The Great Gale 1824 – Free public exhibition commemorating the great storm of Dorset On the night of 22nd November 1824 a storm of unprecedented ferocity hit the Dorset coast, flooding many houses, destroying villages in its path and claimed many lives during the two days that it besieged the coast. Now, 200 years on, Dorset Coast Forum in collaboration with the Environment Agency and BCP council bring together a free public exhibition that explores the impacts The Great Gale of 1824 left on the Dorset Coast. Neil Watson, Coastal Engineer from Environment Agency says: “We can learn so much about our coast and its vulnerability to flooding from history. This event 200 years ago left a trail of evidence from Lands End to Dover which we want to share with local communities”. The exhibition will feature personal stories and accounts from 1824, delves into the reasons behind the storm and discusses how we can predict and prepare for possible similar future events. The free exhibition starts at Weymouth Library on Friday 25th October, and travels across 5 locations on the Dorset coast including Lyme Regis, West Bay, Poole and ends on Portland on 24th November. The village of Chiswell, Portland was partly demolished by the hurricane-force storm and 25 lives were lost during the storm. To commemorate those affected, Dorset Coast Forum are working with Portland based arts company, B-side to bring a host of events on Portland. For further information, dates and venues for the exhibition please visit www.dorsetcoast.com/great-gale/
The Dorset Coast Forum (DCF) is a Coastal partnership that has been established for almost 30 years and has a wealth of experience in delivering local stakeholder and community orientated projects on issues such as beach safety, marine planning, coastal change, resilience and coastal regeneration. In all of their projects the DCF utilises their neutrality, facilitation and behavioural change experience to deliver highly successful and output orientated projects using the systems thinking approach. In addition, the DCF team’s ability to build reciprocal relationships with stakeholders and empower communities to be part of the solution means that the impacts of the projects they coordinate are long lasting. For more information please contact Izzy at dorset.coast@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk, or on (01305) 224833 or visit:
www.dorsetcoast.com
ww.dorsetcoasthaveyoursay.co.uk