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29-505: Somerford is a district in the unitary authority of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole . It lies in the historic county of Dorset . It borders with Mudeford and is intersected by the Somerford Road (B3059). On the north side is an area of residential housing, originally developed as a council estate in the 1950s. The district has three schools: Somerford Infants, Somerford Junior and The Grange School . The present day biggest employer

58-512: A "working couple" (regardless of their gender). It can also unofficially be called an "Obaven" by some members of the community, derived from the Scottish Gaelic word "obair" meaning work, a tribute to the more official term "working couple", a portmanteau with the word "coven". Thus creating the word, "Obaven". Within the community, many believe that a coven larger than thirteen is unwieldy, citing unwieldy group dynamics and an unfair burden on

87-452: A rotating leadership. With the rise of the Internet as a platform for collaborative discussion and media dissemination, it became popular for adherents and practitioners of Wicca to establish "online covens" which remotely teach tradition-specific crafts to students in a similar method of education as non-religious virtual online schools . One of the first online covens to take this route is

116-592: A small factory in Southbourne ; when in 1939 he moved into a purpose built factory in Somerford Road, Christchurch. He soon had plenty of business making transformers for American pilots who needed to convert the British 240 volt supply to the 110 volt they were using, and lighting transformers for air raid shelters. Gardner's also won contracts with the Telecommunications Research Establishment and

145-546: A system which ended in 2003 due to fears by the CFFN leadership that the clans were becoming communities in their own right. The Urban Coven is a group founded on Facebook by Becca Gordon for women in Los Angeles to gather, hike, and howl at the Moon . It meets monthly and is estimated to have almost 3,500 members. A January 2016 gathering at Griffith Park drew nearly 1,000 women, and

174-547: A training centre for de Havilland. The theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975. Somerford is part of the Christchurch parliamentary constituency for elections to the House of Commons . It is currently represented by Conservative MP Christopher Chope . Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole ( BCP ) is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Dorset , England. The district

203-464: Is BAE Systems (previously as Plessey ). Historically, the biggest employers were Airspeed , de Havilland and Gardner's . Somerford was named after a ford over the River Mude which was only passable in summertime. Its approximate site is that of the current day Somerford Roundabout. Historically, Somerford was a manor extending from the east side of Christchurch Harbour in the west to Chewton in

232-509: Is composed of a group of practitioners who gather together for rituals such as Drawing Down the Moon , or celebrating the Sabbats . The place at which they generally meet is called a covenstead . The number of people involved may vary. Although some consider thirteen to be ideal (probably in deference to Murray 's theories), any group of at least three can be a coven. A group of two is usually called

261-571: The Coven of the Far Flung Net (CFFN), which was established in 1997 as the online arm of the Church of Universal Eclectic Wicca . However, because of potentially-unwieldy membership sizes, many online covens limit their memberships to anywhere between 10 and 100 students. The CFFN, in particular, tried to devolve its structure into a system of sub-coven clans (which governed their own application processes),

290-864: The Isle of Wight and Solent to the East and English Channel to the South and West. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole has an Oceanic Temperate Climate. The presence of the Gulf Stream ensures that the British Isles maintain an all-year-round ambient temperature, and, because of its position on the south coast of England, the area has slightly warmer winters and cooler summers than settlements further inland. The major settlements within Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and Merley / Oakley . Within

319-624: The Ministry of Aircraft Production . After the war, contracts from the Admiralty and the Atomic Energy Research Establishment allowed the business to grow and Gardner's were soon employing around 300 people. Gardner's contributed to the local economy not just because it was a major employer but also because it attracted others to the area such as Penny and Giles (potentiometers) and Plessey Defence Systems who came to take advantage of

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348-467: The Rosicrucian Players was a small group who formed a coven of witches ( New Forest coven ). Gerald Gardner , a retired colonial civil servant, joined them after moving to Highcliffe in 1938. Gardner went on to take a leading role in the modern revival of witchcraft - often referred to as Wicca . The theatre was never popular and closed shortly after Sullivan’s death in 1942. It was then used as

377-496: The area is served by BBC South and ITV Meridian broadcasting from the Rowridge transmitter. Radio stations for the area are: The area is served by the local newspaper, Bournemouth Daily Echo . Coven In Wicca and other similar forms of modern pagan witchcraft , such as Stregheria and Feri , a coven is a gathering or community of witches , like an affinity group, engagement group, or small covenant group. It

406-802: The ceremonial county of Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole are the largest two settlements , whilst Christchurch is the fourth, after Weymouth . Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole roughly overlaps with the South-East Dorset Conurbation , although the latter also spreads to the former East Dorset Borough and parts of the New Forest district of Hampshire. As such, the area lies within the South West Hampshire/South East Dorset Green Belt , created between 1958 and 1980, which regulates environmental and planning policy to manage development expansion. In terms of television,

435-536: The county councillors representing Christchurch. The shadow authority had 125 members, and first met on 6 June 2018. However, a review by the Local Government Boundary Commission 's reduced the number of wards for the new authority to 33 multi-member wards, with 76 councillors in total. The first elections took place in 2019 alongside other local elections, and led to the Conservatives holding

464-529: The current day Somerford Roundabout. The 1st edition OS map shows a fishpond which may represent a medieval monastic feature. Somerford Grange and Somerford Farm were held separate from each other following the dissolution of Christchurch Priory and survived until 1935 when they were demolished to make way for the airfield. Christchurch Airfield was located southeast of the A337/B3059 intersection in Somerford. It

493-550: The east. It is first mentioned in a document dated AD 1140 which confirmed the grant of the estate to Christchurch Priory . The manor included the hamlets of Bure, Chewton, Street, Stanpit , Hoburne and Clive ( Highcliffe ). The manor formed the grange of the Priory and was also the residence of the Abbot. The medieval settlement of Somerford was probably situated close to the grange which was itself probably located approximately 250m south of

522-502: The leadership. When a coven has grown too large to be manageable, it may split, or "hive". In Wicca, this may also occur when a newly made High Priest or High Priestess , also called 3rd Degree initiation, leaves to start their own coven. Wiccan covens are usually jointly led by a High Priestess and a High Priest , although some are led by only one or the other, and some by a same-sex couple. In more recent forms of modern pagan witchcraft, covens are sometimes run as democracies with

551-609: The local skilled workforce. The factory closed in the late 1990s partly due to an increase in cheap imports. A local group of the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship was formed in Christchurch in 1930. The local group’s headquarters was a wooden building named the Ashrama Hall, completed in 1936 in the garden of a house owned by Catherine Emily Chalk on the corner of Somerford Way and Somerford Road. In 1938, on

580-627: The most seats but lacking a majority, meaning that the council was under no overall control . Subsequent to the election, the Liberal Democrats , the second largest party in the council, led the creation of the Unity Alliance Administration, made up of the Liberal Democrats (15), Independents (11), Poole People (7), Labour (3), Green Party (2) and Alliance for Local Living (1). The Unity Alliance therefore had 39 members,

609-499: The number required for a majority. The remaining councillors, belonging to the Conservative Party (36) and UKIP (1), remained in opposition. However, two Unity Alliance councillors died in 2020, and two Poole People councillors left both their party and the administration, leaving the administration in minority; a vote of no confidence in council leader Vikki Slade was subsequently passed, removing her as leader. A new leader

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638-527: The party for their opposition to the plan, with several of them subsequently standing as independents in the 2019 election . Statutory instruments for the creation of the new authority were made on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 25 May 2018, and a shadow authority was formed the following day. The shadow authority was composed of the existing borough councillors from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, as well as

667-584: The same land, the group built the Christchurch Garden Theatre in Somerford Way. It was capable of seating 360 people. At the theatre’s official opening it was described not only as the first Rosicrucian theatre in England but the first theatre in the borough of Christchurch. It presented mystically-themed plays, written by George Alexander Sullivan under his journalistic pen-name Alex Matthews. Among

696-453: Was a county corporate . By the mid-20th century, the towns had begun to coalesce as a conurbation , and in the 1974 Local Government Act the three areas were brought together under the ceremonial county of Dorset, while still forming separate districts. In 1997, Poole and Bournemouth became unitary authorities, while Christchurch remained a lower tier district with county-level services provided by Dorset County Council . The new authority

725-543: Was a civil airfield starting from 1926, then it was used during World War II by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force . After the war the airfield returned to civilian use and the airfield complex was then demolished in 1966. Cecil Gardner had already made a name for himself manufacturing radio sets, recharging accumulators and ac/dc transformers from

754-511: Was created from the merger of the existing non-metropolitan districts of Weymouth and Portland , West Dorset , North Dorset , Purbeck and East Dorset to form a new Dorset authority. The plans were supported by every affected body except Christchurch Borough Council, which formally opposed the reorganisation and unsuccessfully challenged the proposals in the High Court . Several Conservative councillors in Christchurch were suspended from

783-464: Was created on 1 April 2019 by the merger of the areas that were previously administered by the unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole , and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch . The authority covers much of the area of the South Dorset conurbation . Bournemouth and Christchurch were historically part of the county of Hampshire , while Poole was historically a part of Dorset and

812-578: Was elected on 1 October 2020. The authority lies in the South East of the ceremonial county of Dorset around 150 km from London. Dorset as a whole is part of the South West region of England , which is used for statistical purposes . The three former boroughs are all historically seaside towns with tourism playing an important part in the local economy. Bournemouth and Poole lie north of Poole Harbour , whilst Christchurch contains Christchurch Harbour , with

841-472: Was formed as a result of local government reorganisation in the ceremonial county of Dorset. Under the plans, dubbed "Future Dorset", all councils within the county were abolished and replaced with two new unitary authorities. One was formed from the existing unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole , which merged with the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch to create the unitary authority to be known as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The other

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