LOCAL anglers figured prominently during the Swanage Pegged Open although Eddie Painter from West Bay carried off the £500 top prize plus another £93 in pools with a 4lb 4oz catch of wrasse, pout and pollack. John Moseley, a member of Boscombe and Southbourne
ELEVEN companies have submitted bids to buy Bournemouth's threatened Winter Gardens from the borough council. It is not yet known whether any of them would save the historic concert hall - but one supporter says he is hopeful the venue could be spared
A MOUTH-watering gourmet menu served up in a top Bournemouth Hotel is being held next week - and it is all in aid of the Daily Echo backed £1.2 million Domino Appeal to build a school for children with autism in Dorset. The black and white themed night
A BOURNEMOUTH secondary school has been praised in the annual report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools. Glenmoor School is among particularly successful schools named in the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) report, having achieved
PORTLAND United will be without defender Danny Cullen for tonight's FA Carlsberg Vase second qualifying round replay against Amesbury Town at the Recreation Ground, kick-off 7.45pm. The teenage right-back is unavailable for the trip to Wiltshire and so
ANIMAL rights campaigners have said they will fight a potential legal action over an exotic animals fair near Dorchester. Jerry Cole, who has been breeding and selling exotic animals for more than 20 years, held the fair, featuring lizards, frogs, falcons
SHIPS were stopped from entering an area off Portland Bill after a live mine was found in the sea. The minesweeper Grimsby found the phosphorous mine yesterday morning and set up a 1,000 metre exclusion zone for other vessels as a safety precaution. The
A CAMPAIGNER for the disabled was tipped out of his wheelchair on his way to Dorchester Town Council to warn members that the town was a death-trap for those with mobility difficulties. Chris Irwin, from Fordington, was left "shaken" after the accident
MANDY Selleck is getting set to take to the skies in memory of her champion swimmer brother - even though she's so terrified of heights she had to be taken off an aeroplane in a wheelchair. But Mandy, 41, whose brother Paul died of multiple sclerosis,
SEVENTEEN-STONE Jenny Cross laughed about her weight - until a deckchair collapsed under her on a romantic holiday. But now, six stone lighter, champion slimmer Jenny is smiling again. The 46-year-old began comfort eating as her 24-year marriage broke
DEVELOPERS have unveiled plans to build a new housing estate on the site of a Weymouth factory. Fourteen houses and 23 flats are included in the scheme which is earmarked for land at Ferrybridge, currently occupied by the firm W and J Tod. Tod's, an international
DORSET heathland will be restored by an army of helpers as the Ministry of Defence joins forces with conservationists. The Government department is joining up with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' (RSPB) Dorset Heathland Project to help
YOUNGSTERS in care and ethnic-minority communities are badly served by social services in Dorset according to a new report out today. A joint review of social services across the county by the Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate reveals
RINGWOOD'S perennial flower event could face bloom-or-bust unless urgently-needed volunteers step into the breach. The town's Ringwood in Bloom Committee must dig deep to recruit four new volunteers to ensure the 12-year-old event continues to grow and
TEENAGE forward Jason Bethel marked his Wimborne first team debut with a second-half try as they beat Devizes 22-0. The 19-year old was one of four colts thrown into the Wimborne side as they recorded their biggest win over the Wiltshire club for 15 years
PIRATES kept their Elite League title dreams alive with a stunning victory at the East of England Showground last night. They went into the meeting knowing that only victory would be good enough to keep the pressure on league leaders Oxford. And by the
BOURNEMOUTH and Poole - which have traditionally used location and lifestyle to offset their low wages - have been ranked in the bottom half of a quality of life league table. Bournemouth is ranked in the bottom 50 places to live in Experian's league
RECORD-breaking Poole Runners' star Nick Phillips was the pick of the 50 competitors who took part in the club's pentathlon championships. Phillips won the boys' under-15 competition with a new club record 2,140 points. He set a personal best time of
A LATE try-spree saw Swanage run out 28-7 winners over arch-rivals Dorchester in Saturday's local derby match at Bestwall. They scored three tries in the last five minutes to seal their first win of the South West League Division One season. The home
CHILDREN are not at risk despite Bournemouth having one third of their child social workers missing, the town's social services chief has claimed. Vacant posts for child social workers have reached a peak of more than 30 per cent within Bournemouth Social
STAFF and students at Bournemouth's Talbot Heath School have returned for the autumn term to news of a very favourable report from the Independent Schools Inspectorate. Inspectors praised the friendly atmosphere at the Rothesay Road school and the sensitive
POOLE Hospital has taken on 20 staff from India to help address the local shortage of trained nurses. The 18 women and two men start next month, working under supervision for up to six months before they can apply for UK registration. The move follows
All is not what it seems at the former home of a famous Poole seafarer and it's giving cleaning staff the spooks. As the lights go out at Jolliffe House and the hustle and bustle turns to silence an eerie chill lurks in the corridors. The offices are
A LATE try-spree saw Swanage run out 28-7 winners over arch-rivals Dorchester in Saturday's local derby match at Bestwall. They scored three tries in the last five minutes to seal their first win of the South West League Division One season. The home
BOURNEMOUTH Amateur Boxing Club are giving all wannabe Mike Tyson's the chance to hone their skills at the club's Stokewood Road home. Senior trainers Derek Glanville and Ted Streek would welcome any new recruits. Junior training sessions take place on
POOLE Pirates kept their Elite League title dreams alive with a stunning victory at the East of England Showground last night. They went into the meeting knowing that only victory would be good enough to keep the pressure on league leaders Oxford. And
A TOTAL of 84 anglers, members of the National Passenger Transport Association and coming from as far afield as Plymouth and Scotland, were involved locally in a points competition involving 24 teams. Ray Sleet caught the biggest ray, an undulate, weighing
The lucrative English language teaching business could be hard hit by the current international situation, tourism bosses have warned. Worries abound that foreign students, who generate £75m worth of business in Bournemouth each year, may put off travelling
AN ambulance 999 crew has been threatened by a gunman and a paramedic stabbed in the head. These are two of the horrifying cases of paramedics coming under attack as they go about their life-saving work. Medics even face "no go" situations at squats booby-trapped
RADIO presenter Ed "Stewpot" Stewart auctioned prizes including a holiday and helicopter sightseeing trip at a charity event in Bournemouth. Poole-based corporate interior designers PSL Workplace and the BIC/Pavilion Golf Society raised more than £4,000
A SOLDIER from Poole is one of the first British troops in the Middle East preparing for an Allied invasion against the terrorists responsible for the New York Apocalypse. Ben Churchill, aged 21, a lance corporal with 39 Engineer Regiment, the Corps of
DEVELOPERS hoping to build four times the acceptable number of flats on a site have been told to reconsider by planners. McCarthy and Stone wanted to build a seven-storey block of 64 sheltered flats on a site measuring slightly under an acre in The Avenue
Eagle-eyed concert-goers will be able to hunt the zebra when they take their seats in the newly refurbished Wessex Hall at Poole Arts Centre. As part of the £8.5m project to spruce up the building as it approaches its 25th anniversary, the main concert
Bashley suffered another away defeat in the Dr Martens Eastern Division, after a 2-1 reverse at bottom-of-the-table Sittingbourne last night. Despite taking the lead, the New Foresters completed their fourth straight league loss on their travels. Club
WESSEX Volleyball Club made history last weekend as they fielded the youngest ever side to play in a National Volleyball League Division One game. The Wessex side included 16-year-old Drew Flanagan as they began their new season with a disappointing straight
CHATHAM TOWN 2, DORCHESTER TOWN 2 TEN-MAN Chatham repelled a late Dorchester onslaught to hang on for a share of the points on the Magpies first visit to the Maidstone Road Ground last night. Danny O'Hagan struck a double for the Magpies and he was unlucky
WEYMOUTH is facing a housing crisis with young people being forced away from the town by high prices and soaring numbers of homeless on the streets. Today a leading councillor proposes a series of measures to combat the growing housing problems. Liberal
HOSPITAL bosses in West Dorset have been criticised by the Government for failing to reduce junior doctors' hours. This was one of the main reasons why the General Hospitals NHS Trust - which runs the county hospital in Dorchester and provides services
OCTOGENARIAN jazz giant Humphrey Lyttleton was spotted early on in his career as an emerging talent. "That boy's coming on" was the comment of the legendary Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong about the young Humph in 1948. Eton-educated Lyttleton, who first picked
A SPECIAL appeal has been launched by Weymouth's historic Nothe Fort for Second World War grocery packaging and a shop till. Fort staff intend to use and duplicate the packaging as part of a new year for their popular Evacuees Experience for junior age
LIFEGUARD patrols on a Spanish beach where a New Milton man saved three people from drowning have been reinstated. It has emerged that the Red Cross stopped its patrols on the beach in the Costa Blanca a week before the incident in which a British man
TOURING theatre company Forest Forge continues its trek around the village halls and community centres of the South this week. The Ringwood-based players are a week into a month-long tour with their new production, Silks, Spices and Spirits. The play,
BASHLEY suffered another away defeat in the Dr Martens Eastern Division, after a 2-1 reverse at bottom-of-the-table Sittingbourne on Tuesday. Despite taking the lead, the New Foresters completed their fourth straight league loss on their travels. Club
RINGWOOD Town crashed out of the Russell Cotes Cup in a 4-1 defeat at Jewson Wessex League Bemerton Heath Harlequins. The New Forest side, who are currently sitting in second place in the Hampshire Premier Division, fell behind after a quarter of an hour
CHERRIES Captain Eddie Howe praised James Hayter's sharp-shooting prowess after the young striker grabbed the winner in an impressive 1-0 win over Reading at the Avenue Stadium last night. Hayter cracked his second goal of the season in the 71st minute
THE Royalty fishery which is controlled by the Christchurch club has giving some excellent sport during the past week with John McGough landing eight barbel in two days which included specimens of 10-15, 11-1 and 12-14 from the Piles swim. Peter Spears
SOUTH West Trains has given £250 to shunt into life an appeal for a Bournemouth-based dance school to raise money for uniforms for its young disco dancers. Footsteps School of Dance in Francis Avenue, was set up by Paul and Jean Durham with just 20 members
AFC Bournemouth has revealed the name and planned opening date for the club's all-seater stadium. The Cherries' new home will be called the Fitness First Stadium at Dean Court - and the club faces a "race against time" to make its debut there on November
LIFEGUARD patrols on a Spanish beach where a New Milton man saved three people from drowning have been reinstated. It has emerged that the Red Cross stopped its patrols on the beach in the Costa Blanca a week before the incident in which a British man
A-LEVEL politics students put Lib-Dem leader Charles Kennedy on the spot about racial prejudice, identity cards and the party's 1997 pact with New Labour when he visited Bournemouth and Poole College. Mr Kennedy was joined in his informal question-and-answer
A LEADING conservation charity hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis is urging countryside lovers to support it in its hour of need. Managers at Dorset Wildlife Trust believe they have lost more than £40,000 as a result of the outbreak, which caused them to
CHERRIES returned to top form with a riveting win over Reading last night. Sean O'Driscoll's boys put their two-match losing streak firmly behind them to turn the Royals over. It was a morale-boosting win and a performance that saw confidence seeping
WEYMOUTH are setting the early pace at the top of the Dorset Squash Leagues. Having already beaten New Forest 17-5 at home, the seasiders travelled to Poole where they overwhelmed the South Dorset second team. Youngster Aaron Steele dispatched South Dorset
WEYMOUTH Reserves boss Dave Kitely introduces another 15-year-old to his Jewson Wessex Combination squad tonight when the young Terras visit lowly Downton Reserves. Nathan Walker, younger brother of Terras midfielder Mike Walker, was one of three members
It wasn't so long ago that all modern Welsh music meant to the average Joe was Tom Jones, Max Boyce and maybe a spot of close harmony singing. Today it couldn't be more different. As much an apparent hotbed of rock talent as London or Manchester, in recent
MORE than 100 people poured into the second workshop for Dorchester's fourth community play, Fire from Heaven. Every week until the November auditions, workshops are being held to whet the theatrical appetites of would-be actors. More than 50 people turned
THE son of a Dorset woman is among the latest victims named as missing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. Jeremy Carrington was working for the financial house Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the twin towers when the planes
BAe Systems' GP3 command and control system has successfully completed trials with the British Army. GP3 - key software in the Ministry of Defence's digitised battlefield communications system - was tested at the Land Systems Reference Centre (LSRC) at
THIRTEEN-year-old triathlete Amber Austin was placed eighth overall in the country after competing in the national series triathlon event. Amber, who races for Team Synergie, competed at Dover, the Wirral, Marlborough and Nottingham and was placed sixth
YOU need to be a high-flyer to get a glimpse of an exclusive millionaires' playground nestling on a secluded island in the heart of Christchurch. A swamp between two branches of the River Avon between the bridges in Bridge Street has been transformed
A HUGELY popular playgroup has proved a big hit with grown-ups judging a national competition. Experts from Early Years Educator magazine, the UK journal for nursery nurses and teachers, shortlisted the Highcliffe-based Chewton Common Playgroup for a
