| Our Past Events |
 | 1 & 2 Sep 2012 - Roving Press stand at the Dorset County Show |
 | 15 Sep 2012 - Brian Bates signing books at Waterstones, Dorchester |
| 15 Aug 2012 – Carol Hunt and the Summer Reading Challenge Littlemoor Library, Louviers Rd, Weymouth, DT3 6SF, 01305 812350 |
| Sat 30 June 2012 – Launch of Dorchester Remembers the Great War The Keep Military Museum Based on the town’s brave men and women who lost their lives in the First World War, local writer and social historian Brian Bates has produced a vivid portrayal of Edwardian Dorchester. Over 100 people attended the launch and enjoyed free entry to the Museum and were able to chat with Brian about his impressive book. |
| Sat 12 May 2012 – Local Authors Day Imagine Bookshop, 23 St Alban St, Weymouth DT4 8BZ, noon to 4 pm Local authors enjoyed a lively get-together in Imagine Books. Bookshop owner Ann Newman is very supportive of local books and has a great range of titles, prominently displayed in the front of her Grade II Listed shop. |
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| Left to right, top row: Paul Weston (Weymouth Bound), JD Wilson (Love Songs Tell You Lies), Gary Biltcliffe (The Spirit of Portland), Robin Daglish (Weymouth Dawn), Rod Barzilay (Spaceship Away Magazine), Fiona Murphy (Down the Plughole), Maureen Attwooll (Weymouth and Portland Then Meets Now) Bottom row: Ged Duncan (The Problehem), Jerry Bird (Songs from the Magical Tradition), Kevin Hart (Balloon Modeller and Stiltman), Julie Musk (Lesser Known Weymouth, and Director of Roving Press), Ann Newman (Owner of Imagine Books), Carol Hunt (The Portland Chronicles). |
| Sat 28 April 2012 – Getting Published workshop Womens Action Network Dorset (WAND) - Dorset Women’s Day, Dorford Centre, Dorchester As part of the WAND programme, Julie gave a workshop on Getting Published showcasing their latest book Dorset Voices. |
| Mon 23 April 2012 – Dorset Voices book launch and readings Bournemouth Library, 22 The Triangle, Bournemouth, BH2 5RQ We were proud to launch Dorset Voices on World Book Night, as part of the BFoW programme of events. Bournemouth Library were great hosts and there was a good turn out from authors, friends, supporters and book lovers. |
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| Fri 20 – Thurs 26 April 2012 – Brympton Festival Brympton House, Brympton D’Evercy, Somerset, BA22 8TD Fascinating literary works, poems, art and music in this magnificent setting, along with fine food, drink, presentations, competitions and displays. With a stellar line-up of experts and authors presenting a range of fiction and non-fiction. Top names included Prue Leith, Adrian Tinniswood, Alan Hollinghurst, Alison Weir and Emma Craigie, plus many more. Julie from Roving Press and two of our authors, Louise Hodgson and Jim Potts, gave talks/workshops. CLICK HERE for the Brympton Festival website. |  |
 | 15 March 2012 - Kids' Dorset launch & great publicity Thank you to those who made the launch of Kids' Dorset at the Dorset County Museum - good too see you all, and we hope you enjoyed the party, the book and the free Dorset Cereals goodie bags! Thanks also for the great publicity, with features and reviews in the Dorset Echo, View From and a 5-page feature in the Dorset Magazine. |
13 January 2012 – Book Launch, 6–8 pm, Reading Room,
The Street, Milton Abbas |
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 | December 2011 – Take a video tour of Portland with Gary Biltcliffe The Light and Energy Channel filmed Gary Biltcliffe on a tour of Portland, highlighting the history and special places of this ancient isle. It’s a great way to see and appreciate some of the discoveries Gary makes in his book The Spirit of Portland. |
 | November 2011 – phenomenal book sales Louise Hodgson has become something of a local celebrity after phenomenal sales of her bookSecret Places of West Dorset. Over a hundred copies have sold in the first month from Bridport Waterstones alone and Manager Jan Jaggard is delighted: ‘We’ve never had such a positive response to a new book, let alone a local title. It’s really captured the imagination of local people and has become a Bridport phenomenon.’ It’s all the more exciting for Louise as this is her first book. She has lived in West Dorset for 10 years and, despite much travelling around the globe, has always been drawn back to the area: ‘West Dorset has such exquisite landscape and diversity. Many people seem to share this view and have a strong feeling for this part of England. It’s hugely gratifying that people have found the book so accessible and enjoyed exploring and making new discoveries with me.’ Pictured: Louise (Right) with the Mayor & Mayoress of Bridport. |
 | November 2011 – Carol chosen for the Bridport Big Read Enchantment of the Black Dog was chosen as the Bridport Big Read for 2011. Local children read and discussed the story, with Carol giving talks and involved in activities as part of a week-long reading event. |
 | 21 Nov 2011 – Dorset's Big Cats Fantastic to have over 400 people attend Merrily's presentation on Dorset big cats at the Richard Cain Community Lecture at Thomas Hardye School. Merrily's database of sightings has grown considerably since the launch of her book Roaring Dorset! There were a significant number in the audience who had seen a big cat in Dorset and this contributed to the lively debate. The lecture raised over £300 for charity. Merrily is the author of two books on Big Cats. |  |
| Sep 2011 - Best Sellers at Imagine Books Four of our authors are among the six top-selling books in Imagine Books, Weymouth, over their first six months. Top of the list is Carol Hunt with Books 1 and 2 of The Portland Chronicles series (The Portland Sea Dragon and Enchantment of the Black Dog). Gary Biltcliffe is No. 4 with The Spirit of Portland and David Macpherson is No. 5 with Defenders of Mai-dun. All are debut authors, which is really encouraging and inspiring. |
 | 30 Jul 2011 - Dorset Voices CLICK HERE for more information from the editorial team, Poundbury Voices. For an article/interview by the Dorset Echo, please click on the following link: Give Dorset a Voice |
| 5 Dec 2010 – ‘Enchantment of the Black Dog’ Book
Launch at White Stones Cafe Gallery |
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2-4 Dec 10 – ‘Discover Old Swanage’ Book Launch |  |
| 24 Jul 2010 - Book Signing, WH Smith Weymouth Thank you to Simon and Josh for arranging the signing, and to all who stopped to chat with Gary and Carol - they were expecting to be there for an hour, but were kept busy for over 4 hours! A number of people had heard Gary on Radio Solent's Harry Crawford Dorset Brunch Podcast show that morning, so it was great that they came down to meet him and get a signed copy of his book. The mermaid collage made by kids from Portland at the Grove Festival made a lovely display. |
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29 May 2010 - Launch of Sixpenny Handley - The Story of Our Parish Rosalie Adams of Sixpenny Handley put in many hours, working closely with Julie to produce a book the villagers can be proud of. She said: ‘We sold over 120 copies at the launch at the Street Fayre. People are saying what good quality the book is – I think that has really surprised them as they thought we were just going to come up with something thin and paper and didn’t realise it would be a proper book. I’m sure most people who haven’t worked on a book can’t possibly appreciate how much work it is, and I certainly had no idea, but it was great to bring it to completion. We couldn’t have done it without you.’ |  |  |
2 May 2010 - Dragon & Sheep at The Portland Museum On
2 May the Portland Museum was overrun by sheep and goats. As part of a
book signing event, Su from Fancy’s Farm brought along the animals for
children to pet and lead around the garden. Carol, author of The Portland Sea Dragon,
mentions Portland sheep in her books and joked she’d been upstaged!
Unusually they can breed all year round, but as they only produce one
lamb/year they are not economically viable as a modern sheep breed,
which is why they’re on the ‘at risk’ register of the Rare Breeds
Survival Trust. DNA testing of some sheep bone and horn discovered at an
archaeological dig opposite Royal Manor School has shown that Portland
sheep have been on the island since at least Romano-British times. |
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| For more information about the breed visit: http://portlandsheep.org.uk/ http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/4887263.Portland_sheep_on_BBC_s_Countryfile/ Look up Portland sheep on Facebook or visit Fancy’s Farm, Reap Lane, Southwell, open every Sunday. |
| 21 March 2010 - Launch of The Portland Sea Dragon Many thanks to everyone who came to the launch and especially all the kids who dressed up (Dragons, Mermaids, Smugglers and Pirates) and submitted their own stories and drawings. Author Carol and illustrator Domini were really impressed. Keep an eye on The Portland Sea Dragon page. Huge thanks to White Stones Cafe Gallery for being such great hosts, and putting up with the queue out of the door! |
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| Feb 2010 The Dorset Echo describes the latest evidence for big cats, with a great sighting near Bockhampton: Dorset Echo article The Western Gazette reports that local photographer Alan McNamee is still trying to get a big cat photo, 6 years after he came face to face with a big black cat (as recorded in Roaring Dorset!): Western Gazette article |
July 09 - Launch of The Spirit of Portland Launched privately at All Saints Church, Easton, then publicly at the Portland Steam Fair and the Gooseberry Fair on successive Saturdays, Gary was thrilled by the response to his new book. The photos below show Gary discussing the unique zodiac ceiling and heavenly twins altar window in All Saints Church, Gary and partner Caroline, and the Roving Press stand with Jonathan McGowan who displayed his big cat info and received some exciting new reports of sightings. |
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| 13 Jun 09 - Lesser Known Swanage Book Launch Many thanks to Jill Blanchard at the New & Secondhand Bookshop in Swanage for hosting the launch of Lesser Known Swanage. There was a great response from the public on a very sunny Saturday morning, and Julie was delighted with all the positive feedback she received. |
26 May 09 - Prelims to Postlims |
| 25 Feb 09 - Big Cats Roaming Dorset Merrily gave a talk to a packed house of over 60 people at the Weymouth Library - with some turned away due to the Fire regulations! The talk featured many of the 223 big cat sightings taken from Roaring Dorset!, and Merrily also intrigued the crowd with her more esoteric theories about the often 'unusual' circumstances people regularly quote but can't explain. If you would like Merrily to give a talk, please contact us. |  |
4 Oct 08 - Bournemouth Literary Festival As part of the 'world culture' theme of the 2008 Bournemouth Literary Festival, Julie gave a 1-hour talk at The Print Room, Richmond Hill, Bournemouth. She discussed her experiences living in the USA as captured in the book A Slice of Apple Pie. |  |
| 6 Sep 08 - Dorset County Show Despite the rather muddy conditions, an estimated 200 people stopped to chat with us at the launch of Roaring Dorset! Encounters with Big Cats, at the Dorset County Show. An amazing 41 previously unreported local big cat sightings were provided - the 223 in the book obviously helped show people they were not alone in what they had seen. Many thanks to Jonathan McGowan for helping us out with his extensive knowledge and experience of big cat field work. |
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| 30 Aug 08 BBC Radio Solent presenter David Allen had a 20-minute talk with Julie about her book A Slice of Apple Pie ... and her experiences in the USA. |  |  |
| 26 Aug 08 - Hope FM presenter Janet Latham chatted live to Julie about her cultural experiences in America. |
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Oct 08 - British Defence Staff Endorsement. We were delighted to hear that the Defence Staff at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. are recommending A Slice of Apple Pie ... to new Ministry of Defence personnel (military & civilian) posted to the USA. There are approx 700 MoD personnel stationed in the USA at any one time. |