Duncan Rust

My address is Little Briar, Main Street, Broadmayne. I am 24, was born in London in Mayday Hospital, Croydon, and brought up in Fleet in Hampshire. When I was seventeen I began a mechanical engineering apprenticeship with the Ministry of Defence and obtained a place on a Youth Training Scheme at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. This preceded my Ministry of Defence involvement at Portland.

My parents have been good to me; they have helped me out, especially with buying a house and starting out in life with my wife, Sharon. They visit us about once a month.

Sharon and I moved into this house three years ago. When we were looking, there were two houses in this village within our price range, both were up for sale for around £45,000 - the other house was on the Main Street just four down from the shop. On the day we were to view both houses, the keys wouldn’t fit the other house, so we were only able to view this one and decided we wanted it. We bought it for £42,000 and going on the price increases in the village, it is probably now worth about £55,000 – quite a nice little increase. We bought right at the bottom of the ‘slump’ in the housing market; not as an investment – it has just happened that way. It’s a terraced house and is one of three cottages made at the same period in 1850. The two cottages next door have been converted into one and this cottage has had an extension on the back with a kitchen and bathroom – so we have got the one lounge downstairs and it also doubles as a dining area. We have a porch, which we don’t use because the car is in the way, so that is actually my tool-box area. The staircase in the corner leads up to two bedrooms – we are looking at possible ways of converting the front bedroom into two bedrooms, if and when children come along.

Our cottage incorporates a passage from the road to the back garden through which our neighbours and ourselves have access. We have a small, but mature garden that is very pleasant and it gets a lot of sun in the summer. The first proper sunlight comes at 8.30 and the sun stays in the garden right through until about 7.30 in the evening. On the Dorchester side of the cottage is Charlie Talbot’s farmhouse and farm and on the Warmwell side, beyond the next cottage, is the church. We have about four feet between the front of our house and the road on which we park our car precariously – we have been warned by the police about possible damage but no damage has occurred to it yet.

I have never really liked ‘town’ life and certainly don’t like ‘city’ life. Meeting Sharon and her family living in the village was so appealing I decided that was what I wanted. Having moved to Broadmayne, it is just brilliant; I love it here, out of the hustle and bustle and yet not too far from work and shopping.

I’m a trained mechanical engineer and did my apprenticeship at Portland, during which period I was able to go away on sea trials. I did a lot of design work concerned with fitting out the ship for trials in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately I got ‘kicked off’ the ship at Falmouth because, as an apprentice, I had to go to college on day release and I was not allowed to miss a day. I enjoyed my apprenticeship thoroughly but, due to a government rationalisation programme, the establishment closed and I was told that, after my apprenticeship, I was not going to be taken on within the Ministry of Defence. I then joined a company called Finegrind Products on the Granby Industrial Estate in Weymouth as a mechanical inspector and stayed there for two years. I enjoyed the job but as there were no prospects of advancement, I moved to a company called David Aldridge Animation based in Crossways, and was employed as an Animation Engineer making animated models. At Christmas 1998, we had a display of twenty-five gnomes in Harrods store in London and have since installed three animated sets at the Shire Horse Centre in Cornwall. Initially, there was a lot of work, but it started to dry up and I was made redundant. I had a period of unemployment, which was a mixture of anger, boredom and frustration; however, I must say that I had a lot of replies from my letters enquiring about job possibilities. From the experience of other people in a similar situation, I have the impression that employers often do not reply. The Job Centre was generally helpful but they didn’t actually find me a job; obviously this is not the best area for finding a job in engineering. I am quite specialised and being so young I have not yet got lengthy experience. One really annoying thing after being made redundant was the very first letter I got from the Job Centre – this was a standard computer letter saying that I had not paid enough National Insurance stamps to receive any unemployment benefit; together with the prospect of redundancy, this was – to say the least – not a very nice feeling, This was, however, a computer error and was corrected. I have now started back with the Ministry of Defence working on tanks and lorries; so far, I am enjoying it and there does seem to be the possibility for promotion.

One of my hobbies is making wine; at the moment I have got some mead going upstairs as well as some rice and raisin wine. I’m afraid I cheat a little as I buy the honey from the supermarket. I just dabble; I don’t take it seriously and I’m not always successful, but I enjoy doing it. I also really enjoy keeping fish and have a home-made pond with a filter in the garden in which I keep Japanese koi carp. The filter is a mixture of hair curlers and brushes and porous rock, all in several different cold water tanks, which is pumped round twenty-four hours a day – carp are very fussy about their living conditions. It works as well as any commercial system and I made it for a small fraction of the cost. It’s now been running for two and a half years and the fish are nice and healthy. The largest fish that I bought two and a half years ago to stock the pond, were probably about four and a half to five inches long and are now in excess of sixteen inches and quite happy. The pond has been placed in a heron-free zone and is in a corner of two tall walls and covered with netting.

I was brought up as a Baptist and went to church regularly; I was also in the Boys Brigade. Since moving away I wouldn’t say that I have lost my faith – I still talk to God in private moments. There isn’t really any reason why I don’t go to church but time is a major factor.

There is not much the village lacks in amenities; we have a petrol station, garage, the pub, the shop and the village hall. We’ve got a lot more than some other villages and now we have a very useful regular bus service. I can see the government’s problem with providing rural community transport – the problem being limited use. I remember there was mention of a cycle path from the Warmwell Roundabout into Dorchester – I think I read two or three articles about it and then nothing has been said since. I would like to see it happen – it would be a good asset.

Sharon Rust