Farewell to Yvonne after a Fabulous 30 Years

Artsreach past and present staff, trustees and village partners gathered recently at Buckland Newton village hall to bid farewell to Yvonne Gallimore, who retired at the end of July, after nearly 30 years with Dorset's rural touring arts charity.

The tributes to Yvonne and her"massive contribution to Artsreach and the wider cultural scene in Dorset" were led by Ian Scott, the long-time director of the charity, which was founded in 1990. Artsreach is best known for bringing a vast range of performances to village halls across rural Dorset – theatre, music in all genres, dance, comedy, spoken word - but for many years there was also an important touring visual arts component, and Yvonne was the key figure in these early projects. 

Yvonne's impact on Artsreach and Dorset began with the first visual arts tour, Material World, in 1998. This exhibition, with its punning title, focused on contemporary craft textiles, functional, decorative and wearable. Many will remember the amazing and exciting range of work, often using unusual source materials, such as nettles (a dress that definitely didn't sting you!)

As Ian Scott recalled, this exhibition was well-attended and – even more importantly – sold well for the artists, "a major objective in a county that then had loads of individual, relatively isolated visual artists and relatively few galleries." Yvonne, he said, had "helped to establish a contemporary modern aesthetic" for Artsreach.

Subsequent travelling exhibitions, often accompanied by workshops with craftspeople and makers, included Branching Out, willow sculpture, basketry, furniture and paper, All Fired Up, ceramics, and Making Advances, experimental work challenging the boundaries between art and craft. 

Kerry Bartlett, the current Executive Director, recalled meeting Yvonne, 14 years ago, when Kerry joined Artsreach: "Yvonne has been something of a work mum to me having taken me under her wing from the day I arrived. She probably didn't realise she was applying for the role, but she's been doing it brilliantly ever since."

Yvonne has been involved with every aspect of Artsreach, not only curating exhibitions and helping to discover exciting new groups and performers for the touring programme, but also working tirelessly on the children's workshop programmes, nurturing long-term projects, such as the William Barnes celebration with music, poetry and Dorset food (now lovingly known as the annual 'Tea with William Barnes'). 

Kerry said: "Yvonne has always firmly believed that the arts are fundamentally about people and bringing people together – and that has shone through in every aspect of her commitment to the work."

That commitment was recognised this year at the National Rural Touring Forum conference in June 2026 when Yvonne was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award – and received a standing ovation. She was genuinely surprised, having assumed that it would go to others. "The truth is that Yvonne still doesn't recognise the remarkable impact she has had during her time with Artsreach."

That recognition was also recognised by the number of people involved with Artsreach at her retirement party – including Dorset folk singer, musician and actor Tim Laycock, sculptor and artist Lal Hitchcock and furniture maker and sustainable artist Karen Hansen, who had both participated in several visual arts projects.

Barbara Fraser, a long-time Artsreach village partner (Portesham), supporter, volunteer and former trustee and chairman, has known Yvonne since the early years and recalled spending time with her, "and how much I came to admire her crazy ideas which turned out not to be crazy at all."

When Portesham showed the Changing Views exhibition, Yvonne and her family "swept into the hall and within three hours our rather barren hall was turned into a fascinating display area with large, white-painted blocks, screens and the artworks themselves. Sunday evening came and Yvonne, Adam and family packed it all into a van and drove away. Not much fuss ... a lot of hard work."

There were also warm tributes from Debbie Evans, the Purbeck-based chairman of the Artsreach trustees and Tracy Cooper, Dorset Council's Senior Arts and Culture officer. These were followed by presentations and gifts, including a handsome bay tree. And then, of course, tea – proper Artsreach tea, with home-made cakes, cookies, macaroons and scones.

Finally, on a personal note, as we have known Artsreach from the outset and Yvonne throughout all those years, we would like to add our congratulations and thanks for so many great experiences, for answers to our random questions, for all her help and ideas. Rural Dorset has been fortunate to have Yvonne – and Ian and Kerry – running what we know to be the country's finest rural touring arts charity.

Written by Gay Pirrie-Weir, reviewer for the original Blackmore Vale Magazine (BVM), former arts editor of the Western Gazette and co-editor of the Fine Times Recorder arts and food website, and Fanny Charles (former Artsreach trustee and Chair, long time ago Western Gazette reporter, 23-years editor of the BVM, now FTR co-editor)