ROCKETING house prices and a shortage of skilled workers are leading to increasing recruitment difficulties at Dorset County Council. The council with 12,000 employees including teachers is the biggest employer in the county outside of Bournemouth and
IMAGINE if simple activities like climbing the stairs left you exhausted and fighting for breath. This is what life is like for hundreds of Dorset people who suffer from heart failure. Heart failure doesn't mean that your heart has stopped - rather that
THIS August sees the welcome return of the Holton Lee Horse Show and Country Fayre accompanied by a classic car show. "This year we hope to make it the largest yet to raise much needed funds for Holton Lee, a short-stay residential centre for disabled
BASHLEY (Rydal) II enlisted the support of Western Australia's Luke Ronchi at Leckford in a bid to boost their flagging Southern Electric Premier League, Division Three fortunes. But skipper Graham Pardey's plan badly misfired when the 21-year old Australian
SCHOOLS in Poole are hoarding so much money that one councillor has denounced it as "verging on the criminal". Instead of spending taxpayers' money to reduce class sizes, some schools are simply stashing it away in savings accounts, watching the interest
IF YOU are determined to party then Poole people have proved the weather doesn't matter a jot. The thousands of Jubilee joysters who crowded into Poole's massive Party @ the Park might as well have been sheltering under sunhats rather than tents and umbrellas
DORCHESTER secured cricket's Championship of the Ridgeway with an emphatic victory over arch-rivals Weymouth at the Rec. The unfancied county town team turned the form book on its head to take this NSA Dorset Premier Division clash by a thumping 76-run
DORCHESTER secured cricket's Championship of the Ridgeway with an emphatic victory over arch-rivals Weymouth at the Rec. The unfancied county town team turned the form book on its head to take this NSA Dorset Premier Division clash by a thumping 76-run
WEYMOUTH and Dorchester Town officials have today welcomed the Football League's announcement that relegation to and promotion from the Football Conference will increase to two teams from the start of next season. The member clubs voted in favour of the
FOUR-time World champion Tony Rickardsson sat in his giant mobile transporter mulling over a dramatic night's events after seeing his hopes of a British Grand Prix double squashed. The Poole Meridian Lifts rider, chasing his fifth World crown in nine
SOUTH Dorset could be set to hold a world-class sporting event which would bring thousands of visitors to the town. Weymouth is being considered by the international biathlon governing body to hold its world championship in 2004. An estimated 15,000 visitors
DORCHESTER is set for its best-ever Carnival after organisers revealed that entries have soared in a burst of patriotic fever. Dorchester Round Table has lined up a host of events for carnival day on Saturday for the Golden Jubilee-themed extravaganza
DORSET County Council is to lobby the Government for increased protection for dolphins off the south coast. The move comes after conservationists voiced fears that industrial fishing ships are killing more mammals, and county councillors raised concerns
HAIR-RAISING fundraising was the order of the day when a Weymouth teenager had his legs waxed to raise more than £150 for a visit to South Africa. Chris Stewart, 17, is one of 14 youngsters taking part in a three-week youth exchange to Johannesburg in
UNDER-fire church leaders have finally broken their silence over a legal battle with New Forest villagers to build a half-million-pound hall complex - and been slammed for their "arrogance". Hordle's Parochial Church Council (PCC) and vicar Rev Michael
PROUD vegetable growers and dog owners are being urged to put their names down now to take part in this year's New Forest Show. Home-grown foods will be going on display before the tens of thousands of visitors to the event at Brockenhurst in a new showcase
A TERRIFIED woman who found burglars had axed their way into her house is shocked that police took more than an hour to respond to her 999 call. And when her neighbour's alarm went off a few days later Lynne Adcook investigated herself - armed with a
DORSET'S SPS Media Group has supported local artist Esther Yarnold's photographic exhibition at Bournemouth's Ocean-arium. Her Tendrils of Light exhibition depicts projections and silhouettes of sea creatures, predominantly sharks. SPS supplied the display
LEE James regained top spot in the European Challenge Tour order of merit after finishing second in the Danish Open yesterday. James carded a final round 69 at Horsens and was pipped for the title by just one shot by Austria's Ed Stedman. But the Southbourne-based
IT IS "make a wish" time for Poole residents. During the next few weeks everyone living or working in Poole will have a chance to help shape the future of the town. The consultation, organised by the council at the behest of the government, will encourage
CHEERING residents packed out the streets of Ferndown on Saturday afternoon for a special Jubilee-themed carnival. The sun shone down on the procession which wound a circular route through streets including Cherry Grove, Church Road and Penny's Hill,
THEY may be dreaming of the World Cup trophy, but school children across Bournemouth will be holding royal cups above their heads. All children in the borough are being given commemorative Golden Jubilee mugs courtesy of the town's education bosses. Youngsters
A THRIVING Dorset village will come under the spotlight when it stages the world premiere of a new film. But instead of a glittering array of celebrities walking up a red carpet for the occasion, around 100 villagers will pack the local hall to see the
WAREHAM civic leaders have launched a £9,000 appeal to create a permanent Golden Jubilee memorial on the town's South Bridge. The plan is to place six decorative three-quarter size lamps - three on either side of the bridge to enhance the historic entrance
FOR months it has been feared that all that's golden will far from glitter. Newspapers have been full of speculation that this year's Golden Jubilee celebrations will fall flat. Public support today has been compared over and over again to interest in
PIRATES star Tony Rickardsson had already pinpointed Ryan Sullivan as one of his major challengers for this year's World title before the Australian swept to British Grand Prix glory in Cardiff. Sullivan, the Peterborough racer who rode for Poole on loan
BLACK and green faces replaced those painted red and white for the World Cup in Wimborne's streets as the 22nd three-day folk festival swung into action. Old favourites like Spank the Planks and Quayside Cloggies provided some of the street dancing. And
A LINE of visitor centres is planned to stretch along Dorset's prized heritage coast like a 'string of pearls'. Bosses from Dorset County Council hope the complexes at seaside towns from Lyme Regis to Purbeck will tell the story of the coast. The proposals
DORSET castles will set the scene for merriment and murder during an open-air Summer Shakespeare Festival. The Groundlings Theatre Company is bringing Elizabethan comedy and tragedy to landmarks at Portland, Corfe and Lulworth in a season designed to
A CODE of conduct for rock climbers on Portland is to be enforced. The code was reviewed after complaints were directed at climbers, blaming them for scaring sea birds away from the island's cliffs into built-up areas. The new actions are designed to
CARING Ted Higgins is now officially the best neighbour in the South West. Mr Higgins, 72, from Bridport, scooped the regional title after impressing judges with his good deeds. He was nominated for the awards by disabled neighbour Frances Cook because
Dorset Wildlife Trust is calling for improvements to grant schemes which reward farmers for managing their grasslands for wildlife. New research showing a startling decline in the state of England's much-loved meadows and pastures has been unveiled in
BUS users in the New Forest will be first to test out new state-of-the-art ticket facilities on the Wilts and Dorset network later this month. Services running from Lymington to Bournemouth and also Southampton will use different tickets from Sunday,
CHERRIES boss Sean O'Driscoll has paid tribute to the "shrewd" business acumen of Harry Redknapp following Richard Hughes's departure to Portsmouth. Former Cherries manager Redknapp snapped up the out-of-contract Scottish under-21 international for a
CASH-strapped Cherries will receive a £50,000 windfall after the Football League ratified proposals for promotion and relegation changes with the Conference. From the start of next season, two teams will be promoted from the Conference and two relegated
