The Sixpenny Handley and Chalke Valley Practice has scooped a hat-trick of awards that reflect the high standard of care GPs and staff provide for patients in the rural area they serve.
It is the first in the Wessex Faculty -and only the twelfth in England -to have been awarded the highly soughtafter Quality Practice Award by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).
All three GPs in the practice have also been made Fellows of the RCGP, a double accolade achieved by only a handful of practices nationwide.
Thirdly, practice manager Celia Stone has received the Practice Manager Award 2001 from the Wessex Faculty of the RCGP.
She was secretly nominated by the GPs, partly for her work in helping them prepare for the first two awards.
The GPs’ - Dr Hugh Pelly, Dr Elizabeth Nodder and Dr Mark Morgan -received their Fellowships after assessment of the service and care they provide to patients.
Assessors looked at how they responded to emergencies, how they provided care for people with both acute and chronic illnesses, the palliative care available for people with terminal illnesses, their health promotion work and communication skills.
"Everyone made a contribution to the Quality Practice Award," said Celia.
"We had to put in documentary evidence and then we were visited by assessors to make sure that what we had said was true. They talked to everyone -including GPs, health visitors, nurses, receptionists and patients.
"Preparing for the assessment was a very good team-building experience. It gave everyone the chance to work towards a common goal and look at ways of improving how we do things."
"The assessment visit was a big morale boost for the whole team and made them feel valued."
Taking account of patients' views was an important part of the assessment and a survey was organised to ask their opinions on the open-access flu jab service available last autumn.
Patients are regularly consulted at the practice through the Patient Information Group which meets every three months.
This enables them to make suggestions on how the service could be improved and to comment on any plans for the future.
The practice -which operates from two surgeries more than six miles apart -draws patients from a 250 square mile area that includes parts of Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.
"They know we have got the award and we have had lots and lots of congratulations from them," said Celia. "We are delighted to have received it because it shows that a small rural practice can offer services that are just as good as much larger town practices."
With all the recent fine weather and warmth it is easy to forget that not so long ago, in June, we actually had a frost and before that considerable rain and cold with intermittent sunshine. Why this is important here is that, while humans have survived those weather changes very well, the same cannot be said for the wildlife. There has been a distinct lack of insects and particularly of butterflies so far this year. Not only are the flowers about three weeks later than in 2000 but food supplies for birds and other animals are in short supply. Our garden birds continue to eat around 5kg of black sunflower seed each week together with 5 kg of ground birdseed and 2kg of peanuts. This is almost the same as they would eat in mid-winter. A starving Buzzard chick was handed in to a colleague this week but quickly returned to the wild after a feed.
This fact was particularly apparent on the Open Day held in July. Although it was warm and later on quite sunny, only a few of the resident butterflies were seen. These included, Silver Washed Fritillary, White Admiral, Purple Hairstreak, Ringlet, Marbled White, Small Heath and Large Skipper, together with the common regulars. In all thirteen species, but in small numbers. True to form, a Scarlet Tiger Moth put in an appearance in the Car Park, an annual event for many years now. Of particular interest was a Large Emerald moth basking in the open. This is not an especially rare big moth but is actually a night flyer, very rarely seen in daytime.
Foot and Mouth restrictions have been removed from the entire wood now and we are clearing rides as soon as possible. The plantation walk is the best place to see butterflies at present. It will take some time to get the wood back to normal as so much manpower is needed at Arne Reserve to clear the backlog of work, especially spraying bracken and other weeds that working parties here are infrequent.
A few Dormice have come out of hibernation this month but there is no sign of breeding yet. Once again they have been affected by the cold snap in June. Many of you may have seen the television item on the re-introduction of Dormice to counties where they have become extinct. The Dorset Dormouse Group are visiting Blackmoor Copse near Salisbury in August to see how well they are keeping track of their population. They use tattoos to identify animals so that they can trace the movements more accurately. It is only necessary for a few observers to use this technique which does cause some initial distress, but by finding out the true movements and nesting habits, it will help to provide better habitats to replace those lost already. Dormice are not especially threatened in these counties but the populations are not increasing yet.
Can I please ask again for everyone to note, especially youngsters, that the various Wildlife, Countryside and Rights of Way Bills have stiff penalties for anyone interfering with most wildlife or their habitats.
On a brighter note we shall be happy for the walkers to return to the woods and keep all the paths clear again!
They tell me I mustn’t say, "I’m lucky" or "I’m fortunate", but say "I’m blessed", and because they were wise and loving friends who also showed me where the blessing comes from I try to remember. "Yes" I say to myself as I sit at my window, looking out and recall the memories and the Now marked by this window, "I am indeed blessed to have this view". It’s what is called a picture window, and it's been mine for 30 years.
If I sit in the right position I see only the massed greenery: the neighbouring buildings are hidden. I could be sitting alone in a green world. Yes, there’s a wooden fence and three wooden bird tables but they have been there so long that they no longer intrude. I see only the bushes and trees bunched together. Every one is a different shape and a different shade of green, and there seems very little space keeping them apart. "Crowded" is the word. In winter the Coniferous trees are numerous and large enough to make the outlook sombre and, perhaps, a little sad; but now there are at least twelve different shades of green. I have watched some of them being planted and watched them grow. Now they represent the growth of years and the thoughts of years.
Two collared doves are using the gable end of the bird table as a perch. They sit close, side by side, feathers puffed out. Occasionally they fancy a little preening. They are a pair, married for life, and they have delighted me as I watch their wooing and mating. It is only now that I understand what "Billing and cooing" mean. I knew it only as a joke used of a pair of human lovers, but of course it is utterly literal. They tap their beaks against each other and ruffle the feathers of each other's neck. Their language is certainly one of "cooing": that lovely rippling sound they make. I have watched the male approach the female by walking along the top of the fence. He is stiff with anticipation and does a succession of bows to the female; so like a little plump man in stiff clothing might bow to the lady he seeks to woo (or perhaps just like they used to do it in more courteous times). He bows and she responds, either by turning towards, him encouragingly or by flying a few paces away. Every female dove knows that too eager a response must be withheld until a suitable humbleness is there. If he flies after her and again bows she might give in and allow him to consummate their union, or, in no uncertain way, indicate that "that is quite enough", or "not today" and fly a good distance away. As they are lost to my window I can only imagine what comes next. Yesterday, I saw a pair of which the male was in disgrace. After bowing to his love a male spotted another single female and flew over to try his luck there. When she rejected him he flew back to the first lady who had been watching all this from her perch on the fence. She withdrew from him completely, even closing her eyes to pretend that she was asleep because the whole matter was quite boring. She moved away a few paces, and clearly he was in a quandary, It was a relief to me when I later saw them back side by side.
Yes, I am blessed for I see so much from this window that is lovely and true. Which have been the most memorable moments? Well, there was the fat, downy baby cuckoo that suddenly appeared, landing in my bird bath, and was consequently followed by the tiniest Dunnock who hastily brought nourishment, almost disappearing inside the cuckoo's throat as it dropped in the morsel of food that would do so little to stop demands for more. Then there was the astonishing sight of 24 pied wagtails suddenly landing on my lawn. What a spectacle of grey and white was there!
Then there was the woodcock who smacked into my window, and had to be revived, brought in to lie before the heat of a fire in a large box. Its beautiful russet plumage was so delicately marked, and my cat sat close and gazed in wonder so great that even stretching out an enquiring paw was impossible. Then there was the first sightings in my garden of all the birds I came to know: greenfinches, gold finches, blue tits, great tits, coal-tits, long tailed tits (a whole family of waving tails), thrushes, blackbirds, cocky sparrows, warblers, chiff-chaffs, robins, chaffinches, wrens, the large pairs of wood pigeons so sedate, the chattering rooks and jackdaws, dunnocks, yellow hammers and others. Then there were the house martins that came to nest just above the window and could be watched making their mud nests and then working so hard to feed the clamouring beaks that poked out. Then there was the almost-tame pheasant that liked to be fed and the pair of French partridges so unafraid that they could allow their beautiful markings to be admired. Then, alas! the arrival of a sparrow hawk who made me birdless as I tried not to provide it with sitting targets: a lovely bird in its own right but disastrous for me. Now I have to be content to feed small quantities in secret behind a golden privet hedge. I hope and hope for it to leave this area. The birds water bowl on the top of a post for safety provides a quick sight of drinkers and bathers.
A real delight has been the hedgehog "watch". Having lashed out on buying a hedgehog house, I had so many wonderful sightings of these funny little creatures, who obliged in my first year by visiting in numbers and in evening daylight. Their weaving walks, their amazing ability to make a course for the food on the saucer (found by smell and not eyes which have a poor sight), their fights so comically conducted by bashing each other side against side - the only way of tackling each other's prickles - all gave such delight. The house was used to rear just one baby, and I was as proud as a human parent of my part in this! Hibernation has been taken in it but not every year. A saucer of clean water and a saucer of dog and cat food mixed are placed there every night in the summer and is taken. I always place it near their house in the hope that they will recognise a perfect hibernation house when winter comes. The food is protected by a wire frame to prevent a stray cat eating it. I have a much valued video of these first years with hedgehogs. Sad are the Autumn sights when babies are born too late to gain enough fat to allow hibernation; rescues and even visits to the vet do not often save them. Ah, yes, there has to be sad sights as well as joyous ones.
I feel very privileged to have such a window's view and my memories are added to every year, in good times and bad. The seasons come and go and the garden itself changes in colour and shape as new ideas bring change to its lay-out.
I watch the lovely sunsets I can see from this window (how blessed that it faces south-west). They are sometimes so lurid and awesome that I tremble slightly and am filled with awe. I tell myself that it might be like this when Christ decides to return and I wonder what I shall do if he does. I have been waiting quite a while now. I know that He will come and that then the beauties I have seen through my window will be magnified a thousandfold.