 |
Home
An artists impression - Jenny Beck
Keith Tubb - paintings
Photography - Jennie Banks
Project Proposal - Natural History
Stream Survey - Natural History
Stream Dipping Day - Natural History
Local History - Jane Marsden
Tea On The Bridge Day
The Village Archive Project
Textile Making - Rosemary Shepherd
Reminiscences - Andrew Pastor
Film - Reflections by Tim Fogg
Stream Survey 2004 (Natural History)
Naming the Stream
EXHIBITION
Project Image Gallery
|
|
|
|
Naming the Stream
Location: Dorset
The stream that flows through Drimpton and Netherhay rises in the east on Lewesdon Hill and after four miles or so joins the River Axe at Clapton. For all its years the stream has been nameless. In the oldest documents it is described, but never named.
Throughout the years generations of villagers have lived by it, used its water, played in it, paused to give it a look, and cursed it when it flooded. When in 2003, just two years after the most recent flooding event, our new village bridge was built, the issue of naming the stream first cropped up. After all, the other local stream, Temple Brook, has a name.
Finally in February 2005 the process of naming the stream where it flows through our village kicked off. No one was sure where it might lead. A village newsletter invited suggestions for names. Would villagers want to join in? Would we get just one or two suggestions? An amazing 22 different names were put forward.
By March it was decided to draw up a shortlist. Another newsletter informed the village of the suggested names and gave villagers a chance to think about them. Then 12 villagers went round with voting papers – each person responsible for a certain number of neighbouring households. No voting procedure is ever easy! On this occasion every villager, old and young, long-term resident and recently arrived, had 5 votes each. They were invited to choose their five favourites from the 22. They didn’t have to put them in order. In this way almost 1200 votes were cast. The results were counted, and the 5 favourites went on the shortlist. Once more the village was informed by newsletter and given a few days to think about the results.
Finally, new voting papers were printed and delivered to every household on Friday 23rd April. This time every villager had a single vote each to nominate a favourite from the 5. They were asked to put their papers in their letterboxes for collection on Voting Day, Sunday 24th April.
Voting Day dawned and we were not sure how big the ‘turn out’ would be. Walking round the village it was extraordinary how many papers were poking out of letterboxes. Of course, some doors had to be knocked by way of reminder. Some people had mislaid their papers but were given replacements to vote there and then. By the end of the day 83% of households had taken their opportunity to name a small bit of the world.
At 8.00pm in Drimpton Village Hall the votes were publicly counted (and checked). 326 people voted. The winning name was clear. It had received 134 votes. The second received 75.
And the winning name? The LITTLE AXE.
The stream in the parish of Drimpton is nameless no longer. The villagers have named it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
