Send in your suggestions of men and women of character that have shaped Bridport and the people in it. To Join in register then you can leave comments to this and other articles.
Nominated so far…
FG “TRICKY” BILES
Signwriter and real artist, famed for his superb pub signs also the beautiful welcome to Bridport sign at the east gate. Pop quiz – What pub was nicknamed “The Mouse” after a small detail in its sign?
Graham, the post office manager
In the 20 years I’ve been using our post office I’ve only ever experienced a welcome, good cheer, good advice, a good feeling from buying stamps. I think Graham deserves an OBE actually. He’s a star in the post office firmament. Perhaps Bridport Radio has sufficient muscle to raise him on our shoulders before he retires.
ZH
That Bloke in The Wheelchair
I don’t know his name. I don’t know where he comes from. I’ve never met him before in my life. I can’t understand a word he says. But my god, that man is the happiest soul I’ve ever seen in a wheelchair, and if that isn’t heroic, I’ll eat my desk!
CE
I think the guy in the wheelchairs name is Victor? He used to come to Bells when i worked there and shout from the door for me to get what he wanted… and
ya right he really is a cheerful soul…i also agree bout Graham from the PO
AS
David Partridge
Who has stood in Bucky Doo Sq every Saturday morning for the last three years as a demonstration against the Iraq War. A man who really stands up for his principles!
LD
- Mr Music
- Mr Dance
- King Henry VIII?
- and many more…
Register / log in and tell us who your local hero is.
The Mouse
RE: “”””Tricky”””” Biles pop quiz – the Masons Arms now Youth Meeting Place North Street was nicknamed “”””The Mouse””””.
The Masons or “”””Mouse”””” became very popular with the “”””crowd”””” when the Bull copaching bar had closed down and the upstairs of the Greyhound had yet to be opened. I remember nights in there when table skittles was going on and the players had a human wall around the table just over a chain and balls width away. each ball greted with huge cheers or Ooohs and Aahs. Once the upstairs of the Greyhound opened (I am talking about years before moano started running it) and the crowsd of the day had somewhere else to go the Mouse became less well used and eventually closed. It is good to see it being used again for the benifit of Bridport.
The Mouse
Well done to registered user ‘GSD’ a prize will be winging its way to you soon.
My nomination for local hero would have to go to that market stall holder who cheerfully parkes his white van on the traffic lights outside the town hall every market day, thereby totally obscuring the traffic lights to motorists approaching from East Street. He gets my vote because he’s been doing it every market day for years and has never once received a parking ticket from the local police (must be in the freemasons). 🙂
RE: LOCAL HEROES
I think Robert Ridge should be nominated. He certainly is a local hero, as well as being known worldwide through the BMX community. He puts huge amounts of his time and money into keeping the Bridport skateparks open, so that the kids have somewhere to go and do what they love. He also has a hand in helping Lyme in their quest for a new skatepark. He is the nicest guy you could ever meet and is busy enough in his own life without devoting his time to these projects.
RE: LOCAL HEROES
Rob Ridge certainly does care about the young up-coming generation. He works hard to keep something alive that the young love, his skate unit has been going for ages and i am sure that it has kept, if only a few, out of the pubs and off the drugs. Its people like Rob and Arthur Woodgate that should get memorial benches in the town, when the time comes!
RE: LOCAL HEROES
No no nooo, I think Rob should get a bench and Arthur Woodgate should get a wood gate, ‘cos it’s a good play on words.
RE: PATRON SAINT
Hmmm…I’d say that Mr Music has had more than his fair share of credit already. Perhaps mutilating Adrian Ellis and making him Patron Saint of kissing bottoms? OR Involving The Bridport Radio editor with a fatal motoring accident and crowning him Patron Saint of “”””The People””””, to be praised and exhaulted for all eternity?
RE: LOCAL HEROES
D’you know I think we should pay some long overdue credit to Bentley, as an ambassador for Bridport he has travelled the far and wide telling filthy jokes and poking fun at the bankrupt futility of modern life. He set up and ran the sorely missed Cavity bar during it’s prime years, catalysing a minor cultural revolution in the process. His comedy nights are always classics and his shirts bring a much needed vibrancy to our streets.
RE: LOCAL HEROES
I think the guy from Beaminster who writes letters to the Bridport News most weeks, complaining about any and every one. But can be found parking his grey Rover with disabled badge on West Bay seafront each day and then carrying 50kg of fishing gear to the end of the pier,deserves a national hypocritical award !!
Why fat people? Fat people are only a strain on the pavements and restaurant chairs of society. Lets face it when was the last time you saw a fat smackie?? The other less radical solution than ooaarghs is (if we take the premise that smack is the major problem here) to leagailse it on the NHS. That way your smackie pops off to a specially designated area (it can be quite seedy and smell of old urine and syringe squirted blood to make them feel at home) and be given a free shot of clean pure heroin once or twice a day. What we have here is a many tier crime busting and resource saving system. No1 the smackies wouldn’t have to burgle to feed their habit. No2 the dealers wouldn’t have anyone to sell to as the smackies are getting it for free. (if the dealers try to recruit new younger members into their sordid club it should be open season on them. If they want to operate outside the law then the law should offer no protection for them.) No3 the NHS wouldn’t have to spend millions a year treating the effects of smackies shooting up vim, baking powder etc. Before the Daily mail readers get on their high horse about the country going to the dogs and everyone getting high on smack, “”””wake up””””! It is readily available now and the vast majority of the population decide that life is a better option than enslavement into junkiedom. That would continue.
a real man of courage
three months ago Adrian Lessey had his legs removed in an horrific accident on the A35 west of bridport when a 90 year old woman drove into the back of his van as he was loading his tools in it. How devastating that must have been to a 46 year old man!!! I saw him in South Street the other day, just two months after the accident, he was driving a motorised sit-on vehicle, all shiny and brand new and he had the biggest smile on his face! There is a man who has been to hell and back and i know it wont be long before he will have prosthetic limbs and will be walking and working again, because of his determination and great courage.I want to nominate him to be a local hero of the best kind! He sets an example to us all and smiles in the face of extreme adversity, thank you, Adrian and the very best of everything to you mate, dragon
No amount of compensation can make up for what Adrian has suffered from this accident. I do hope in time he may be able to carry on in his work trade or at least part of it. As Dragon has said, it is great to see him out and about again.And i also would nominate him as a Local Hero.
Hindsey – A True Local Hero
I would like to nominate the great Mr. Paul Hindes, proprietor of No10 Cafe Bar. In his 173 years on this planet, he has achieved a fantastic amount. From the moment he founded Bridport in 1376 and invented the sky, he has selflessly worked to promote the town in his many high-ranking positions around the world. After moving away to form the SBS, take charge of the world’s stock markets and to pilot Air Force One in a moment of need, he returned to Bridport to establish the world famous No10. It is here that, having gained his Michelin star, he opened the country’s finest bistro where, amongst other things, he invented pop-tarts and water, and provided the food for all the acts at the famous Glastonbury Festival, which has gone from strength to strength since he and Mutter started it way back in 1963. He has certainly put Bridport on the map, for much more than those silly football nets…
(A serious point though – Paul does a great deal for the local music and arts scene by promoting young acts and giving them a chance and leg up, and fights continuously to maintain the entertainment in this town despite an obvious bias from the authorities. And, of course, we all love his stories…!)
I would also like to add my support to Graham from the Post Office too – is that man ever unhappy?!
RE: LOCAL HEROES
Graham Burridge, THE Post Office, without him the place will lose a great character, he gets my vote for is dedication to his job and always being such a nice guy and he has raised many thousands of pounds for various charities Well Done that man!!