The beautiful bookshop and the RotaKids

From neighbours to award-winning booksellers: FOLDE’s founders Amber Harrison and Karen Brazier talk to Terry about their 'pandemic-induced mid-life crisis'. FOLDE, in Shaftesbury, has won the British Book Awards Independent Bookshop of the Year competition for the South West, organised by The Bookseller magazine and judged by a prestigious panel of industry specialists, authors and journalists. It’s a remarkable achievement for a business started during the pandemic by two women who had never sold books. They're justifiably proud and deeply happy with their 'small but mighty, and slightly fighty' bookshop.    From bingo halls to community calls – Shaftesbury’s Rotakids are a new generation of community champions, leading the charge in innovative community charity work. Peter Sale is president of Shaftesbury Rotary Club, and he chats to Jenny about the work of the group, and the benefits not just to the local community but to the kids themselves.          The barriers are gone – for £1.3m ... Dorset residents had almost forgotten what Sturminster bridge looked like – but finally the bank stabilisation work is complete.   April's BV is OUT NOW ... grab a coffee and jump in to the Dorset-ness. News, opinion, people, wildlife, art, farming, what's on, SO many horses ... and frankly stunning photography. Did I mention it's FREE? Why *wouldn't* you want a flick through? (*don't forget, we're proud to be purely digital. The only way to read us is right here online!) You can click here https://bvmag.co.uk/Apr24  to dive straight in. Frankly, it's so jam-packed with Dorset goodness, it'd be rude not to. The BV is the 'glossy' rural monthly digital magazine from Dorset, shortlisted in the 2024 Newspaper & Magazine Awards for 'Best Regional Publication in the UK'.