NINETY-nine jobs are being lost at a world-class air bearings manufacturer based in Dorset in its latest spate of redundancies. Directors and senior managers at Westwind in Holton Heath have volunteered to take a 20 per cent pay cut in a bid to minimise
BURGLARS have stolen thousands of pounds of horse harnesses from a charity centre for disabled people. The East Holton Driving Centre at Holton Lee, Holton Heath, teaches horse carriage driving for adults suffering physical and learning disabilities.
A COURAGEOUS woman beat an armed raider with a walking stick and smashed the window of a get-away car in an attempt to stop the thieves from making off with stolen cash. The have-a-go heroine, 56, from Bournemouth was in Holdenhurst Road East Post Office
CONTROVERSIAL proposals to start dumping waste in the New Forest have been thrown out. Hampshire County Council has blocked plans by contractors George Farwell Ltd to fill in a former quarry on land off North Common Lane, Sway, after residents said enough
THE Echo has teamed up with Sainsbury's to offer readers the chance to bid for a whole host of the supermarket's goodies. Don't miss the Daily Echo six days a week for your chance to join this great give-away auction. Below is a list of the latest bids
With a top-notch cast, music by Howard Shore and direction by Frank Oz, this tale of dishonour among thieves should be the biz. Unfortunately it isn't. Marlon Brando, Robert de Niro and Edward Norton all do their jobs well, Norton in particular, but there's
MANAGER Chris Collinge hopes Brockenhurst's FA Cup second qualifying round tie with non-league giants Kingstonian will stir the imagination of the paying public. The Badgers' boss is urging any Cherries' fans not making the 250-mile trip to Stoke to shun
HIGHWORTH Town's tiny Recreation Ground is the perfect venue for an FA Cup upset, according to their manager Chris Seagraves. And that's why the struggling Hellenic Premier League minnows turned down the chance to switch tomorrow's AXA-sponsored FA Cup
GIANT lock Marcus Foice returns to Dorchester's first team tomorrow for their South-West Division One game at Coburg Road against high-fliers Bridgwater and Albion, kick-off 3pm. The county town have struggled in their first two league outings so far
A YOUNG Bridport man is on a life support machine after being engulfed in flames in an accident at work. Ben Renshaw, 20, and another apprentice were grinding an engine part at the jet-ski manufacturers where they work in Poole when a spark flew and hit
HE WAS Britain's answer to Elvis. In the 1950s, as the fever known as rock 'n' roll swept across the Atlantic, only one mean, moody idol could come close to the king in Memphis. He arrived in the unlikely form of Ronald Wycherley, a deckhand on a Mersey
A WEYMOUTH shopkeeper alerted police after a man hired a pilot's uniform the day after the World Trade Centre was attacked. Special Branch detectives are investigating the incident after the man, who is described as being of Middle Eastern appearance,
BUS driver Steve May is gearing up for a celebration to remember after scooping an £18,000 cash prize. Steve, 40, of Heathcote Close in Dorchester, has pocketed the money after winning the Dorset Echo Find the Ball competition jackpot. Steve, who lives
CRIME-BUSTING surveillance cameras will be installed in one of Weymouth's oldest churches. All Saints' Church in Wyke Regis is in line for a state-of-the-art security system after a string of attacks last year. Yobs damaged ancient stonework, scattered
AN AUSTRALIAN ship's captain visiting Portland to buy HMS Bulldog lost 3,000 photographs and three years' work when thieves stole his laptop computer. Rocka Romcke, 38, is negotiating to buy the former Royal Navy warship Bulldog for a wealthy foreign
FAMILIES in Weymouth campaigning for traffic calming measures in their road have been told they will not receive speed bumps, despite presenting a 70-name petition to Weymouth and Portland Borough Councillors. The campaign was started by residents of
WEYMOUTH has secured a new volunteer bureau - more than a year after its predecessor shut down without warning. People were shocked when the Maiden Street bureau closed suddenly in January 2000 after staff admitted they had "lost heart" due to constant
GRAND Prix surprise package Grzegorz Walasek has been ruled out of the Swedish GP in Stockholm tomorrow (6pm). The 25-year-old Pole, who has performed so well as a wild card this year, was due to step in for the injured Jimmy Nilsen. But it has now been
COMPANIES across the South could find themselves caught out by stakeholder pension rules - even if they already have a pension scheme. Firms with group personal pension (GPP) schemes could be forced to implement a stakeholder scheme if that GPP is not
THIS was the dramatic scenes as armed police turned up at a house in Poole yesterday evening and hauled four men into a riot van. Police refused to say last night what the raid on the home in Good Road, off Herbert Avenue, was in connection with but neighbours
THE suicide attackers who struck the USA were spawned by human rights abuses and lack of democracy, an MP has said. Bournemouth East Conservative David Atkinson has called for politicians to be "tougher on the causes of terrorism". Mr Atkinson has won
RICHARD Carr's Future 3000 group is to liquidate one of its companies with estimated debts of around £500,000. Up to 150 creditors say they are owed money by Dance Til U Drop. Mr Carr has personally lost £110,000 as the second largest creditor. Dance
TOURISM leaders are discussing plans for Dorset in case a bid to make the Purbeck coastline a World Heritage Site proves a success. The decision is due to be announced this December and if successful it will put Purbeck's stunning coastline in the same
Football is a funny old game and Mike Bassett: England Manager is a funny old film, a British comedy set in the dog-eat-dog world of international soccer. The incomparable Ricky Tomlinson plays Mike Bassett, old-fashioned manager of first division Norwich
LOVE and lust, lies and spies, the cloak and dagger cut and thrust of wartime secrets and sex surface in Michael Apted's menacingly muted adaptation of Robert Harris' Second World War thriller/romance, Enigma. Cambridge mathematician Tom Jericho (Dougray
FORMER Weymouth keeper Dan Claxton is set to make his Screwfix Direct Premier Division debut for Bridport against Keynsham Town at St Mary's Field tomorrow, ko 3pm. The giant ex-Terra is being lined up as a replacement for regular number one Martin Peters
PORTLAND'S new-found defensive confidence will be tested tomorrow at another of the Jewson Wessex League's most established sides Lymington and New Milton. The Blues rearguard is beginning to settle after a shaky start and three successive clean sheets
WEYMOUTH begin their Hampshire League Division One campaign at home to Southampton tomorrow, push-back 1pm. And the EHA Vase holders will be looking to pick up where they left off against Tring at the National Stadium in May. But despite having lost four
WHERE would Weymouth Cricket Club have been without the services of Ben de Vos this summer? The South African all-rounder stood head and shoulders above his team-mates during the Seasiders' NSA Dorset Premier Division challenge. And so it's no surprise
VETERAN big band leader Don Lusher arrives in Bourne-mouth this weekend with one of the most star-studded outfits since the glorious days of Ted Heath. The band he brings to the Pavilion Theatre in Bournemouth on Sunday is preceded by its awesome reputation
TWO sixth formers from Dorchester's Thomas Hardye School were fighting for their lives today after their car collided with a lorry in Martinstown - just days after villagers demanded safety improvements at the scene of the accident. Tom Grindle, 16, and
GUESTS and residents of Trimar Hospice celebrated the opening of a new extension with a grand ceremony attended by guests and dignitaries. The event marked the opening of the new Norfolk Room of the hospice in Greenhill, Weymouth. The room has been funded
UP to 250 youngsters from Budmouth Technology College, Weymouth, have just returned from a week of adventure on Dartmoor. The youngsters have just joined Budmouth from a dozen primary schools in the area, but they had only been at the college for a few
A TEAM of juniors at Bridport's St Mary's School learnt the finer points of skipping when Ken Barry of Skipping Workshops in Surrey came to coach them. The school has decided to reintroduce that most ancient of playground pastimes for fun and to keep
DORSET vicar Dick Douglas today told of his battle with prostate cancer in a bid to encourage men to join a new support group. Mr Douglas, 64, from Broadmayne, first realised something was wrong two years ago, but it was some months before he was diagnosed
ALL SAINTS' boyracers scooped pole position for a national championship race after triumphing in an eco inter-schools grand prix. The team of seven youngsters from the Weymouth secondary school beat off fierce opposition on the track to snatch the grand
A YOUNG Bridport man is on a life support machine after being engulfed in flames in an accident at work. Ben Renshaw, 20, and another apprentice were grinding an engine part at the jet-ski manufacturers where they work in Poole when a spark flew and hit
IT CAME as no surprise to Bridport film maker Nick Gilbey that his mother left money in her will to skating organisations. Anne Ethel Gilbey, who died in January, aged 86, met her late husband on a skating rink. Nick, who also skated when he was young
A TEAM of juniors at Bridport's St Mary's School learnt the finer points of skipping when Ken Barry of Skipping Workshops in Surrey came to coach them. The school has decided to reintroduce that most ancient of playground pastimes for fun and to keep
STRIKER-cum-midfielder James Hayter has admitted he would be happy to get a double-figure goal tally this term on the eve of their trip to Stoke City tomorrow (3pm). The 22-year-old marksman hit 12 in league and cup action last season and has got two
