“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin
Dorset is a beautiful county, notable for its idyllic villages, historic towns, rolling green hills and magnificent World Heritage coastline. Rich in culture and history, many families, from all over the United Kingdom, and further afield, take home happy holiday memories of Dorset’s golden beaches, the amusements and donkey rides of Weymouth, an ice-cream in Swanage, or perhaps visiting one of Dorchester’s fascinating museums, its market, or its many shops. Yet despite this, there remains a shadowy dark side to Dorset that goes unnoticed, unspoken, and rarely acknowledged.
Dorset Uncovered aims to reveal, and raise awareness of, the more unpleasant aspects of Dorset’s past and present: rural poverty, inequalities, gender and class discrimination, and the dark legacies of empire.
It also aims to raise awareness of work currently being done by campaigners fighting for climate and racial justice, and it promotes the on-going work to preserve public services, to combat inequality in health and education, and to strengthen local democracy. Check out our “current campaigns” pages to read about what’s happening to Dorset NHS and to the county’s schools.
With Dorset undergoing social, political and economic change, enduring challenges and social upheaval, perhaps now, more than ever, it is imperative to recognise those stories that remain untold, injustice never resolved, and on-going inequalities barely addressed, so that we can learn from the past to make for a better future.
Dorset Uncovered, 2020
* We’re currently experiencing a problem with our contact page. New contact details will be available early January 2024. Apologies.
Campaigners for Black Lives Matter, Swanage, 2020