Welcome to DCF eNews Autumn 2025
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DCF Annual Conference 2025 Book your ticket now!
📅 Date: Wednesday 19 November
📍 Venue: RNLI College, Poole
⏲ Time: 9:00am – 3:00pm
DCF members are invited to the DCF Annual Conference on Wednesday 19 November at the RNLI College in Poole. We have another exciting conference planned with insightful speakers, together with our usual fantastic networking opportunities. This year we will also be marking three decades of coastal collaboration as the forum celebrates its 30-year anniversary.
Agenda Highlights include:
Rising to the Challenge: Navigating Climate and Ecological Crises
- Dorset’s Clean Energy Super Cluster – Opportunities and what this means for Dorset, Matthew Piles, Strategic Director, Dorset Council
- Adapting to Warming Seas in the South West: Challenges and Possibilities, Professor Rick Stafford, Bournemouth University
The Changing Tides of Fishing, and Marine Nature Recovery
- Fishing Futures: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Insight
Rob Clarke, Association of IFCA
- The Poole Harbour Aquatic Management Plan .…. What’s it all about?
Luke Bennett, Project Lead
- Oyster Restoration in the Solent: Lessons for Reviving Marine Habitats
Matt Uttley, Blue Marine Foundation
Shorelines and Stories: Building Coastal Community Connections
- Why stories matter – World Heritage and the Jurassic Coast
Sam Scriven, World Heritage Site Principal Officer, Dorset Council
- Making beaches accessible for everyone, Will Behenna, Beach Access Project
Ocean Conservation Trust and Ocean Literacy, Megan Ross, Blue Meadows Community Engagement Officer, Ocean Conservation Trust
Find out more and book your ticket here
Celebrating Coastal Lives Exhibition
A huge thank you to everyone who nominated a Coastal Champion as part of our 30-year celebrations! Your incredible support has helped bring the Coastal Life Stories exhibition to life.
Over the past few months, the exhibition has travelled the Dorset coast showcasing the passion, dedication, and impact of coastal champions – from conservationists and community volunteers to educators and local businesses. The free public exhibition closes in November with its final stop at Gather in the Dolphin Centre, Poole from 11-14 November. The exhibition will also be available on loan, so if you are interested in hosting the exhibition at your venue, please get in touch at dorset.coast@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
Beach of Dreams comes to Dorset
The recent Beach of Dreams national arts programme of events culminated in an exciting grand parade in Weymouth with three DCF project flags selected to grace the gig boats as they entered Weymouth harbour (see main image). Designs for the flags were created during some of our summer engagement activities and as part of the celebrations, were carried along selected stretches of the coast path by the team in the run up to the finale.
