Lawley. Many of the members dressed in keeping with the day's ‘Cops and Robbers’ theme, for the President's competition and raised a good sum for the President's chosen charity, Cancer Research, before everyone sat down to a buffet tea. The club, like so many in Dorchester, is always keen to welcome new members and would encourage anyone looking for a new hobby to go along and give it a try.
A week later, on 24 August, the Mayor and Mayoress were guests at the grand opening of the newly restored Top o' Town House. Six years of restoration work have resulted in nine characterful flats to be made available for rent in the coming months. The Mayor and Mayoress were joined by Dorchester’s Town Crier, Anthony Harrison for a ribbon-cutting ceremony which was hosted by the building’s owners John Cobley and Antoinette Weller.
On 29 August, the Mayor and Mayoress were invited as Chief Guests to the Dorchester Malayali Community's Onam Festival celebrations. Neither had quite realised the scale of what goes on behind the scenes in Dorchester until they witnessed the vibrant festival first-hand: traditional cultural performances, the ceremonial welcome of King Mahabali, and the grand onasadhya - a vegetarian feast of 23 authentic Kerala dishes served on banana leaves. In a first for the town, every attending family received a bespoke Onam hamper of traditional Kerala spices, snacks and rice - a generous gesture from a community celebrating its culture and heritage in our town.
Like many years before this one, the summer closed out on 31 August with the annual Anonymous Festival in Borough Gardens - a free event giving young musicians a platform to perform in front of an appreciative crowd. Well attended and warmly received, it was another credit to both the council team members and volunteer groups who helped set it up, run it and pack it all away again.
More to come
From a Victorian fair to a rooftop helipad, from a community lunch to a Kerala feast, the Mayor's summer has taken in just about every side of Dorchester life, and the generosity, good spirit and dedication of our community has been a constant thread running through it all. We'll be back with the next instalment before too long.